Forums >Running 101>marathon training
I've been running for a year and 7 months but had a 4 month layoff because of injury. Been running 7 months in a row have been training for my first marathon for 7 weeks now. I've been training at 9:40 pace long runs and about 9:20 for the short runs. Basically I've been letting my legs tell me how fast if they feel good I just stay with that pace. I have 13 weeks before my race if I continue with these paces what kind of pace should I expect come race day.
Feeling the growl again
With no public log and such little information, no one is going to be able to do more than guess wildly for you...if you keep your log here you could open that up for people to look at, or give a more complete picture of your training.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
ok, I'll play. Assuming you make it to the starting line. You run the first 8 miles feeling great at around 9:20. Start to think better of that strategy and click into the 9:40's you've been doing in training. The wheels fall off at 20 miles and you slog home at 11:00 miles.
Or you run a 3:15.
It's all a big guess, 7 weeks in to your training.
Get off my porch
I'm doing Hal Higdon's novice training schedule my log numbers aren't quite right I walk about a mile after every run and don't turn off the timer and put the total time down of the run and walk I'll make my log public.
Having to take 4 months off due to injury out of your 19-month running career is a yellow flag to me. As Spaniel said, this is waaaaay too little of information for anybody to give you a good guestimate except for some fictious story (good one, Oldman! Are you anywhere near Menphis? Peter Snell is heading there in a few weeks).
If your long run is only, say, an hour or so now, it'll be tough to even think about running a marathon. If you're already doing 2-hours, or 22-miles, at 9:40 pace, then you can probably expect 9:40~10:00 pace for a marathon. Either way, you shouldn't start your marathon preparation based on what you think you can expect on the race day--this is probably one of the biggest mistakes people make; they get some bogus wishful goal time out of air and try to squeeze training based on that. If you're running 20+ miles at 9:40 comfortably, then you MAY be able to expect to run a marathon at 9:40-ish pace. What you should expect on the marathon day should be determined based on your background of training. That includes how much you run, how long you've been running, how fast you had run other distances recently, etc.
If you had participated, say, a 10k race before, your pace for that should be decently faster than your training pace. The fact that your long run pace is 9:40 and shorter run (faster, presumably) is "only" 9:20 shows either you're not used to "racing" or your training is way too fast--in other words, you're racing everyday. Perhaps that's the cause of your injury.
My sicere suggestion is to go back and rethink the idea of running a marathon at this point. If you absolutely want to, forget about time; just concentrate on finishing and be happy with that.
And in my opinion you shouldn't stop the watch, it sure will not in the race. So I'd go with the overall pace for the longer run to be about 10:30-11:00 min/miles and 9:20-9:40 for the shorter runs. Sounds about right.
I'd start the guessing game at about 4:30 for the marathon. Do we want to start a pool?
I have ran a 5k before I started marathon training I ran a 26:13. My main goal is just to finish the marathon. I've only had 2 long runs so far and at the end of both of them I felt good and was able to pick up the pace and felt like I could run more. So I didn't know if I continue at the pace I've been training at if by race time I should push it or just go with what I train at. My injury had nothing to do with running just prevented me from running.
an amazing likeness
If, again *if*, I'm reading your question correctly, you are asking about what pace to expect. If your log is fairly up to date, you don't have all that much of a running mileage base for longer distances that gives any hint of what is an achievable pace for the 26 miles.
So I'd say your overall pace is going to be determined not by how fast you run, but by how much you run and how much you walk/shuffle/death march. I don't mean that negatively, what I mean is that your running pace will probably be about your current pace, because that is what feels comfortable. How much you end up running versus other modes will set your overall race pace.
Want to read some funny stories for first marathons? Check out this RA thread.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
If you've gotten up to about 2-hour of continuous running, which you have (1:54) though, it sounds like, it is not continous running; it is possible to put together a program to get you up to about 3 hours and get you ready for what we call a "survival" marathon in 10-weeks. With 5k time of 26:13 actually puts you to about a 4:09 marathon, which is 9:31 per mile pace. Though it sounds a bit aggressive--and I would NEVER suggest anybody at your level to try to accommodate your training based on 9:31 pace--, I'll put my foot in my mouth and say that it is POSSIBLE to get you ready for about 4-hour marathon in 13 weeks. That said, however, I still feel a bit concerned about the fact you had to take 4 months off due to injury. We don't know the cause of injury, or the nature of injury.
My suggestion, again, is not to worry about the pace; gradually work your way up from where you are (1:54) to about 3 hours of continuous running (if possible) until about 3 weeks before the actual marathon date. Alternate the long run weekly so you won't just be getting the length longer and longer every week. Again, your goal should be a survival marathon so throw the idea of "pace" out the window; just do the long run at whatever the pace you can maintain. Wherever you live, try to avoid the heat when doing the long run; try to do it as comfortably as possible. I remember when my wife trained for her first marathon; she did a 10-week preparation, working her way up from 2 hours to 3 hours; her marathon was the last weekend of September and she doesn't like heat; so we would do her weekend long run, starting at 7PM on Sunday. It would have been probably better if she did it at 4:30 or 5AM but at the time she didn't like to get up too early in the mornint (now she does).
It is doable. Challenging, but doable. Just be smart and sensible about it. Good luck.
thanks for all the advice my main goal is just to finish. I use a garmin gps to monitor my pace. I'm going to start longer runs this week , so far I haven't had to walk during my runs I just walk at the end for a cool down. I'm not trying to push myself to much because I do realize 26.2 is a long way so I've been letting my legs tell me how fast to go. I want to make this a way of life just trying to do it right so I can continue with out injury.
If you've gotten up to about 2-hour of continuous running, which you have (1:54) though, it sounds like, it is not continous running; it is possible to put together a program to get you up to about 3 hours and get you ready for what we call a "survival" marathon in 10-weeks. With 5k time of 26:13 actually puts you to about a 4:09 marathon, which is 9:31 per mile pace. Though it sounds a bit aggressive--and I would NEVER suggest anybody at your level to try to accommodate your training based on 9:31 pace--, I'll put my foot in my mouth and say that it is POSSIBLE to get you ready for about 4-hour marathon in 13 weeks. That said, however, I still feel a bit concerned about the fact you had to take 4 months off due to injury. We don't know the cause of injury, or the nature of injury. My suggestion, again, is not to worry about the pace; gradually work your way up from where you are (1:54) to about 3 hours of continuous running (if possible) until about 3 weeks before the actual marathon date. Alternate the long run weekly so you won't just be getting the length longer and longer every week. Again, your goal should be a survival marathon so throw the idea of "pace" out the window; just do the long run at whatever the pace you can maintain. Wherever you live, try to avoid the heat when doing the long run; try to do it as comfortably as possible. I remember when my wife trained for her first marathon; she did a 10-week preparation, working her way up from 2 hours to 3 hours; her marathon was the last weekend of September and she doesn't like heat; so we would do her weekend long run, starting at 7PM on Sunday. It would have been probably better if she did it at 4:30 or 5AM but at the time she didn't like to get up too early in the mornint (now she does). It is doable. Challenging, but doable. Just be smart and sensible about it. Good luck.