How many marathons is TOO MANY in a year? (Read 924 times)

367 *shrug*

From what I've seen after observing hundreds of runners is that it is way too many. For someone who wants to do well competitively it is definitely not a good thing. If you want to continue to run well on into your 50's, 60's, and beyond it is probably not a good idea either. Sure, you might do ok for a couple years but it will almost surely catch up with you. If seen hundreds of runners come and go during my 30 years of doing this, and the overwhelming majority who have overdone it with marathoning have not fared well. You can point to the Chuck Engles and other exceptions, but they are exceptions and even they would in all likelihood do much better if they ran fewer marathons. I'm quite involved in the running scene and know who most of the top masters runners are in Northern California. I can't think of a single one who does multiple marathons year after year. I also spent 14 years in Arizona before moving here and it was the same thing. This isn't something I'm making up. All we have to do is pay attention to what the great majority of the most successful runners do. One, or at most 2 marathons in a year, should be plenty and even that is pushing if done every year. As for the effect on one's health that's a whole other issue. I didn't used to think it was bad for us in this respect, but more and more I have seen evidence that it might be. Ok, now you can go ahead and pelt me with eggs and rotten tomatoes

1. I have also observed 100s of runners, and they all seem fine to me. Of course, the runners I'm observing are maniacs and 50 staters, not "the top masters runners in X", so ymmv. Well, except that some of these folks are indeed fast and win hardware monthly. So again, ymmv. 2. I dunno about the whole 'running well into your 50s and 60s' aspect. I suppose it depends on how you define 'running well'. Anyway, I see these folks getting hardware. More importantly, I see them doing what they want to do irrespective of hardware, which is really the most important thing. 2a. Lots of 50 staters are older folks. So while Jim might be seeing evidence that lots of running into your later years could be harmful, I see the opposite. It would seem that it depends on who you hang out with. Anyway, it comes down to your goals. If you want to run really, really fast and focus on one target race at a time, then do that. If you want to push yourself in different ways (one way might be "run two as fast as possible in two days"), then do that. If you want to travel and run, do it. You probably won't spontaneously combust. You may always wonder if you could have run that last race faster. Sometimes the answer will be yes. Sometimes maybe. Sometimes "I don't really care because that was hella fun". Shrug. As for doing lots of running on trails because its softer, well, maybe. I personally would NEVER suggest doing mega amounts of races on trails because you have to balance the "soft" against "I hit a root and turned my ankle" and falling on your face and stuff. But I know lots of people who DO run mega amounts on trails. It's just running.

Try it and see how it goes. Seems totally reasonable to me. I run with a lot of folks who do a lot more than that and they all seem fine (and fast!)... you'll never know unless you try it.

Last year I ran 8/9 3:00 9/21 4:50 (Pacing my sister) 10/11 2:58 11/2 2:57

Dopple Bock Was the 8/9 one Paavo? I think I ran some miles ( 18-20) with you there. That race was some evidence to me that you shouldn't try to race two marathons in a week. I had run San Francisco (3:05) the week before and came into Paavo thinking I just might have a shot at 3 hours. I felt pretty good for most of the way but I could feel the 26 miles in San Francisco during the last 4 or 5 miles at Paavo and I lost a couple minutes there. Oh well, maybe this year. I haven't decided yet if I will go back to San Francisco this year but it isn't the week before Paavo.

spinach, I think you should come to SFO because I'd like to meet spinach.

I think I met you at Paavo when you ran it a couple years ago.

Being bhearn would be pretty cool, but I couldn't handle living in BC and loving Apple.

Truth be told, I could do without the 6 months of gray and rain. But I'd have to move farther south than Seattle to get away from that.

I think I met you at Paavo when you ran it a couple years ago.

Uh oh. Well, I apologize for not remembering! I had a pretty terrible race at Paavo. I really want to come back and do much better. Unfortunately, it happens to be the same weekend as one of my all-time favorite marathons on the planet (Haulin Aspen), so I dunno when I will be back.