Some beginner marathon questions.... (Read 640 times)

Howdy all, A few questions concerning marathon running (or maybe I'm just looking for some validation).... A little background; I do a good deal of distance trail running- completed a solo 27 mile run and a solo 24 mile in March. I'm currently running anywhere from 25-40 miles per week, 90% on trails. I've never run an "official" marathon but signed up for Los Angeles on May 25th. I'm not worried about finishing, but about my time- I want to finish at around 4:15. Based on trail times (with tons of elevation loss and gain), I'm guessing this should be reasonable (but relatively fast for me) on a much flatter course. Problem is, it's really hard to compare trail to road- the terrain/pace is so different. So... 1. I'm thinking it would be wise to spend my next 3 weeks of buildup on road instead of trail. Despite less elevation, I'm worried road will be harder on me than trails. The monotony of running pavement/asphalt is something I'm not that used to, mentally and physically. The longest road run I've done in over a month was only 10K. Any others feel this way? Does it matter? 2. I've been roughly following Hal Higdon's beginning marathon training plan...except I'm way ahead of schedule; I started with more mileage/experience than he calls for and found I could comfortably push a bit harder from the beginning. He calls for peaking at 20 miles 3 weeks prior to the race. Given I've already run much further, should I continue pushing a bit harder in the next few weeks? I'm wondering if I'd be wise to back off a bit, follow his schedule, adjust to road running, and not risk an injury... I'm really excited about the new distances I'm running; I'm already bumming about the thought of doing a two week taper and not getting my miles in. I'm a little concerned that my enthusiasm, if left unchecked, will lead to overtraining and injury. Sorry for the long winded explanation.... Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks.

I dont usually back off a schedule to match a training plan, instead I repeat weeks or slowly adjust what I am doing at maintenance mileage to match the program if I think that pushing ahead will push me too hard. Repeating a set of weeks can be quite helpful in building/recovery process. Given your trail /road thing I would say absolutely you need to transition to roads for a significant portion of your running. Not all, but build your endurance on road slowly. This is a prime opportunity to pick a chunk of weeks to repeat with each week a higher percentage on the road and then you can merge back in to the program at the appropriate point.

According to my Higdon plan I'm starting week 13 today, calling for an 18 mile long run this week. I'll try and do it on road. Next week is 14 and then a jump to 20 the following. I'll probably try the 14 on road again but do the 20 on trail. I'll probably switch all my medium 8-12 mile runs to road as well.

I would modify just to build road distances and not do as much of the stepbacks to avoid going 0 to 18 on the road, if anything I think you would be better off w/ 14, 18, 20. 14 miles is still a long run to get used to the road and think hitting a 18 miler may be asking for trouble?? As ennay said better to change "the plan" to match were you are in training instead of other way around. Higdons plans are traditional/assuming all road running from the get go. So in order to transistion from trails I would "stepback" during the transition not afterward just because that is what week 13 says....IMHO. Better to side on caution and see how legs react to 14 versus push 18 and wish you had not.

I agree that you should do more road work to get used to the repetitive nature of roads versus the changing dynamics of trails. I find roads to be much harder than trails, both the pounding of the pavement and boredom of lack of change of scenery. My few suggestions. Try to run the actual coarse for the marathon for one of your longer runs. This will give you exact knowledge of what it feels like to run the last 20 miles of the marathon course and you will be better prepared on race day. Do a few other longer runs (over 10 miles) but you don't have to do all your training on roads between now and race day. And lastly, I think this has been suggested on this site before but if you don't feel comfortable tapering then don't. You can still run the same amount of miles (or slightly less) with less effort to not tax the body. Also, though you say you are worried about your time, I don't get the impression you are overly worried about your finishing time. It sounds like you want to have fun, enjoy the experience and hopefully run others in the future. With that being said I think the taper is less important. Think of your running in a larger sense and you seemed to be more worried about your weekly mileage than your marathon time so concentrate on that. Good luck, have fun and possibly look for trail marathons or ultras to do next.