How do you incorporate racing into marathon training!

aquestioner wrote:

I want to run a marathon in October, but I was wondering how/when is the best time to run other races whether it's a 5k, 10 K, 10 mile, half, etc.

Does anyone have a plan that incorporates road racing to test your fitness level while still maintaining the necessary mileage to run a marathon?

In my opinion, rather than thinking about using road racing "to test your fitness level", I would use the races to try and beat as many people as possible and get used to the racing aspect of it.

As far as not compromising mileage a 5k or 10k every other week or so isn't going to do anything but help your fitness. Discover for yourself how often you can run them.

The last 10 miles of the marathon are going to hurt. If you have some races under your belt where you have pushed yourself to the limit, you'll be better prepared, even if they are of a shorter distance.

"training?"

Often the best training you can do is racing. Any short races you do will presumably make MP pace seem relatively easy.

You may not be optimally prepared for the shorter races but there is no reason you can't make them work for you. Bill Rodgers did pretty good on this type of schedule.

I think it is a good idea to incorporate some shorter races into your marathon training. You get the race practice and some faster turnover for longer than you might get on your own during a workout plus you can add mileage to make the race work for your marathon training.

Working backwards from your marathon date, I like the 10K three weeks out as a tune-up race to test your fitness and get you mentally ready. It is long enough to test your endurance without being so long that it will fatigue you. The downside is that if you have a bad day or something, it can mess with your head for the marathon.

Two months out, working a half marathon into a long run can be a good workout with some race practice. You would want to run it faster than your marathon goal pace but not as fast as your half marathon race pace. The hard part is how to add the mileage to the race. If you run extra beforehand, you want to be pretty sure the race will start on time that you won't have to wait around a long time in between the early miles and the race. Also, if you run extra beforehand, you want a small enough race that you can get into the corral at a decent spot right before the start. If you run extra afterwards, you have to be ready to overcome the reluctance to keep going after you have crossed the finish line after a long distance when everyone else is celebrating and you would rather stop. This would be a good workout to do right before a down week so that you get a good recovery from it, just to be conservative.

Two months or more out, I like working a 5K into the middle of a 13 to 15 mile run. Do the first part as an easyish warm up but run the race hard and then do the rest at whatever pace is comfortable. You can still get a good 5K run out of that and you also get some good miles on tired legs afterwards, which is good training. This is a good workout to work in anywhere in your marathon training weeks. The before/after challenges from the half still apply, but it is easier to find a smaller 5K than half and the risk of a late start is generally less for a 5K than a half just because there is a shorter course for the organizers to have to manage.

If you are in a warm climate, any races you work in before your October marathon will be pretty warm and maybe not a great predictor of your race time, so make some adjustments to your expectations for those races versus your marathon.

Good luck!

I, as well as most other experts, recommend a focus on cross-training to finely tune your racing skills. I think you should enter your current auto on the NASCAR circuit. They do make some at large exceptions for aspiring marathoners. This type of racing should give you all the information you need to run a successful marathon.

aquestioner wrote:

I want to run a marathon in October, but I was wondering how/when is the best time to run other races whether it's a 5k, 10 K, 10 mile, half, etc.

Does anyone have a plan that incorporates road racing to test your fitness level while still maintaining the necessary mileage to run a marathon?

I schedule a few races, some long, some short, and I race them flat out. Sometimes, I schedule too many but usually I get it right.

I try not to train through any of them except maybe the first one or tow.

I've had so many buildups where I felt great in the "training races" and held back and then sucked in the marathon. Finally I realized that you have to take your good days when they come and push them to the limit. It seems to work better.

In addition to providing a terrific speed workout, a shorter race will also allow you to access your current state of fitness so that you can realistically plan a reasonable marathon pace for your October event. I would run one or tow 5K or 10Ks/month between now and October. Plug in your best recent time into a predictive tool such as this one from marathonguide.com:

http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/predictcalc.cfm

Use the projected finishing time to set up a pacing schedule for your marathon and stick to it. That will allow you to run a reasonable pace throughout and give you lots of confidence.

Although your reply wasn't exactly helpful, it was pretty damn funny. Nicely done.

To the second poster...defnitely a typo. I meant a "?" instead of a "!" at the end of the topic.