Running my first marathon. Would a half 9 weeks before the full give me a good idea of what I can run for the full? I assume this is plenty of recovery time. Any advice.
Running my first marathon. Would a half 9 weeks before the full give me a good idea of what I can run for the full? I assume this is plenty of recovery time. Any advice.
Yes, 9 weeks is more than long enough to recover. It will give you an idea of what you can run in the marathon, but is possibly too far out to draw too many conclusions from it..
2 weeks out seems to be borderline for recovery, 3 weeks out is perfect.
I think 9 weeks is too much if anything. There's no harm in doing it, but there's still some fitness to be gained from 9 weeks to say 3-4 weeks so you may (hopefully) be in better shape by the time the marathon rolls around.
I recently did a half four weeks out from a marathon as my last big workout and it was a solid indicator of what I ran with plenty of time to recover.
The Dingo wrote:
I think 9 weeks is too much if anything. There's no harm in doing it, but there's still some fitness to be gained from 9 weeks to say 3-4 weeks so you may (hopefully) be in better shape by the time the marathon rolls around.
I recently did a half four weeks out from a marathon as my last big workout and it was a solid indicator of what I ran with plenty of time to recover.
What was your pacing strategy in the half? Did you race all out, run at your expected mp, or something else? I am tentatively planning to run a half 4 weeks out, but am unsure whether to go all out. I tend to recover relatively slowly from race efforts, so I think 4 weeks is as close to the marathon as I would possibly want to go (and maybe too close for an all out effort). Anyone have thoughts on this?
I wouldn't hesitate to race any number of weeks out. If you are in that 3 or more weeks out time period, I think all out is cool. As with any race, I'd aim to negative split or at least even split. Don't go out too fast and get into a situation where you feel like you're working your tail off for an hour. You'll end up needing a lot more time to recover.
I've run 3 marathons under 2:30 and did races the weekend before of 5k, 12k, and 10 miles. I kept a few seconds/mile in the tank on all of them.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
Rest in Peace Adrian Lehmann - 2:11 Swiss marathoner. Dies of heart attack.
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year