It's in the title.....too much or a good last effort?
It's in the title.....too much or a good last effort?
Terrible idea. Don't do it. Risk of injury, fatigue, and depletion skyrockets the longer you go. Muscle fatigue will be a real problem that requires recovery. Your nervous system will need several days to regroup. It's virtually impossible to be fresh at your goal race after doing a marathon 3 weeks prior at that similar of an effort. Even if you ran 2:59 in your goal marathon and declared it a success I would come back on this board and slam you by saying you sabotaged what could have been a 2:49 goal race.
Thanks for your reply....out of interest is that from personal experience?
I'd thought it may be a step too far but also a small part of me felt it would be a steady enough effort to recover from but a good boost to fitness.
Bump for others
Depends on your training. If you come from "the ultra side", that is if you have done high mileage or lots of really long runs (25+ milers), a marathon at 20 min off your pace won't tire you much. But you need a week or more to recover for the next workout. So it's not an effective way of training with only three weeks left. Also you must be very careful with fueling. If you strain during the marathon, you'll suffer later. It should be an easy effort from start to finish. And it will be very difficult to not push the last miles just because you can.
If you come from the short side, as most people do, it's a hazard to even run a full marathon at a dead slow pace.
I contend that if you cannot run a marathon 15 minutes off your pace (for a 2:50 runner) and recover within a week, then you lack a component in your marathon preparation. That doesn't mean it's good training to actually run one though.
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