Can You Run A Marathon Without Training?

Of course you can. If this clown can, anyone can:

The next morning, Young's alarm rang at 3:30 a.m. He got up, printed off the Richmond Marathon route, and ran it. Afterward, he returned to work at the mechanics business he managed as normal. Young felt so good that instead of returning exhausted after finishing his shift, he went straight back to the park to run another marathon.

That week he completed a total of 262 miles — or 10 marathons.

He was addicted.

"On one day I realized that all of my dreams and passions that I've always wanted, pretty much all my life, could all just happen,"

http://uk.businessinsider.com/rob-young-marathon-man-interview-2016-4

dreams to reality wrote:

Of course you can. If this clown can, anyone can:

I meant in reality, not fantasy.

Kenny Bart wrote:

dreams to reality wrote:

Of course you can. If this clown can, anyone can:

I meant in reality, not fantasy.

Depends on your definition of "run". I bet an extremely small percentage of people can go jog a marathon "off the couch".

Run a marathon? No.

Cover 26.2 miles on foot? Yes.

the video is too excruciating to watch fully but it is BS. But a couple of glaring items that I saw during my fast forward review.

1.For someone with zero training you don't "feel great at 5 miles". He is either lying about zero training or using semantics and is saying he has zero training for a marathon but does plenty of running.

2. No nip guards under that sweatshirt? start of the video shows he doesn't. Yet no bloody nips whatsoever. Amazing for someone that doesn't run.

3. That pace is clearly about 10-12 minute miles. 5 plus hours. yet he looks the same. the sun angles also look the same too. Odd.

Not everyone needs nip guards for that kind of distance. I sure didn't.

I'll confirm - I also did not need nip guards training or completing my spring marathon. In the summer is a different story... one more reason to go shirtless.

This guy is a joke. wrote:

the video is too excruciating to watch fully but it is BS. But a couple of glaring items that I saw during my fast forward review.

1.For someone with zero training you don't "feel great at 5 miles". He is either lying about zero training or using semantics and is saying he has zero training for a marathon but does plenty of running.

2. No nip guards under that sweatshirt? start of the video shows he doesn't. Yet no bloody nips whatsoever. Amazing for someone that doesn't run.

3. That pace is clearly about 10-12 minute miles. 5 plus hours. yet he looks the same. the sun angles also look the same too. Odd.

He is closer to 15-20 minute miles, there are people walking able to keep up. The sun angle is not the same, the shadow clearly changes.

I actually did, my senior year in college. I had not run a step in 3 years, but on a drunkin' (stupid) dare I ran Boston in 1986. The Monday prior I went out and ran 9 miles just to make sure I wouldn't look like a total idiot. I figured I'd at least make it half way. I ended up running a 4:28 and was in absolute agony for a week, with Wednesday being the worst. I did stop at points, but did finish.

I know a guy who has ran Berlin 8 times. He does only one run per week. He is almost 50 now, but 5 years ago he ran Berlin in the 3:30's with his one day a week plan. I am amazed by this as I know people running 60 miles a week who cannot run his times.

I ran one once with no running history and around a month of running 5-10mpw because my buddy convinced me I'd be fine. My connective tissue was in agony for several days afterward but no long-term injuries and I managed sub-4. 2/10 would not recommend.

Old' n Slow wrote:

I actually did, my senior year in college. I had not run a step in 3 years, but on a drunkin' (stupid) dare I ran Boston in 1986. The Monday prior I went out and ran 9 miles just to make sure I wouldn't look like a total idiot. I figured I'd at least make it half way. I ended up running a 4:28 and was in absolute agony for a week, with Wednesday being the worst. I did stop at points, but did finish.

I done something similar with my brother and a friend. My brother and friend hadn't run in a few years. I was just out of HS and running 3 miles a few times a week when we foolheartedly decided to run a marathon. My brother didn't fare so well and we stopped at halfway but did complete it. From what I remember we ran about all of it except the break to change shoes at the half point. Our friend actually fared quite well and finished around 4 hours or so.

It's just a matter of pain threshold and desire to complete the race.

My legs were so sore after that I didn't get off the couch for the next 3 days and my brother was on crutches for a bruised foot, but we done it.

A friend of mine did in 3:40. Was about 24 yo, with a HS JV XC background. He ran maybe 5 miles 1X per week leading to it. Otherwise, he would play pickup basketball games.

Of course you can if you have a single iota of health. A group of friends and I signed up for a local marathon. We had great intentions but they went out the window immediately. On race day, none of us had ever run more than 2-3 miles. We finished in 3:45, chatting the whole miserable way. It wasn't fun but we did it. Honestly I felt fine until mile 10.

It depends on how you define "training".

For instance, I am 5 foot 9 and I weigh about 165 pounds. I run 10-15 miles a week as part of my crossfit training. I can easily break 18 minutes in a 5k. I'm sure I can break 3 hours in a marathon tommorow, without any specific training.

So for someone who practices another sport (hockey, basketball, etc), it might be possible to finish a marathon without training -- there is no doubt about that.

Crossfitter wrote:

I run 10-15 miles a week as part of my crossfit training.

I can easily break 18 minutes in a 5k.

I'm sure I can break 3 hours in a marathon tommorow, without any specific training.

LOL 2/10 made me respond. Classic crossfitter.

Maybe