Two Marathons Six Weeks Apart After Rough Day

oh yeah. Time. I totally bonked this one at ran 20 mins off my PR.

Thanks!

Not ideal, should be a couple mins off your ability at your mileage level. You'll make it tho

Yes. Others here have done it successfully.

Agreed. I ran three PRs in three consecutive months - 2:47, 2:45, 2:40. Also set my lifetime 5K best a week before the third marathon. Age 23 at the time.

Bossinator wrote:

Yes. Others here have done it successfully.

First let me say, Good luck.. unfortunately I have never known this to work out for anyone I personally know.

Through the years I've seen a number of friends end up just having a bad race day, bad weather, etc... and they try to capitalize on their marathon fitness by hitting another race. Just about every time the second race goes as poorly if not worse than the first.

Again, not to be too negative, but you really really need to work on recovery to be ready for race day.

Thanks for all the comments! And no offense taken at all over the "maybe this won't work comments"! I get that!

I'm giving it until the end of the week to see if cooler heads prevail in time. A fall marathon is definite again. Perhaps I can do a quick turnaround 3 or 4 weeks later for a good half.

EZ10Miler wrote:

Through the years I've seen a number of friends end up just having a bad race day, bad weather, etc... and they try to capitalize on their marathon fitness by hitting another race. Just about every time the second race goes as poorly if not worse than the first.

Interesting. Makes me wonder what may have been unique in my situation. Maybe the fact that with each effort I felt successful, and enthusiastically wanted to run another. Or maybe just because I was only 23 years old. Anyway, OP will have to use his own judgment. Scheduling a half marathon in the near term, and a full marathon in the autumn may be the more prudent approach.

How is it that no one has referred the OP to this thread?

If you have a day or two of vacation available, this is worth the read. If you only have 20 minutes or so, focus on the advice that the OP is given on the first couple of pages, as that advice was borne out over time.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7847045

Smoove wrote:

How is it that no one has referred the OP to this thread?

Ha! Yes, I almost did ... but figured there is a world of difference between two weeks and six weeks.

Oh... i'm familiar with that thread. It provided some entertainment on slow work days!

2 and 6 IS a world of difference in my eyes for a marathon.

I'm leaning towards a half three weeks after and cutting my losses. Try and hit a half PR (its weak bc I only focus on the marathon, and run them in buildups) at 1:24 high. I'd really like that sub 3 but perhaps I can do even better in the fall with a proper buildup and luck from the weather gods. Boston 2016 shot the last attempt with a totally different set of bad weather too.

Allen1959 wrote:

Smoove wrote:

How is it that no one has referred the OP to this thread?

Ha! Yes, I almost did ... but figured there is a world of difference between two weeks and six weeks.

Agreed. As an overcontributor to that thread, 6 weeks is different than 2 weeks, and 40mph winds for a bad time is possibly different than quad cramping because you weren't as fit as you thought you were, but I think I'll give the same advice. If you're planning to continue training and run another one in the fall, what do you really gain running one in 6 weeks? Will you still run a fall marathon? Then it's not just 2 in 6 weeks, it's 3 in 6-7 months. Part of it will depend on your current mileage base and how you recover which you know better than us if you've done this 9 times, but I would just run a half now or something else shorter and wait for the fall. We aren't all Allen.

You are both stronger men than me. My recovery after a marathon is slow going. After each of my two marathons (one in mid October and one in early November ), I ran my local half marathon in mid December. In each case, I struggled to run the same time I ran for my half split in my marathons. My motivation to run hard workouts took 3-5 months to return.

perhaps OP could consider racing a half in 8-12 weeks as an indicator of what might have been then focus on the fall 'thon?

You know... stupidly enough, I never thought of that time frame issue for three races.

yes I will still race a fall race.

Well... sounds like a should cut my losses and hit some good halfs. I mean fitness is not naught after all.

3 weeks after would be the fastest course. I also have things at 6 and 12 weeks out that could work.

I actually recover very fast. Feeling good already but won't run for five days at least by rule.

I'm from the VA Beach area. The weather on Sunday was no joke. I didn't run, but I felt bad for everyone who was out there in that nonsense.

Everyone is different, but I faced a similar situation about 10 years ago. I trained like crazy for my first BQ and bonked at 19 miles at Marine Corps. I pulled it together and ran a PR for a solid BQ at Richmond a few weeks later. For what it's worth, I don't think I could do that at my current age (37).

Good luck!

You can recover from a bad marathon quicker than you can a good one. You ran MP effort ish for 16mi then jogged 10mi. Sounds like a solid session and you should have no physical problem racing another in 6 weeks. It's all in your head.

reed wrote:

You can recover from a bad marathon quicker than you can a good one. You ran MP effort ish for 16mi then jogged 10mi. Sounds like a solid session and you should have no physical problem racing another in 6 weeks. It's all in your head.

even if the pace was a "jog", if the effort/heart rate was high (he said survival mode), I'd be careful of coming back from that too quickly as that could possibly take more out of you than an even paced marathon effort, like hitting a wall and bonking

I have run another from 2-6 weeks after a marathon. If you are slightly injured you will feel it. Otherwise, it's entirely possible to maintain marathon fitness. If you slogged the last miles of the last one, then it was just a long run. If the conditions are ideal and it's convenient, then it's still a good opportunity to PR. Boston 2016 was terrible due to the warm temperature (and high pollen count) everyone I knew ran from 15-25 minutes off their expected pace.

Yep! That's the Boston for me. I was 25 off my goal. At least with this debacle of weather it was only 20 off. 0 or 2 lately with circumstances beyond my control. Otherwise I've gone 3:00, 3:02, 3:05, 3:05 before those two. Sigh.