Running a Marathon on No Training?

I "ran" the Chicago Marathon a couple years back. I was a guy running a maybe 12 miles a week for several years as some form of activity. I moved up to 27 miles a week and "blazed" through mile 20 at a 7:50 pace. And...KABOOM...I was done a mere 5 minutes later.

I walked/skipped/trotted to an earth shattering time of 4:03-ish. I hated the entire experience and vowed never to run one again. When I got passed by a lady with a gut at mile 23 - wearing pink spandex - I almost walked off the course. I don't know what compelled me to keep "going".

Of course it's possible. But for a real challenge, try *two* marathons just two weeks apart on no training!

Timur Gareyev did it. He is a chess grandmaster (really good, take my word for it), and likes to quote Anthony Robbins: "Unlimited Power". He signed up for three marathons and told me back in November that he was "active" and didn't think there would be any problem if he went slow. I agreed about one marathon, but told him I would be very curious to see how he would manage on two so close together. Check it out:

5:34:30 at McAllen on 2011.12.11.

http://www.iaapweb.com/results/11/11_12_11_marathon.htm

5:52:28 at Galveston on 2012.02.05.

http://eztoregister.com/assets/MardiMarathon12.htm

7:02:15 (ouch!!!) at Austin on 2012.02.19 (239/239 for M20-24).

http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=23465#racetop

This is kind of a dumb thread because what do you consider to be training? I ran a 2:59 the Summer after I finished high school on zero running but I had been a competitive swimmer until grade 10, walked probably an average of 10-15 kms/day every day over the past 3 years, played sports at lunch and after school and was currently working a job pushing shopping carts around for 5-8 hrs a day and biking to and from work.

I signed up the day before the event and went out with the leaders in 36 min through 10k, 1:19 through halfway and then ran 1:40 for the second half, with several short walk breaks. Wasn't much fun. I now consider myself to be a half marathon and under runner.

Given a hypothetical race between a forty-something year old office worker, who has led a sedentary lifestyle for 20 years but has been doing 80 miles a week for the past 4 months and a fit high school or college student who does little or no running but does lots of other sports and has decent endurance, I would take the latter 9 times out of 10 in a marathon.

Some people are just generally fit from their everyday lifestyle. There's a guy I sometimes run with whose 45-46 years old and a senior manager at his company and with family commitments barely manages 10 miles per week (2 steady runs) in training and has been like that for last 3-4 years. He entered a half marathon a few weeks back and ran 1.19 on a hilly course which is probably only 3 minutes down on his PR. The guys he finished around were the sort of guys who are running 50mpw in training. We reckons he's just generally in good shape whether he's training or not. Theres other guys Ive ran with who train massive mileage for marathons and struggle to break 4 hours.

Averaged 42 MPW for 10-12 weeks one summer, racing mostly 8K to 10K's every 2nd or 3rd week. Long run was usually 12-16 miles every tenth day or so.

Ran a 3:26 marathon, but had to walk two miles owing to two illnesses in the 3 weeks preceding the event: shingles (a REAL delight) and a cold. Had I not walked, I'd have probably run 3:10 or so.

I had no clue about marathon training & also ran without a watch. It was my first marathon and I had no clue what to expect.

Funny, in retrospect.

this radio show guy in austin ran one with no running. he played soccer a few times a week so that helped. he's a pretty funny guy and was making fun of all the austin marathon runners the morning after the race on air. said anyone could do it even without training. the challenge was on. here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZcMTG_ihCM

i ran a trail marathon off basically no training about 3 years ago in 3:52. although it was actually a 27 mile race and i got lost (whoops) for a bit so actually ran around 28 miles.

that was off 4 weeks of training after a few years of barely running due to injury. i think i got in one or two 8 milers during those 4 weeks. and the race had two 3 mile long mountains to climb. so running mid-3 hours off barely any running shouldn't be too hard in a road race i'd imagine.

There is no special prize for running 3:30 or whatever with no training. However, there usually is for running sub-2:30 and they do not ask you if you trained or not. A potentially sub-2:30 guy can run an hour slower with reduced or sometimes even completely absent training in which case he earns the unofficial unfulfilled potential award.

I am about to explore this question as a pseudo-experiment for a fall marathon.

I used to be pretty fast but I haven't been able to find time to train lately. I'm kind of an all or nothing kind of guy so the only way I can motivate myself to get my butt out there, I think, is to try this experiment:

How fast can I run a marathon on two days of training a week?

I've already outlined my plan a bit on my website

http://www.findrunningraces.com/marathon-training/

if you're interested so I won't go into great detail here but what inpired this silly idea was me running a 2:36 after being forced to run VERY few times in the months leading up to the 2009 Chicago Marathon. (I ran 13 times in the 9 weeks leading up the Marathon). Obviously I had done a lot before this.

Oops.

It turns out I ran 2:32. I may be the first runner in the history of runners who has under-recalled his race time.

It all depends on what the meaning of the word "is" ... is.

It all depends on what the meaning of the word "running" is I think.

Soccer players are estimated 'running' 6+/- miles in a game. Practice perhaps more.

Well trained (not your average) basketball players 'run' a fair amount ... daily/weekly.

I've read that Allen Iverson once ran a 4:28 mile - I'm not sure I believe that but I know he was an incredible all around athlete. I wouldn't be surprised.

So taking a couch potato and having them run is not the same as putting someone in a marathon, with no 'formal' training, who has some aerobic and anaerobic background.

If I had to bet, I would say soccer guys would fair pretty well (3:00 - 3:30) if they ran it smartly, with some discipline/pacing.

I am sure I am missing something from this little blurb, but even if they were "U17", is sub-17:00 for 5k XC really a big deal? Especially in England?

I ran 16:40 for 5k XC (routinely that season) at age 15, and I know that tens of thousands of British boys must have done so over the years. I was amongst the best for age 15 in my state that year (30 years ago!), but was only 65th or so at State Meet that Fall.

Were they 14 yrs old or something at the time?

I ran an extremely painful marathon in 3:15 having only run an average of roughly 3-5 miles a week for the previous 18 months, and smoking over a pack of cigs, probably 2 g's of weed, and drinking at least a 6 pack every day.

I was already sore at mile 7, didn't think I could go any further at 13, but miraculously was able to just get in the zone and somehow finish faster than I had started.

It took an extremely long time to recover. It was fun for the challenge, but I wouldn't do it again.

newname wrote:

I was amongst the best for age 15 in my state that year (30 years ago!), but was only 65th or so at State Meet that Fall.

I'm confused - you were amongst the best in your state, but only 65th in the state meet? Are you saying that being 65th is "amongst the best" - which I guess it is in some sense. But then what's the point of the "but" in your sentence?

Anyone who can run a sub-17 5k is much faster than nearly all people completing mass-participation marathons. The average finishing time is like 4:30 or something.

Rather than start a new thread, thought I would up this one.

A guy from my crossfit gym did it this weekend off of one "long run" of 10 miles three days before the full and no other specific training other than just crossfit. I thought, at best, he would finish with a not great time and, at worst, hurt himself.

Did the Georgia Marathon in 3:30.

Now, he is a former NCAA D1 swimmer and all around fire breather of an athlete, but that is a fairly impressive time for just deciding to do your first marathon on a whim and basically no specific training. If he actually put in some miles...

I ran my 1st marathon when I was 17 and my longest run of my life before it was 8 miles. My half split was 1:30 and I finished in 3:12:58. I was active at the time with track and soccer. I ran a 2:04 800m the day before the marathon.

I trained for about 12 weeks for my first marathon and did up to 22 mi long run. I took 6 weeks off for an injury and then ran for two weeks before the race. 3:56. Could not walk the next day.

The marathon with minimal training is just a stupid thing. Even if you manage a half decent time, it means nothing. What is the point of celebrating purposeful mediocrity?