I'm tempted to sign up for a local marathon this weekend.. way undertrained. Longest run is 16 mi, biggest week is 40 miles.
I'm curious to see what happens if I go hard from the gun and fuel like a pig. I'd say there is a 10% chance I nail it. 70% chance I get a piano handed to me at mile 18. 20% chance I slow way down at 20-26, but manage a decent time?
Injury is my biggest concern. I'd say it's 50/50 some part of my body is shattered by the end (31 year old).
ha, i'm the same age and i would not attempt it for the same fear of injury. i actually ran my first marathon off of nearly identical training as you at age 23. longest run was 16, which i only did once. biggest week of 50 with most in the low 40s. i felt great for about 19 miles then entered a world of pain. i'm not doing another one until i've put in multiple 70+ weeks because it really is not fun hitting the wall that hard.
I haven’t done that, but if you eat enough gels, Gatorade, etc., then there is another possibility for you.
I give you a 20% chance of pooping your pants.
I don’t think that you’ll be able to injure yourself during the race, and I do t think that you’ll end up injured unless you don’t let yourself recover the following week.
I wish you luck, but I also hope that you poop yourself. Good luck.
ksdyfgbsdlkfjnsbdakjhfbk. wrote:
I'm tempted to sign up for a local marathon this weekend.. way undertrained. Longest run is 16 mi, biggest week is 40 miles.
I'm curious to see what happens if I go hard from the gun and fuel like a pig. I'd say there is a 10% chance I nail it. 70% chance I get a piano handed to me at mile 18. 20% chance I slow way down at 20-26, but manage a decent time?
Injury is my biggest concern. I'd say it's 50/50 some part of my body is shattered by the end (31 year old).
Why go hard from the gun knowing you only have a long run of 16 miles? Why not be reasonable for 16-18 miles and then go hard after that if you can? Injury should not be a concern. You are trained enough to avoid injury. You'll just be sore afterwards, might get sick, and the last few miles will probably suck hard.
I like your attitude. Give it a crack and see how it goes. What's the worse that will happen?
I think you don't really understand what you're getting yourself into and I give it about a 1% chance of going well, but sometimes you need to make your own mistakes. You'll know a lot more for next time you have a go.
I trained for a marathon in 2013 with a LR of around 16 and weekly mileage around 50. Then my son was born and I took six weeks off with no running. Zero runs between October 4th and November 16th.
On race day, I went out with the sub-3:00 group and hit the 1/2 marathon mark in 1:31. Started walk/jogging around mile 15.
I took a shot of whiskey around mile 20 (This is the Richmond Marathon where that type of thing is common). I continued to walk/jog the rest and ran my second half in 1:56.
I say do it. Its a fun story and once you've completely given up on achieving any kind of time goal, you just move along with the crowd.
I did when I was 21. My long runs were an hour. I ran with the goal of sub 3.
I went through the 1/2 in 90 minutes, made it to 14 miles before having to walk. Walk/jogged until 17 miles then couldn’t run anymore. Walked until 23 miles when someone was passing out bananas. Had a couple then was energized and able to walk/jog the last 3 miles. Finished in 3:40!
I ran a marathon TT on a whim the Tuesday before Thanksgiving last year. Had been running 50-60 miles a week doing a Daniels 5k plan. Ran a 5k PR on a Saturday, longer run Sunday, off Monday then let it rip. Hadn’t run more than 16 miles in the previous 6 months. Time was decent for me but not by letsrun standards. I would say go for it but make sure to keep it easy and don’t make any sort of commitment until at least 20 miles. If running solo then choose a route close to home.
In 2012 I was in pretty good shape (60 minute 10 miler) through May, but stopped running and starting drinking/smoking/being a dumb 24 year old.
Ran a November marathon, the weekend before I went out and ran 19 to see how bad it would be. It was okay.
Went out in 1:36, felt amazing, limped home the last 10k for a 3:21. Really messed up my feet and dealt with lingering issues from that for a few years.
Sorry revise those figures:
<1% chance of nailing it
5% chance of slowing but still finishing with reasonable time
reqwrewq wrote:
Sorry revise those figures:
<1% chance of nailing it
5% chance of slowing but still finishing with reasonable time
I would predict zero and zero. Going out hard will result in either a DNF or a death march for at least the last ten miles.
If the OP believes he's not ready for a marathon he should wait until he is.
I woke up one morning and decided to run a solo marathon. My longest run at the time was eight miles and I finished around 4 hours, this was my sophomore year of high school.
I did this in 2007. I had been running decent mileage, like 70 mpw, but mostly doubles. Not training for anything. Wife was pregnant and I was focused on work. I was 27. I jumped into a pretty major marathon with a co-worker's transferred bib. You used to be able to do this easier than you can now. It was legal; I was not a bandit. We did it at the expo, not online.
Anyway, I wanted to break 2:30 because in 2004 I had run 2:30:3X. I ran the first 18 miles on pace and felt amazing. At 21 I had to stop and go to the bathroom in a port-a-john (#2). I had never done that before in a race, but there was no other option. I was very efficient in the crapper but was now off pace... but still felt okay and was trying to get back up to the small pack that I'd been running with all along. Made it back and was like 20 seconds off pace at the 23 mile mark.
Not joking at all. My legs started cramping around 25 miles and they would not stop. This has never happened to me on a run or race ever before or after. I literally could not finish the race. It was like that video of the two guys (ladies?) trying to finish the ironman by crawling across the line. Instead, I just sat down and tried to let it pass. Finally got back up and crossed the line in the high 2:40s. Terrible last mile. Physical agony.
Just start slow and you’ll be fine.
Just try it. What is the worst what can happen?
You might DNF or have to walk it in.
But you can also have a fun race.
I would just not go out too crazy from the start.
ksdyfgbsdlkfjnsbdakjhfbk. wrote:
has anyone undertrained and yolo'd a marathon from the start?
I'd say the vast majority of finishers at your average marathon have done so unwittingly.
You should go out at sub 2 hour pace and see what happens. Go for it !!! What's the worst that could happen? And there is a chance that you could make history !!!
People do this all the time with similar training backgrounds to op or even less. In bad cases they are sore and can barely jog for a month afterwards. Not that big a deal.
In the worst cases, they tear muscles or break bones.
You're not going in blind or stupid. Looks like you're fit enough, trained enough, and your fitness profile is good enough. Go for it.
And for gods sake 31 is prime time!
One year when I was in law school I had a really good fall of training, but only had a chance to run one race. I was training with this friend of mine who was a bit better, and we were hammering a 10 miler once or twice a week. I was getting about 50 miles a week and had done some 15 milers. In the lack of other races to go to I signed up for a marathon on short notice (a week or two).
I started very controlled and was strong through 20. I hit it in about 2:12 and took 49 minutes to run the last 10K. I had 3:00:59, which was a BQ back then, and it turned out to be my lifetime PR.