How Long Should I Wait to Run 2nd Marathon?

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

2 years ago 10/13/2021 10:40pm EDT

Hi everyone, I'm running my first marathon this November. I was never much of a runner before I decided to sign up (bit of an impulse decision) -- longest run maximum 5km before I started training. This past 1.5 years I've been building up my base more (running 3-4x a week, longest runs around 15km), but didn't start marathon specific training until about 12 or so weeks ago.

I know I haven't even run my first marathon, but I'm already excited for the second one. How long should a newbie like me wait till running a second one? I'm wanting to do Paris in 2022 but not sure if the 5 month timeline is too narrow. I'm obviously wanting to improve on the time from my first marathon, but not having done it yet it's hard to say how realistic that is!

2 years ago 10/13/2021 10:58pm EDT

re: heywhatsupdudes

Most likely outcome: you'll get 14 miles into your race and discover that running a marathon really sucks. Maybe you'll finish, but you'll swear never to run one again.

Best outcome: you'll realize that you're badly untrained, and that you could be running faster and enjoying the experience more if you were better prepared. You resolve to spend at least 2 years training for shorter races and building up to your next marathon so you can run it seriously, not just finish it.

2 years ago 10/14/2021 8:59am EDT

re: heywhatsupdudes

Not gonna be as negative as the previous poster but I do think it's a good idea to finish your first marathon, take some time to enjoy the accomplishment and recover, before planning out next steps. If you feel good & are motivated to run more marathons, then something like Paris is perfectly fine. It's pretty normal to see a marathoner choose 1 fall race & 1 spring race. Your marathon is in November so you lose a month from October but 5 months is plenty of time to get ready.

2 years ago 10/14/2021 1:57pm EDT

re: NERunner03533

One thing i'm wondering about is if it'll make much of a difference whether I rest/recover for a while and then jump right back into marathon-specific training or if it would be more beneficial to focus on shorter distances, like 10km/half marathon for a while.

My longest run before my taper was 20 miles & I felt good during that (hoping that translates to actual marathon!), but I can definitely see how having more of a base to be able to handle consistent higher mileage would've also helped during my training.

2 years ago 10/14/2021 2:54pm EDT

re: heywhatsupdudes1

Yeah you really can't go wrong. If you choose spring marathon, you do base work over the winter before getting into your specific phase the last 8-12 weeks before your race. You could also build towards a spring half (or 10 miler or 25k), with some shorter races in your plan. Then hit some 5k work in the early summer before building back up a good base for a fall marathon.

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