Marathon preparation time

What is meaningful to you? You could finish the race for sure. You won't however record a fast marathon time.

Depending on your goal time, yes it’s very doable. You don’t need to run doubles or even everyday to finish a marathon.

I bet you could break 3:30 by November with the right training. I’m looking to break 3:15 on 4-5 days per week, 35-40MPW at age 44 after an 8 year break from racing.

Although I’ve been doing moderate runs 3-4 days per week for the last 5 months.

You probably won't hit your ceiling, but you'll be in good shape if you can following this plan:

You could get ready to finish a marathon in November but if you try to race it you'll probably suffer and hate the last 10k enough to regret it. You'd be better off getting ready for a half in November, run it hard, and use the time as a gauge of potential for a Spring or Fall '23 marathon.

It usually takes a year (or preferably more) and several marathon iterations to build speed/endurance AND learn the ins-and-outs of that distance. The marathon is unlike any of the shorter distances in that even the talented can't fake or brute-force their way through it.

Thank you all for these helpful replies. I would say I was envisioning around 3:00, but it sounds like that would be too ambitious.

The last time I did a serious build was just pre COVID when I started in December and was usually doing 4 week morning runs 3-6 miles most easy, some hard, followed by a 12-14 mile longer run at ~ 6:30 pace on Sunday, by about six weeks in. I also did a 1600 TT on track before the end of December in 4:55 just to assess fitness. The goal then was to target a May half-marathon, but obviously the pandemic hit.

Although I might not be able to prepare to my potential, I would like to try to do the full distance - I'm leaving the city I currently live in a few weeks after the race, and I feel like the race would be a meaningful way to finish my time here. That said, I'm not at all interested in injuring myself by working out beyond my means, so I think I need to set a realistic goal and listen to my body as I work on it.

For a plan like the pfitzinger/douglas, I guess I would build base fitness for like 6 weeks, and then start according to my prospective date?

I would agree that 3:00 is probably too ambitious. November is definitely doable for a marathon. If you want to sign up for one, do it, but I wouldn't go in with any serious build. Focus on getting in the miles. 4x 3-6 miles & a 12-14 miler resulting in a 4:55 mile is great but that doesn't scream to me that you'd be able to run what that projects to for a half (1:17-mid). The marathon requires specificity. The 3-6 milers need to be 8-9 miles. The 12-14 milers need to be 16-22. Threshold workouts with good volumes. Long runs with tempos at marathon effort. Plan it out. Go to your first marathon ready to have a good experience. Then target something with a time goal.