Two marathons in one day - how would you structure it?

Training Advice/Discussion General

1 month ago 03/12/2024 11:45pm EDT

You have been challenged to run two marathons in one day (we'll take this to be any consecutive 24 hour period) in the fastest possible time. Your time will be from the start to finish of the first and then the start to the finish of the second (the time spent in between does not count as long as you complete both within the 24 hour window).

You could, if you chose, run 52.4 miles in one go.

You could run a marathon, take a one hour break, and run another one.

What's the optimal break? If you wait too long, you'll get cold and stiff, but too close together and you'll be tired.

Would you wait 8 hours? 16 (and take a nap in between)?

1 month ago 03/13/2024 12:06am EDT

re: DontFeedTheTroll

Depends how fit the person is.

But id start running at 8pm, finish the marathon in however long it took. Go to bed. Wake up. And get the rest of it done before 8pm i guess. Also id never do this.

1 month ago 03/13/2024 12:11am EDT

re: CalicoCat

I did that one time and I did it as a challenge.

I ran one ran one marathon ace starting at 8 AM and I ran another marathon race starting at 4 PM. I'd reccommend that since it worked for me.

1 month ago 03/13/2024 5:01am EDT

re: Tim the Fast Turtle

That's easy, just maximise the rest in between according to marathon time. You get cold, stiff, then recover for ~17 hours.

1 month ago 03/13/2024 10:19am EDT

re: DontFeedTheTroll

What have I been training for?

1 month ago 03/13/2024 12:53pm EDT

re: DontFeedTheTroll

I did basically that in January for a dumb mileage challenge, it was around 51.5 miles in ~27 hours, albeit in shorter intervals than marathons. I'm not sure what format this hypothetical is, but I'd probably keep pretty short loops so you can eat frequently. You're going to need to eat ~7000-8000 calories so you'll have to eat during the runs, which I found was easiest stopping every 5 miles or so for a few minutes. There's really no feasible way to eat that many calories with just good clean foods that isn't just going to make you super bloated for running, so be ready for eating some junk food or chocolate milk.

Running it slow (slower than easy pace) is going to be key too. You need to keep your legs from blowing up, but also you need to be digesting food the whole time and it's much tougher the faster you go. Sleep is very important as well, so as other commenters said your best bet is probably going from evening one day to afternoon the next day. I split mine into three 15 mile runs and a 6 mile walk, but I was just going for maximum mileage that week rather than specifically 52.4 miles in 24 hours.

Although 50 mile races do exist and people do them all the time, so maybe an actual ultrarunner would be a better resource for this question.

1 month ago 03/13/2024 6:37pm EDT

re: DontFeedTheTroll

Is there any time limit for each marathon?
Assuming not as you have not mentioned it. Depending on your fitness level I would just walk/run it in one go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1 month ago 03/13/2024 7:38pm EDT

re: DontFeedTheTroll

One in the early morning when it's cooler. Rest. The other in the evening when it's cooler.

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