10K or half 3 weeks prior to marathon?

one vote for the 10k. you've probably done a lot of work at half marathon pace and 10k pace might help you turn over the wheels a bit more. if it doesn't go well, who cares it's less specific than a half is to the marathon. basically, i think a poor performance in the half would hurt you more (mentally) than a poor performance in a 10k and a good performance in the 10k would help you more than a good performance in the half.

Sounds like the marathon is not a big priority if you're willing to jeopardize it by doing a 100% race effort 3 weeks before. Doing a 10K won't kill your chances but you make it seem like someone is holding a gun to your head in having to line up for the local race.

lol, I ran a marathon 3 weeks before a 100k.

kkhjkhj wrote:

Sounds like the marathon is not a big priority if you're willing to jeopardize it by doing a 100% race effort 3 weeks before. Doing a 10K won't kill your chances but you make it seem like someone is holding a gun to your head in having to line up for the local race.

No, the marathon is a big priority. I'm just wondering if a race 3 weeks prior would potentially hurt or help my marathon.

If racing could mess up my marathon chances, would the 10K hurt me less than the half marathon?

If racing could benefit my marathon chances, would the 10K help as much as the half marathon?

If I race, I race. I can't imagine participating in a race (especially the only big local one on the calendar) and holding back and just doing a 13.1 mile MP run. But I don't want to ruin my marathon either. Really torn on what to do.

Local Luke wrote:

No, the marathon is a big priority. I'm just wondering if a race 3 weeks prior would potentially hurt or help my marathon.

If racing could mess up my marathon chances, would the 10K hurt me less than the half marathon?

If racing could benefit my marathon chances, would the 10K help as much as the half marathon?

If I race, I race. I can't imagine participating in a race (especially the only big local one on the calendar) and holding back and just doing a 13.1 mile MP run. But I don't want to ruin my marathon either. Really torn on what to do.

hold back and do the 13.1 mile MP run

At this point the 10K race will hurt you less, but benefit you little, assuming that you've been doing regular speedwork in your build-up. I wouldn't race at all and save the emotional energy for your A race.

There are plans out there that have you running 10k tune up races two weeks out (pfitz). It won't hurt you unless you have the worlds slowest recovery time, or hurt yourself.

Run the half, but get 7 miles in before the race and run the half at goal marathon pace (try to time it so it's continuous), maybe running the last 2-3 a little faster. It's an appropriate workout and you get to do it with the support of a half marathon/crowd/water stops.

People saying to do the half aren't reading that you can't do it as a training run. Do the 10k. I did a 10k 3 weeks before my PR marathon, which I took 10 minutes off my time. I thought the 10k went well, but I think the course was inaccurate, definitely short, so it left me wondering about my fitness a little, but not really.

You can recover from a 10k in just a few days while a half marathon might take longer, up to 2 weeks. Plus, there are so many people that run great halfs and then do mediocre full marathons. This even happens with elites, so I would be careful about doing a half.

Race the 10k. Guys like shorter use to run a hard 5k/10k a week before the marathon. A hard effort in either the half or the 10k won't hurt your marathon performance, but if you happen to get hurt then it's all out the window. So no matter which distance you pick, if anything goes wrong you better bail.

I choose the 10k becuase it's a little less impact trauma on the legs compared to the half but it's still a good predictor of marathon performance. Also you will probably run a better 10k then a half marathon on no or a short taper, becuase i suspect you won't be tapering for this race.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the input. The 10K is a good option. I'm leaning towards the half marathon but as a hard effort training run.

What if I ran 7 miles at an easy/warm-up pace prior to the half marathon, then ran the marathon the best I could, starting at marathon pace and if I was able to go faster gradually pick up the pace til I get to normal half-marathon pace for me? Or would that risk burning me out for the full marathon 3 weeks later? It'd be a tough 20 only 3 weeks out.

3 weeks to a marathon? You need to be running 20-22 miles this weekend. Pass on the race. Or go volunteer for it if you're set on being involved.

Don't put at risk the past four months of training.

Local Luke wrote:

Thanks for all the input. The 10K is a good option. I'm leaning towards the half marathon but as a hard effort training run.

What if I ran 7 miles at an easy/warm-up pace prior to the half marathon, then ran the marathon the best I could, starting at marathon pace and if I was able to go faster gradually pick up the pace til I get to normal half-marathon pace for me? Or would that risk burning me out for the full marathon 3 weeks later? It'd be a tough 20 only 3 weeks out.

This is a pretty typical workout at three weeks before. Don't taper for it, and if you want to go nuts and push the pace, save it for the last 3 miles. Otherwise I'd advocate sticking to GMP. With running beforehand and the lack of taper, it's going to be a tough effort.