Ready for first marathon or not?

yeah you should be ready. it takes more than a week to recover from a long run, so you were still fatigued. just stick to taper and you'll do fine.

I don't think most novice plans would have you do 2 20 mile runs 1 week apart. I realize your pace was 'easy', but still 20 miles isn't a trivial effort for mortals.

I'm guessing your second run was unpleasant because you hadn't fully recovered from the first one. I'm also assuming you probably ran a few days after your first 20 miler too.

Since your first run was promising, I'd guess a nice 2-3 week taper and you'd be ready to go.

Thank you both for your kind replies.

When did you run your 1:48? Was it recently?

It’s normal to have a few awful long runs. Will prep you mentally for the last few miles of the marathon.

However I’m a fan of the every other week long run. You may have been running for a few years now but you are still a novice for the marathon. Try taking a recovery week between your20-21 milers next time. Maybe back off to 15-16 miles. 20-16-20-16 ect.

You seem ready for your marathon. I recommend a full 3 week taper.

Runnergrl,

Sorry for the late reply. It was in March. I ran another half marathon four weeks prior, in February, with almost the exact same time. That's when the idea of a marathon crept into my head. My best half marathon pace is about 8:12/mile and I thought if I could run a marathon at 9:08 pace, that would be under four hours. But the halfs were run in cold dry weather and now it's hot and humid. On the other hand, I've put in four good months of training since then, a lot of it in the heat and humidity. So I'm puzzling about what would be a reasonable pace to start and maintain. Any ideas?

Usually it takes some consistent higher mileage and a mix of longer runs of slower and faster MP efforts. You may have a good one only to have the next to be a disaster. For us mortals having a really good day on marathon race day is a rare thing imo. Plus you never know what the weather might do to ruin what might have otherwise been a good day.

20 mile runs is more than enough for the first marathon. I'd like to see these sandwiched with some short MP runs, like 3 mi easy with 12 at MP. A four run cycle: 20/15/18/12, where the 12 comes off a very easy week. This would be at least 3 months with the race coming after the 12 mi easy run as part of the taper.

If this works out for you, you will learn what your body will tolerate and can make adjustments from there.

Remember, recovery is where the gains are made, so easy and rest days need to be that. As you start getting into a higher level of fitness you will be tempted to run more or run faster or both. That is the welcome mat to injury.

mjk63 wrote:

Then this Saturday, I tried a 21 mile run, the same pace, even a little slower than the week before, and felt like I was suffocating at about mile 17. It was more humid than the week before, but not much. I finished the run but I was a mess.

You are planning an August marathon? In the northern hemisphere? Seems very risky, weather-wise, especially as I suspect the humid weather affected your most recent long run. Can you schedule an autumn marathon?

I also agree with the others who suggested you weren't fully recovered from the previous long run.

Personally, I never worry about crashing and burning on long training runs. It's happened to me often, and doesn't predict a poor marathon. Last year, I had to walk the entire last mile of my next-to-last long run, but after a few weeks, including a taper, I was fine on race day (at age 58).

Also, my overall mileage for my two most recent marathons is similar to what you've been doing. I had assembled these stats in the context of another discussion, but for what it's worth, will share here, too:

Age 57

12-week avg mileage: 22

Peak mileage: 46

Long runs: 18, 20

Marathon: 3:25:27 (7:52/mi)

Age 58

12-week avg mileage: 36

Peak mileage: 51

Long runs: 20, 20, 18, 20, 18, 22, 20

Marathon: 3:07:23

Allen1959,

Are you a cyborg? How could you run such fast times in your mid-to-late fifties with such modest weekly mileage? Your marathon paces are similar to my best 10k paces.

I'm expecting bad heat and humidity but I've been training in those conditions too. I'll try to run smart, but this being my first marathon, I really don't know what to expect.

Thanks for your response.

Thanks to all for your advice. I ran the race three days ago and it was very humid but not so hot and I finished in 3:59:21 at a steady pace. I was exhausted at the end but didn't hit the wall, a good first marathon, thank God.

I've been following the Hal Higdon Novice 2 program, which is four days a week, in general two shortish slowish runs (3-5 miles) and a faster longer run (5-8 miles) during the week with a progressively longer slow run (up to 20 miles) on weekends. There was no speed work, hills, intervals. I can't fit in more than four days a week of running because of my work schedule. Any suggestions on what to change to make some progress now?

Thank you.

mjk63- Congratulations on going sub-4! That's a quality run, and impressive as a first marathon and especially on a humid day.

Sorry I missed your comments last week, thanks for the kind words. I'm not a cyborg, but I have been training, off and on, for 46 years, so I guess I've had lots of time to work on it. (Also should note that my best marathon was 2:40, 36 years ago).

The training for both of my late 50's marathons were augmented with some bicycling. When I ran 3:25 at age 57, I was running only two or sometimes three days a week, but also biking 2 to 3 hours a week (two rides).

My runs were 8 to 12 miles, never two days in a row, and with a longer run every other week or so.

I wasn't running any workouts, but the runs were usually "progressions" -- starting easy, but finishing faster than marathon pace. Since I was fresh for each run, I often averaged faster than marathon pace.

The bike rides were as fast as I could go for 20 to 26 miles on flat roads (19-20mph).

I know your work schedule is demanding, but if you could augment you running with some additional aerobic conditioning (stationary bike, elliptical, etc that can be done early morning or at night) a couple days a week, you may see appreciable gains.

Last year, at 58, I upped my mileage and added VO2max and threshold workouts, and ran 3:07. That required a lot more training time and dedication -- running and biking (two or three 1-hour rides a week).

BTW, in my late 20s and 30s when I was working long hours, there were a quite a few years when I didn't break 4:00 (I always ran at least one every year from age 22 to 35). So you're doing better than I did!

Good luck. And thanks for updating us with your results. Well done!