Am I crazy to sign up for a marathon with only a couple of months of running experience?
Jacob
Running coach answer: Signing up for a marathon as a newbie runner
Mike Gratton:
You’re not crazy, but running the marathon will likely be doubly difficult.
As with all of these things, it depends on your start point – a regular runner can make changes to his/her type of fitness in 8 weeks, although that is still far from ideal.
If you are a relatively new runner, then building base endurance in the time allowed isn’t realistically going to be possible. You should aim to build up in steady increments and aim to be as consistent as you can be in the time available.
Probably, the key element is to gradually lengthen your longest run to 2hrs and aim to do two or three runs of this duration in the buildup – even if they are slow or run-walk. While this is going to be nowhere near the marathon distance, from a physiological point of view, your body will make some adaptations that will benefit you. And you’ll gain some confidence.
Frequency is also a key builder of endurance. If you can get out one more day per week, you’ll gain additional stimulation from that run, even if it is an easy ‘recovery’ run. You will get the benefit quite quickly. Be cautious not to increase volume too much and too quickly as, although your cardiovascular system will adapt and improve quickly, adaptations to your body structure from the additional volume are slower, and the additional stress can lead to injury.
The biggest key, though, is to set a realistic target for the marathon and set out at a pace that corresponds. If you are too ambitious or set out too quickly, you will likely run out of energy early in the race, and the second half will be extremely hard work.
It is worth remembering, that a very high percentage of runners finish the marathon they start – the motivation to do so is very high – the state that you finish in is up to your prior training and your pace control during the race.
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