1st Marathon Training Plan

seanynova

Hi,
I entered the Edinburgh marathon for my first marathon, never really ran before but have been fit enough from hurling and doing a bit in the gym during the winter etc...

I started training on week 1 of the runrepublic sub 3:30 plan,...on week 7 now(finished tomorrow).

In the programme, the key runs are as follows
week1, 11m
week2, 13m
week3, 10k race (40:59mins)
week4, 15m
week5, 18m
week6, 20m
week7, 1/2 mar race (1:29:30mins ish results are not up yet)
week8, 20m
week9, half mar race
week10, 20m
week11, 22m
week12, 18m
week13, 12m
week14, marathon!

The advice i'm looking for is: there is no half marathon on week 9 in my area or anywhere near me for that matter...but there is a 10m race. should i do that and then maybe do the limerick half, which is on week 11? maybe shifting the 22m to week 10?

For a first time marathon, are long runs more important than a 10m race? i see on runnersworld that there are a lot of 10k-10m and half races and only 3 lsr's 16m, 18 and 20m. my programme has me doing 1x22m, 3x20m and 2x18m.
Is loosing one of those for a 10m race a good idea?

Thanks,

ecoli

seanynova wrote: »

Hi,
I entered the Edinburgh marathon for my first marathon, never really ran before but have been fit enough from hurling and doing a bit in the gym during the winter etc...

I started training on week 1 of the runrepublic sub 3:30 plan,...on week 7 now(finished tomorrow).

In the programme, the key runs are as follows
week1, 11m
week2, 13m
week3, 10k race (40:59mins)
week4, 15m
week5, 18m
week6, 20m
week7, 1/2 mar race (1:29:30mins ish results are not up yet)
week8, 20m
week9, half mar race
week10, 20m
week11, 22m
week12, 18m
week13, 12m
week14, marathon!

The advice i'm looking for is: there is no half marathon on week 9 in my area or anywhere near me for that matter...but there is a 10m race. should i do that and then maybe do the limerick half, which is on week 11? maybe shifting the 22m to week 10?

For a first time marathon, are long runs more important than a 10m race? i see on runnersworld that there are a lot of 10k-10m and half races and only 3 lsr's 16m, 18 and 20m. my programme has me doing 1x22m, 3x20m and 2x18m.
Is loosing one of those for a 10m race a good idea?

Thanks,

Wouldnt advise two half marathons in two weeks your body wont recover properly. Racing has some major benefits but you must give your body sufficient time to recover in between races and make sure to get a few long runs in also no reason why you cant alternate between LSR and race every second/third week. With the half out of the way i would recommend races between 5m-10m

village runner

I would do a mararthon pace run. A 20 miler at marathon pace 5 weeks beofre a marathon would give you some lift(take you 3 weeks to recover from). Worked for me in the past.
With 2 weeks to go do a 10km race........If you could get in a few 5 mile races allcthe better once they dont interupt the key session(long one)
Odd 15 miler midweek wount do you any harm.
Based on your half you should run 3.15 odd so run your long ones at 8.15 or so....If they feel slow great.

seanynova

ok, cheers....ill work on my pace for the LSR over the next few weeks and maybe do one of the races, possibly the limerick half as the course looks flat enough, might give me a confidence booster if i get a lower time eg sub88mins or so...