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Original poster

I've been offered a last minute London Marathon place, am I mad to take it?

36 replies

Skade · 20/08/2021 09:45

The hospital charity where I work have just emailed me to say they have a last minute London Marathon place available due to injury, and do I want it? I had till midday to respond so have said yes Confused

Currently I run around 25-40km a week, broken up into 2-3 5km runs and 1-2 10-15km runs depending how I'm feeling. I did a half marathon in just under 3 hours in May which went okay, but haven't tried it since.

Marathon is 3rd October so I have 43 days to train, is this doable? And does anyone know of any good training plans? Hoping people with marathon experience can help here! Thanks all Smile

OP posts:
BabyRace · 21/08/2021 13:02

I know it's passed your cut off time but do it! You can run a half, so plan on run walking a significant part and have some longer run periods in between. London is apparently an amazing atmosphere, definitely a massive achievement to be able to say you've done. Good luck!

shivermetimbers77 · 21/08/2021 12:58

I did the London marathon with only a few months of training aged 26 and totally knackered my knees! If you feel your joints can take it, then go for it, but my advice would be to pull out if you have any knee injuries. It’s not worth it!

Original poster
Skade · 21/08/2021 12:49

Well I've been out this morning and done 13 miles in 2hrs 37mins which I'm pretty happy with! Only stopped to walk for approx 10 minutes of that at various stages. Absolutely shattered now though!

OP posts:
ReviewingTheSituation · 20/08/2021 14:41

Many training plans (I think inc the official London ones) have this week as a 'cut back' week, so that 12 miles is based on having done 16 last week and probably 16-18 next week.

General wisdom is not to increase your long runs by more than 10%, but I'd be tempted to go a bit more than 12 if you can - maybe 14. Then 16-17, then 18-19. That's probably as much as you can get in. Ideally you'd have a 20 miler under your belt, but I don't think you've got time to sensibly get up to that distance.

Part of me thinks you're bonkers, and part of me is a bit jealous! I have a place for next year, but they just moved next year to October. My charity did ask me if I wanted to run this year, but I don't have time to get the long runs in and I don't want to 'wing it'.

StarttoFinish · 20/08/2021 14:40

I think you can do it. I think it's unlikely you'll enjoy it, which is a shame. I've seen too many runners progress to marathon distance too soon and then never run again because the love for it is all broken Sad

Original poster
Skade · 20/08/2021 14:35

Thank you both, I'm happy to walk a bit/do a bit of jeffing! I have done walking ultra challenges before (50 miles of the 62 mile London to Brighton in 2018 but didn't finish, and in 2019 and this year i did the 31 mile Jurassic Coast Challenge) so am used to being on my feet for long periods of time, I just have never run that kind of distance.

@emmathedilemma I'd estimated around 7 hours in total to get it done. I walked the 31 mile jurassic coast one (which has brutal cliffs) in 8hr 45 so I think I'm being realistic, I'm not the fastest runner usually, averaging about 4.6 miles an hour.

I need to go and research fuelling and hydration, in fact I need to go and research pretty much everything! Thank you for setting the scene for me, if I know what to expect it hopefully won't be TOO bad! Grin

OP posts:
emmathedilemma · 20/08/2021 11:12

If a half marathon took you nearly 3 hours then you're probably looking at 7hours or so for a marathon. That's a long time to be on your feet with little training. I walked a virtual marathon charity event in just over 7hours earlier this year and that included time to stop and cross roads and queue for public toilets so it's definitely doable within their cut off times.
If you're a slower runner then you really need to base your training plan around miles not times as time of your feet is the critical bit if it's going to take you quite a long time. You also need to work out your fuelling and hydration tactic and if your trainers have a lot of miles in them I'd invest in a new pair in the next couple of weeks.
If you've never run with other people then expect it to be very overwhelming! I've done big city races and London nearly finished me off! It was just too much - epic sized start area (felt like i'd done a half before I even got to the start line), ridiculous loo queues, crammed in like sardines in the start pens, shoulder to shoulder running for the first half (although that might be better if you're further back in the pack, i think the middle is worse for this), water bottles being thrown over your head.....

Icytundra · 20/08/2021 10:18

It depends, if you're happy for it to take 6-7 hours of run walking- absolutely. It's an incredible experience. If you want to run it all, not long enough to train!

Original poster
Skade · 20/08/2021 10:15

No, never run a marathon before, I only took up running at the age of 47 during lockdown and discovered I loved it Smile

I need to start thinking in miles instead of kms, I get completely confused!

I think I should be able to get an 18 mile run in before tapering, I'm resting today and tomorrow now then going to do a long run on Sunday. Looking at the London marathon training plan, I'm on week 10 and it's saying run for 2hrs 15 or 12 miles this weekend, which seems doable to me? Am assuming it's a good training plan as it's the official one!

I just feel wracked with nerves already though! I only ever run on my own for my own wellbeing and have never actually run with other people so am worried it will be overwhelming. The other part of me thinks what an amazing thing to do before I turn 50!

OP posts:
sunshineandshowers40 · 20/08/2021 10:09

Have you run a marathon before? I would be tempted as the atmosphere at The London Marathon is amazing but I'm not sure 6 weeks is enough time (although do know someone who has also just accepted a place).

A positive is that you only have about 5 weeks of training! Do you think you would be able to get a 18 mile run in before tapering?

Good luck!

GoWalkabout · 20/08/2021 10:04

I am training for the virtual London on the same date and to give you an idea, I have got up to 15 miles on my long run, I am going to do 18 next week then 20 a fortnight after that and then taper from the two weeks to go point.