Running help needed

[mellongoose]

What have I done?! 🙈 I'm 45 and a half and I am a plodder not a runner. Everyone overtakes me! I have agreed to train for a marathon (not U.K.) later this year.

Last year I walked a really hilly 26 miles for charity so this year agreed to this. Am on C25K wk 9 and will need to repeat it I think.

My problem is that I hardly go very far. I plod and probably go faster in the walking bits! Please can anyone help with this!! I am keen to train and run 3 times a week but feel as though I am not getting anywhere fast!!

Good for you! You can totally do this.

When (and where) is the marathon? When you say you've agreed to train for it - with someone else?

The first step is to build up to running comfortably 3 times a week - don't worry about the distance. Just make running a habit, and get your legs used to it. DON'T WORRY ABOUT SPEED.

I'd work backwards from your marathon and find a training plan. I'm hoping you have at least 20 weeks? The key is to build in a sensible, structured way, to avoid injury. You'll need to get to a point where one of your runs each week is a long run (most plans call it a Long Slow Run), but when you start to add this in/build the mileage depends on when your marathon is. Ideally your other 2 runs will also have a 'point' to them (thinks like a slightly faster run, or some hill running).

If there's someone else involved, can you train with them? If not, can you find a local running group? Support can make a marathon training cycle SO much easier.

It is a big undertaking - don't underestimate it - but it can be very rewarding, and you'll get a HUGE sense of achievement at the end of it.

If you can give a few more details then it will be easier to offer advice.

Firstly don't worry about speed. That will come as you increase your runs. When you say you'll need to repeat do you mean week 9 or the whole program.

How long until the marathon?

I’m on week 9 c25k now and I’ve signed up for a 10K in June. I’ve never run that far before and I’m mildly nervous!

Are you sure you want to “repeat” c25k? I’m going to move on to a 5k to 10K programme instead. I’m hoping I’ll get faster as I get more used to running the longer distances.

When you’ve gotten used to running 3 days a week and got through the whole C25K, you could try adding in some interval training on one of your runs.

After a warm up - steady jogging/plodding (I know that feeling!) for5 mins, try running as fast as you can for 20 seconds. Then plod/jog for 40 seconds. Then run like hell, then recover by walking/jogging.

Do about 5 intervals to start with, then over the next few weeks, increase the length of time when you run like hell. And decrease the active recovery time. Keep it to EMOM though- every minute on the minute.

Interval training can be really tough by the 5th time through, but it’s short! And it really does improve speed and fitness

When is the marathon, and what's your aim? If your plan is to get round in one piece you might be ok, but if your plan is to run it - and you're currently struggling with c25k - I would perhaps think about putting a 10k or a half in first, as a more realistic goal.

A 26 mile walk is a very different ask to a 26 mile run!

Draw up a plan from the marathon dates and get in "rest weeks" of reduced milage every 4 weeks or so to allow for recovery.

Warm up well including mobility movements. Stretch after. Add a strength workout to your routines.

Look up the NHS C25k+ podcasts. There are 3 Speed, Stepping Stone and Stamina. These are a good way of introducing different paces. Your long run should be slow though.

I've not made it to marathon distance yet (I should have been training now but picked up an over use injury from a congested race season in the autumn) but once I cracked 5k which took a while, it was relatively easy to build up to 10k and HM. If time is plentiful, 10k is a good base of fitness to stabilise at for a while.

Thanks all. Really kind and helpful advice.

To answer some questions;

No firm date yet but I think marathon is in October.
When I say repeat, I mean wk9 or possibly weeks 6-9, but after reading some of the e advice here I think I like the idea of the 'run like hell' interval training!!
My week day runs are fairly flat, but Sunday run is hilly and will be the only one I can make longer, so will be hard.

Thanks for your kind remarks. I'm really excited to try and achieve this 💪

Also, to answer @fellrunner85 , I totally agree! I would like to try to run most of it, if not all, but I will never be expecting to run in under 5 hours

Just keep building up gradually after doing the C25K. People do train from scratch for a marathon in the time you have. If your only goal is to finish I wouldn’t do interval training or speed work, I’d focus on building endurance. Keep your pace easy and build up time on legs. You will gain in speed just by running more - you will be amazed what you can achieve by October if you are consistent with training. I would build in a few more runs gradually after C25K - 5 days a week would be good, with at least one long run, but some of the others will need to increase beyond 5km, but keep the pace easy for all and just increase by a max of 10% a week.

I would respectfully disagree @Shopgirl1...

Interval/speed work is good for anyone training for a marathon, regardless of whether you have a time in mind or not. It's different on those (annoying) threads where people come along and say they've signed up for a marathon, haven't really trained properly, and want to know how they'll get round, but the OP specifically talks about 'training for' her marathon.

Speed and interval sessions don't have to be some highly technical elite runner type session, but they work your legs (and CV system) in a different way, they break up the monotony of training, and they hugely help your running fitness. I would really strongly consider incorporating this into your training, given you have so long and are taking a very sensible/planned approach to it.

It can be as simple as finding a hill in the middle of your run and then running up (and down) it a number of times, ideally pushing yourself a bit going up the hill (and using the downs as a recovery). Or using lampposts and aiming to run faster between posts 1 & 2 then recovering between 2 & 4, then going faster again. Or running between 2 lampposts faster, then later in the run going fast between 3 lampposts, and later on between 4 lampposts and so on.

Or a pyramid-style session where you run fast(er than normal) for 1 minute, then recover for 1 minute, then fast for 2 mins, recover, fast for 3, recover (repeat up to however many minutes you feel like), then come back down the time periods again back to 1.

All these will hugely help you in your training. I wouldn't start doing them until you're safely out the other side of C25K/are happy running 30 mins, but after that add them in and you'll be surprised what a difference they make.

@ReviewingTheSituation this is a new runner struggling with week 9 of C25K, she doesn’t need speed work to improve, she needs to build up to be able to manage to run 26 miles in about 7 months. A few hills to improve leg strength when she is running properly would be great, but there is no need for speed sessions right now, she needs to build up miles and get her muscles used to running.
I’m a big fan of speed work and do it at least once a week, but for a new runner it risks injury and that would be a massive set back to training.
OP would you work on running 5k 3 times a week for a few weeks and then maybe join a club? You would get good advice there and the social side is great for long runs also. Most are very inclusive and there will be groups of all abilities.

I'd recommend Hal Higdon's marathon plan. It's got a very sensible novice plan:

www.halhigdon.com/training-programs/marathon-training/novice-1-marathon/

I didn't say she should do speed work right now. Far from it! In my original post, I said build up to being able to run comfortably 3 times a week first, and then add some variety through some different sessions, rather than just going out and running 3x a week. 3 times a week is really the minimum for marathon training, so every run needs to have a point to it. It's not about going hell for leather (as you say, injury risk), but about variety and giving your legs the best chance of being able to do what you need them to do on the day.

I also said the same as you - to try and find a group to run with. They will help to add the structure that will help the marathon training process.

Can I ask how long is a "long run" as suggested here?

@rifling a "long" run is all comparative- it's just longer than your other runs.
So for a novice, a typical week might be two runs of 3 or 4 miles and a "long" run of 6 miles.
But at the big weeks of marathon training, your long run will be 18, 20 or up to 22 miles.
Obviously if you're ultra training, a long run will be further than that again.

I would also not recommend that steadier runners should get up to 20 or 22 miles on their long runs - do it by time on feet instead. Due to the amount of time it would take for a steady runner to do 20 miles, the risk of injury would outweigh the training benefits.

Thanks

They say a long run should be about 20-25% of your weekly mileage, but only when able for that. I did 16km yesterday and 60km for the week. I’m doing a marathon later in the year and will build my distance up from about 15 weeks out from it gradually, around 10% a week.

Sorry meant to add - I agree with previous response that time on feet is a good measure for a long run rather than distance.