Couch to marathon in 4 months…?

[alwayslemons]

I’ve just started the couch to 5k and am quite enjoying it. I’ve never been a runner, but I really want this to be a regular part of my life now. New beginnings, good habits etc. Once I get to the end of it I’m going to start signing up for proper 5k and 10k runs. But there’s a marathon I really want to do this autumn and I keep thinking bugger it, I’ll just sign up, it’ll be good for me to have a goal.

Is it insane to go from zero to marathon in just over 4 months? I have no expectations of getting a decent time, and I’m sure I’ll walk good chunks of it, I just want to do it. I’m 38 and reasonably fit. What do you think?

I would say it’s possible if you don’t mind walking some of it. The biggest risk is that you injure yourself by increasing your mileage too quickly, so make sure you take it slowly and listen to your body.

I would injure myself increasing the mileage that quickly.

Couch to 5k is 8 weeks. It's a hell of a jump to 42k.

I got up to 13 miles in training for a marathon before picking up a silly injury, was fully recovered for the marathon which was 2 months afterwards and it was horrendous.

Do it next year and work up gradually. Get some 5ks in, then 10ks. Then half marathons. You'll get the bug... 🏃

Make it your goal for next autumn. Marathons are generally hard but they're HELL if you're not properly trained, even if you're a distance runner. Take your time and keep on enjoying the training and you'll probably end up doing a second marathon!

Pushing too hard is a sure fire way of stopping running either through injury or through it just being horribly hard and no fun at all.

I'd say it's not possible. I have been running for years. I wouldn't want to train for a marathon 5 months away.

There's a wall at 20 miles. The training is to overcome that.

It's a bit of a stretch tbh. Have you even completed the 5k? Do a few park runs then a 10 and a half, then the marathon.

Is there a half marathon route too? I wouldn’t risk it. I was at a similar point and did a half and am still running. Not sure if I had tried a marathon I’d still be a)alive or b) running.

I wouldn't do that. Leave it for next year. Don't risk injury or making running too intense in these early days.

Remember; it's a marathon, not a sprint (literally).

Aim for next year. It will be a miserable 4 months and a miserable marathon. I've done it and don't recommend it!

Give it a year. 4 months is optimistic for people who have regularly been running 5-10k twice a week or so for years.

I’ve run two marathons and more half marathons than I can count on mixed levels of training.

Go out tomorrow and just try and run 5km. If you are reasonably fit and have done a few weeks of C25K and have a good base fitness it may well be you can already do 5km in which case it’s possible. It won’t be a fast one but you’ll get round and learn a lot! If you struggle with running 5km non-stop then stick to the programme and look at one for next year.

I think that's too much to soon. Couch to 5k is quite gentle. Once you're doing 3 x 5k a week if you try adding another 5k run or increasing the distance of one or more of those runs you will really feel it. I did couch to 5k, was reasonably fit and could probably have managed 5k much quicker than the programme. Then I did a 10 week plan for a half marathon but found it really tough when I got to 7 miles and more. 3 weeks before the end I got a niggle in my knee and kept training on it. Ended up injuring myself and unable to run for months after doing the half.

I agree with PPs.

My reasoning is not necessarily your fitness. It's the amount of time it takes to a) train for a marathon & b) physically run it (or walk it).

To make it not miserable & not an endurance, you need to have a consistent 7 day training programme (planning rest & easy days is part of the programme) and be able to put this ahead of other commitments. For example, when training for my first marathon, I had to give most of Saturday to the long run - eating right, planning the route, running it & cool down / eating after. (Now that I'm much more experienced, it takes less time as I intuitively know what works & don't need as much prep).

It's a really big commitment & you've to really want it. Very easy to get discouraged.

Focus on the 5k. If it goes well, work from there - some people find a particular distance they love eg running half marathons & focus on that, some keep going to marathons & beyond.

You need to enjoy it, fundamentally.

How fit are you generally, what other sports do you do (and at what level) and how many hours a week do you spend on them?

There's a world of difference between say a competitive cyclist who is trying out a different sport and someone who does the odd fitness class.

If you have got an excellent base level of fitness and are injury free, then it might be possible (especially if you've competed in other distance events and know how to pace yourself and how to plan fuel). But it'll be demanding, and you need hours of training. And as likelihood of injury is quite high, it also helps if you have nothing else coming up that injury would spoil.

If complete newbie, the enter it for next year.

Start going to parkrun. I was fine doing couch to 5K then when I started parkrun realised I was very very slow! I aimed to speed up at that distance rather than increase my distance and it worked well.

What's your motivation for a marathon this autumn?

Sorry I would agree with others that it might be slightly ambitious. I run regularly and would normally allow 3-4 months training for a marathon and that's from a starting point of being able to run 10 miles regularly. I think it would be unenjoyable and liable to get injured to start from nothing.
Another thing to consider is that for an autumn marathon - the peak of the training will be in warm weather

I have done something similar and ended up pulling out 2 weeks before the event. It just wasn’t enough time - I might have been fine, on a good day, but there was a strong risk I’d injure myself or be unable to cope if conditions (or my own health) were less than perfect on the day.

It might have been enough time if I’d devoted every spare moment to training, no holidays that didn’t incorporate training schedule, no indulging etc, but I didn’t want to do that! Depends how single minded you are I guess.

Oh op I genuinely absolutely love your c25k endorphin fuelled enthusiasm and optimism! But I think it would be a bit bonkers to be honest.

Beginner marathon plans are typically 6m.
I've "Jeffed" (frequent run/walk intervals) my first marathon which took a lot impact off it, but even as a seasoned HMer, it was still a major commitment. Life does get in the way, and some slack to shuffle the plan helped to cover the milage and allow rest when needed. Missing training runs is stressful and can lead to increased injury risk if you don't build up well.

If you're fit, motivated and ambitious, it's doable to do a couch to HM which would be ambitious enough on that timescale. That then gives a decent base to work on for a marathon next year. Being used to 13mi, it wasn't so bad to do 14, 16, 18, 20, but by 20mi it was still 4+ hours on my feet, a massive difference from 2-2.5 hours doing a HM. 20 is still a 10k race short on race day! Because I jeffed, I was much fresher than most people around the 5 hour mark, but there were still niggles.

A good plan should have some strength/ cross training and lighter recovery weeks. That's at any level and recovery is even built into weeks 5-6 of C25k. You want to be able to enjoy it, not get injured or find the while thing stressful.

I usually train for a marathon over a 16 week plan... but I'm almost always starting from a point where a 10-12 mile run is perfectly comfortable.

I think you'd be mad to try and train for a marathon over such a short time period from almost a standing start. And if we have a hot summer like last year it will be even harder. I found the long runs properly tough last summer, and I run c 30 miles a week normally. Go for a half this autumn and then maybe a spring marathon.

I'm sure Chris Evan's book about training for marathons is called something like "119 days" which is pretty much four months. I'm not sure what base level of fitness they are expecting at the beginning of the 119 days but perhaps check that out before deciding.

Also, by rushing into a marathon, it's easy to burn your enthusiasm out too quickly by ticking off the big bucket list challenge too soon.

Distance isn't everything and when you can run 5k it's worth building a bit more stamina and then playing with pace and different structures of runs (intervals, tempo, hill repeats...) It often takes time to learn to control pace. Beginners often have run or walk, and it takes time and experience to learn to adapt pace. Running slower is a useful skill to have before doing very long runs as it reduces stress, exhaustion and injury risk. Long distance for a runner that only has one running pace can make it much harder.

I’m starting marathon training for an October marathon shortly and worried how I’ll handle the increased mileage - but I’m a 5 day a week runner, averaging 30 miles a week. I’d be very worried about injury risk training from scratch in 4 months, it will be very hard on your body.