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?

No. My fiancé is a runner, runs everyday, frequently runs half marathons at the weekend. He was a wreck at the end his last marathon!

OP definitely work up. I have been a runner for years and years and have never ventured further than a half (have done many half marathons though and this is a good distance). You risk injury by pushing it too soon.
See if the race you wish to enter has a shorter distance. Then you can consider the full next year.

Agree with all the previous posters . I think you will suck all the joy out of running by over committing too early to a marathon and also risk being injured. Aim for an under hour 10k or if you are really confident a half marathon and make next years goal the marathon

It's a cliche but, as the saying goes, when it comes to marathons you have to respect the distance. They are extremely hard, even for those experienced runners who have trained well.

I've seen many a decent runner who is used to half marathons absolutely crash on their first marathon because they didn't realise just how different a marathon is, and how things can really go to pieces after that 20 mile mark.

As @AuntieStella said upthread, your chance of success really depends on your base level of fitness. If you're switching to running from the bike and have a high level of cardio fitness, as well as strength to get you round, then you may be in with a chance. If you are a complete newcomer, then no. The chances of injury in training are far too high and you'll end up not just injured, but probably hating running forever.

I would aim for an autumn half marathon, which is a big enough ask in itself, and see how that goes. Then another half in spring 2024, and a 16 week marathon training block in summer 24 - building from the base fitness you'll have by then - before a marathon next autumn.

Finally, on fitness - with new runners, your cardio fitness tends to improve much faster than your musculoskeletal system can keep up with. Hence you feel you can run faster and further, but as your bones and muscles aren't up to it yet, people end up with runners knee/ plantar fasciitis/ stress fractures etc. Things like this can set you back for months and aren't worth risking.

That’s great that you are enjoying the couch to 5k!

How are you finding the incremental increases – because that will give a good insight as to where you are?
With any endurance type event especially running which requires running, a rule of thumb is to increase how much you do by 10% to ensure that you don’t risk injury regardless of your baseline fitness, as though fitness will obviously translate from one type of activity to another, you have to consider the amount of load you are putting through body.

I did it. Have a read of this book The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer by David A. Whitsett and Forrest Dolgener.

Update: I’m signing up for a half marathon instead.

Fantastic, OP! Good luck and enjoy. Do you have a HM training plan?

Not yet… any suggestions?

Good choice!

It's a challenge, but it is far more doable, less consuming and fewer injury risks.

Ultimately you want to reach a goal and come out the other end still able and enjoying running.

I think that’s a good choice. How many weeks do you have? Once I finished C25k a few years ago I just kept doing 5ks for a couple of weeks to get strong at that distance - if I remember correctly at the end of C25k I wasn’t actually running 5k, I was running for 30minutes, and couldn’t do 5k in that time, so that was my first target. Then I found a similar programme for building from 5k to 10k - I think that took 6 weeks. Then I started adding 1k a week to my long run until I got to 17km and that was the longest I had ran before my first HM. Worked for me, I built up fitness gradually every week and got in in under 2 hours in the HM and was delighted.

Good luck!

Brilliant. I love it when an OP asks for advice and listens to it.

I am a keen and competitive runner. Half is my favourite distance.

What are your criteria? Things to think about.
Distance from home
Terrain
Size
Crowd support
Cost
Goals (good to have A,B and C goals which you can go for on the day depending on how your training has gone, the weather and how you feel on the day).

Hi alwayslemons,

As a baseline rule of thumb, you want to have your race distance roughly half your weekly mileage. This gets you to a place you can comfortably run for the whole race. So, in this case, you’d want to be running 26 miles weekly to feel you’re at a good place to run the half marathon.

I don’t know your current weekly milage, but I’d guess with a slow ramp up it’ll take you longer than 4 months to get to that stage. A slow ramp up is vital to reduce injury risk. Once you’ve got the bug for running, the worst thing that can happen is that you injure yourself and you’re sidelined = decrease in fitness.

A couple of thoughts on alternatives if interested:

1. If you have the time to do more exercise on a weekly basis, want to ramp up your fitness, but don’t want to increase injury risk, try adding cycling instead of more running. You can increase volume of aerobic exercise without the impact forces from running. It takes a long time to build up connective tissue strength for more safely running long distance (think years!).
2. How about doing a challenge walk instead. The UK has some challenging and beautiful walks that can provide a goal, but with lower impact. As an example, a few years ago, I did the Lyke Wake Walk.