London Marathon 2025 Panic!

[GE237]

Hoping for a bit of positive kick up the arse as am feeling very negative this eve in regards to my London Marathon training for April 😩

My training plan started in January and up until about 2 weeks ago I had built up a good distance up to 16k with a comfortable pace. Right after that I got hit with a bug followed by a rough chest infection which has knocked me off training for 2 weeks. I thought I felt good today and went out for my scheduled 18k long run. Absolute fail and I aborted 3k in as my breathing went to shit.

Am sat here now in an absolute panic that this marathon is in April. Is there any hope? 😪

There is still 8 weeks, so I am inclined to say yes.

Rather than writing off the last two weeks, look at it as cut back or recovery, which is still an important part of training.

You're just entering monster march where the long longs are so could you convert your long runs into time rather than distance? And get some decent ones in upping the time on your in your feet rather than the distance?

If you just want to get round and not a time in mind I'd say yes...... I've done a fair few marathons I'm not super quick and always train to time and my longest long runs are only 3.30/3.45hrs

Could you look into run/walking or jeffing?

Hold on, so you've been ill for two weeks and your first day back you tried to jump straight back in to your schedule and do your 18k long run? Is that right?

Depends what your aim is. Did you have a specific goal time in mind, or want to run the whole thing? If so then, in the gentlest possible way, I think you need to defer. If you have only got up to 8/9 miles in training so far - and that was in January- then you are going to really struggle to get back in track. By this point in training, for the marathon on 29 April, you should be properly into the long runs of 2h30 to 3hrs, but you can't just jump up to that without having built a base.

That said, if you're happy just getting round with a lot of walking, then go ahead and keep building your mileage slowly. Good luck with whatever you decide.

It takes time to get over a cough and cold so of course you can’t pick up where you left off. But that doesn’t mean you’re starting at the beginning either. Take the next week easy, run and walk if that’s easier.
It’s about time on your feet so even a walk is good training. You could also substitute a run and try swimming instead for a week or 2.

You will be fine, there is plenty of time to build the miles back up. Best of luck, it’s an incredible marathon to do!

@CanOfMangoTango errrr yes. Yes I did 😳 I got a bit too cocky I think seeing as my last few long runs were so easy so thought just jumping back in would be fine. Clearly not! Big reality check!

Appreciate everyone's comments and points! I'm not a newbie to running, have been doing so since 2018, but it's my first marathon. My goal is just to finish although I would be happy with anything around the 5 hour mark.

I was following a 16 week plan with the Runna app and was going with what mileage they were suggesting. Will have to re jig that now and see where I stand!

My PB is just under 5 hrs doing run walk after an injury!!

You'll have the best day there's something very special about London!!

So for most other races I'd say "just do it anyway" but London is a bit different as it's so difficult to get a place that it is often a once in a lifetime or at least once per decade race. On that basis, if I was you ( and I appreciate I'm not) if I could defer my place I would, using the time to build a really solid base this year, whereby i'd be comfortably doing a half at slightly faster than marathon pace by October and then build to marathon from that.

If you can't defer, the above is irrelevant and I'd do it anyway and just train as much as I could between now and the race, albeit with a good 2 week taper and then employ some sort of run/walk or pacing strategy so that the last 10km aren't too unbearable.

In general I don't love 16 week plans because particularly at this time of year, you inevitably get ill or injured which writes off a couple of weeks, and there's not enough slack or foundational work built in.

So for most other races I'd say "just do it anyway" but London is a bit different as it's so difficult to get a place that it is often a once in a lifetime or at least once per decade race

Agree. Unless you can guarantee yourself a place with GFA or champ entry then London is near-impossible to get into. Presuming this is a ballot place, OP, I would defer to 2026 and give yourself chance to have a decent run, rather than struggling round this year.

Realistically, your training is far too far off course to get it back on track for this year. You could spend the next six weeks upping time on feet, but to get from 8/9 miles where you were before your illness, to being able to comfortably be on your feet for 3+ hour long run/walks by the end of March, is a huge ask.

London is a brilliant event so if I were you I'd want to have a proper go at it next year rather than struggle round and potentially have a really miserable time this year.

I do t think you can defer once you've accepted a place- I was in similar position, I was really unwell over Christmas and have just had to accept my place is gone. The opportunity to defer is at the point places are allocated as far as I am aware, you can't defer at this stage? Although happy to be proven wrong because I'll defer mine as well!

This is what it says on the website:

Places via the ballot, running clubs and stakeholders
If you secure your place through the TCS London Marathon Ballot or have a guaranteed place from a running club or stakeholder (such as a local authority, emergency service, volunteer group or another group), you can defer your place to the TCS London Marathon the following year. You’ll still need to pay the entry fee for the following year's event to secure your deferred place and we’ll email you with details of how to do this

Not sure if any deadlines have passed though. I've never had a ballot place so I'm not clear on the fine print.

You can defer up until the night before unless they've changed it recently!!

One option would be to change up your training now to emphasise recovery. So rather than going out, trying to run 18K on an unwell body, failing and stressing, try some cumulative fatigue work. Can you run 10k? Try splitting your 18k run to do 10k on one day, then 10k the next. The microbreak of 24 hours will allow your lungs and CV system to adapt to the pressure, support healing taking place in your body, reduce fluid build up which should support your body, but still delivering the same overall training effect.

The last marathon I ran, I didn't run a single training run longer 15 miles. But I did do 10 miles one day, 10 miles the next for my longest training run - so ran more often for shorter distances. This was the most successful marathon I'd had in terms of strength, speed of recovery, consistency of splits and overall pace.

As others have said, it really depends why you're doing it! My training for London was thrown off hugely by an injury so my longest run prior to marathon day was 13 miles. I did OK for the first half of the race, using some preventative walking-running. The stretch around the Isle of Dogs was hell on earth but then it all picked up after I took some strong painkillers 😂

If you want to get a particular time then I'd say definitely defer if you can. But if you aren't bothered about time (or can't defer) then you should totally go for it. The atmosphere and experience is incomparable and was probably at least, if not more, meaningful to me than feeling that I'd "done a marathon" (it was my first - and still only marathon). On the amount of training you've done, I'm sure you can get round. It just might not be particularly fast.

The stretch around the Isle of Dogs was hell on earth but then it all picked up after I took some strong painkillers 😂

I feel like that bit always sucks because psychologically it's so hard to turn away from the finish and run a giant loop back to where you started. When I did it it started hailing just as I turned off Tower Bridge and I was like "seriously??"

Thanks everyone - I didn't expect to get much response! haha

This is my second ballot place for London (I'm very lucky) - unfortunately my 2020 place went to shit thanks to Covid then fell pregnant so was massively surprised when I got a second ballot place for 2025.

The dreaded "deferral" word has been floating around in my head if I am honest. I've had a look and I think I can defer up to 48 hours pre-race with a ballot place and I am starting to think it might be the only option at this rate. Like many of your have said, I would rather be able to go into it, fully trained, healthy and enjoy it, rather than having to slog through it with by walking/running.

Can't help but feel like such a failure if I push to next year :(

@FeelinTwentySixPointTwo @JollyHostess101 thanks- I did try this but couldn't find out how to do it.

www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon/unable-take-part

This is what is currently on the deferral page, I think I was looking too early before because it has changed. However, there still is no actual way to defer yet, it just says the option is available in March. Sounds promising though at least, I will definitely be trying to defer my place. I was gutted to miss it, I'd got up to 25kms in training runs.

@thenewaveragebear1983 it's soul destroying isn't it! Sounds like you got much further ahead than me in training as well!

I'm very much considering deferral now after reading this thread - will sleep on it then make my decision this week. Very disappointing :(

Mine was later than now but it was pretty simple you just have to pay again next year!

The relief when the physio told me it wasn't the best idea to take part as I'd been thinking the same thing and went home and did it so I wouldn't be tempted to carry on training 🤣

The year I got knocked down at mile 4 though I was stupid and carried on to the finish and did some right damage to myself but that's a different story.....

I thought so - yes as you've discovered its usually not that simple.

Such a shame that illness has ruined your buildup.

I agree with @FeelinTwentySixPointTwo that if you can defer you should.

For such an iconic race (which I've never done, loads of ballot entries and never got GFA!) you want to give it your best shot.

One tip from me is do a 20 week programme but start at week 3 or 4 to build in that buffer. There's always something that comes along to derail your progress.

One tip from me is do a 20 week programme but start at week 3 or 4 to build in that buffer.

This. Also, start from a decent base - so, say a spring marathon having run an autumn half and kept up the mileage.

While cardio fitness wise it's possible (if very hard! to go from zero to marathon in 20 weeks, the reality is that it's tough on your body and your musculoskeletal side of things if you're not used to distance running.

I've lost count of the number of people I know who think they're smashing the training cycle and then end up injured (usually a knee or a stress fracture) when you get into the 3+hr long runs.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of doing strength work and yoga/pilates etc on top of the runs. I didn't for years but noticed a real reduction in injuries and niggles once I made it a proper part of the training cycle and not just a 10- minute stretch.

Good luck with whatever you decide, OP. London is a great race to run, so putting yourself in the best position to enjoy it seems sensible.

@GE237 I have just looked again and it seems that they email when deferrals are open so keep checking your inbox

before you defer, everyone has a setback in their training as I don’t think it’s possible to get through all the training without illness/injury.

if it gets up to a month of no training then consider it, but I don’t think you should give up yet. Just accept the training schedule may need to change a bit. If you want to DM me to chat more feel free! Part of the training in my opinion is also dealing with the psychological challenges of thinking you can’t do it because your training hasn’t gone exactly as you wanted!!