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Original poster

London Marathon 2025 Panic!

31 replies

GE237 · 02/03/2025 18:31

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? 😪

OP posts:
Original poster
GE237 · 03/03/2025 14:40

@AmusedBouched I appreciate that, thank you :) I have an awful trait of turning very negative when I have a bit of a setback with anything - my fault really for expecting it all to go smoothly! You're right though that it's all part of the training - it's not only physically taxing but mentally too!

OP posts:
ForAzureSeal · 03/03/2025 14:52

roundaboutthehillsareshining · 03/03/2025 11:31

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.

This is great advice! 👏

Starlightstargazer · 06/03/2025 23:06

Have a look at jeffing technique. Maybe start with running 3 or 5 minutes, walk 1-2 minutes and go from there

Original poster
GE237 · 07/03/2025 20:51

Massively grateful for everyone's comments and advice on this thread. Sadly, I'm still not able to run due to a lingering cough and bad chest, so have decided to defer to 2026.

Extremely disappointed to say the least. I would probably be able to complete it with a combination of running/walking however that was not my goal. Would much rather build a strong fitness Base for next year and give it a good go rather than drag myself around this year and not have a good time. 😪

OP posts:
CanOfMangoTango · 08/03/2025 07:45

Oh that's a shame. But the best decision for your future health - there's always another race. I know London is the big one you won't want to miss though. Mixed feelings when you're watching it on tv I expect

Best of luck for recovery & you can have a nice long base build into winter

Original poster
GE237 · 08/03/2025 20:40

Thanks @CanOfMangoTango safe to say I'll be watching the marathon on the TV in April with a major slapped arse face 😀

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