IM and Marathon training
md6
Posts: 969
in General Chat
So This year is going to be a big one for me, i'm doing IMCH but have also entered a marathon as i didn't do one last year which was the plan. The marathon is in April, IM in July. I didn't think this would be a problem but looking at the training plan from Be Iron Fit, by the time the marathon comes round my running should be a max of about 2hrs according to the plan. So are these two goals going to be compatible or will the marathon adversely affect my IM?
0
Comments
A training partner of mine is doing his first IM at IMCH and I'm doing the Gloucester marathon with him at the end of Jan, as I've told him I believe it is important to know you can crack the full marathon distance before going IM. 2 months for me was way to close, 7 months for him is obviously fine, but 3 months for you might be close.
If I'm following a training plan, I try to stick to it, but I reckon that if you alter you training plan intelligently, and you force yourself to treat the marathon as a long training run, you should be fine.
stucumber - maybe try and meet up before Brighton or something?
Roll on 28th December, first day of training - REST DAY
That difference in time, 3 months, is probably right where your biggest blocks of time will be in IM prep and you'll be recovering from a tough race. Not a good way to set up a successful IM. I'd think a fall marathon would be great with a summer IM, you'd have plenty of time for a good build cycle before the race.
I ran my first marathon this year - I was really suprised how long I needed to recover from it.
8 after the marathon I felt fine until I tried to run a 10k, my legs were hurting after 3km....I really think it took something like 3 weeks before I was back into my training plan.
I've got Luton marathon in a couple of weeks in prep. for my first IM next year. Training's going OK and I should run around 3:15 (or better). What sort of IM marathon time would that indicate, or is there no hard-and-fast rule?
On your other point, I ran a marathon many years ago, and wanted to re-acquaint myself with the distance before next year. I was originally going to run Leicester M at the beginning of October, but a cold put paid to that. I figured that it'd be better to get it out of the way this year, regroup over the winter and then hit the mileage again in the spring. I can see that trying to fit one in in the spring, as some people do, is asking for trouble.
Plenty of people have done excellent IM runs without ever having run that far in their preparation. Running a marathon that 'close' to your IM will have risks attached in terms of your IM performance.
At the end of the day though it it's what you want why not do it. I helped an athlete who used to play hockey even on the occasions when the games were a day before her tri's or duathlons. When she asked me about it I told her 'that from a performance perspective I wouldn't suggest it but if it's what you want to do , no worries'