I talk a lot of smack about starting earlier than the doctor says to, but it's all hot air. I'm not going to take a chance, the doc wins . :) Don't think that I haven't considered a variation on Laura's suggestion. A variation that includes a great deal of gause and a belly button full of Neosporin.
So, I lose 4 weeks officially and 5 weeks really since this runs this week are more maintenance runs, and the last few days of the last week are going to be 'return to running' days. This means I really have 13 weeks till the marathon. Assuming I could dive back in with no transition I could just do the last 13 weeks of Hal Higdon's marathon novice plan, since that's where I was last week. Diving back in with no transition isn't realistic, and is potentially injurious, so we won't be doing that. This was the only article I could find after a cursory Google for information about how much recovery it might take to come back to running. It's assumption for 4 weeks or more is a running related injury, but seems valid.
Here's the current revised plan:
Apologies if the table is all messed up and you have to scroll down. Blogger and I aren't getting along.
| M | T | W | Th | F | S | Su |
| 4.88 | 5.2? | 5? | ||||
| 2 | 2 | |||||
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 3 | 13 | |||
| 3 | 7 | 4 | 10 | |||
| 3 | 7 | 4 | 15 | |||
| 4 | 8 | 4 | 16 | |||
| 4 | 8 | 5 | 12 | |||
| 4 | 9 | 5 | 18 | |||
| 5 | 8 | 4 | 12 | |||
| 4 | 6 | 3 | 8 | |||
| 3 | 4 | 2 | Marathon |
If I can survive the ramp up, I'll continue to shoot for the full, but with only one 18 mile run, instead of the generally recommended run of 20. I've shelved any unofficial time goals for the full given that plan, since I'll be a little undertrained, at least in my opinion. If I can't get back onto the schedule the way I would like, I'll run the half in November, and find something early next year. There are too many people from the marathon club running in November to not run at least the half.
Comments on running a marathon with only an 18 miler more than welcome.
3 comments:
I did a 16 miler and then one 22 miler before doing my first marathon. Also, I only ran once/week. I think just 18 would be fine.
Also, my suggestion was half-kidding :) But it could be worth asking the doctor about? I wouldn't ignore his advice but maybe you can come up with another solution.
personally, no experience (obviously!) but my lab hosted a marathon class last year and trained "recreational runners" (never had run a marathon, several could only run for 30 minutes the first day) for 12 weeks with the longest run of 18 miles. everyone finished. so you might not break any land speed records, but it will most likely keep you injury free. good luck!!
I can't speak from experience (yet) but I've seen several programs that only go up to 18.
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