Posts Member

+1 on the biking and running. Crosstraining really enhances your marathon training. I had my best marathon ever after tri season. Good luck and go for it!:)

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I disagree that a marathon makes you a better runner -- it depends where you are in your running and what your goals are. If you are a newer runner, I think that you should build your speed first. It is easier to build endurance than speed, so I'm going back to getting faster and then will up my endurance again, bringing my speed with me. The best way to improve your running is to run frequently, and to throw in some specific, focuses workouts (intervals, hills, etc). If you start with going longer and longer, you're going to stay about the same speed for all of it, if not get a bit slower.

I'm not saying don't do a marathon -- just that it isn't necessarily the best way to improve your running. They are fun though, and if the challenge of it or goal of it is the motivation, go for it :)

Posts Member

To re-enforce Kylie and MarkyV (not sure why they are so in agreement) I should have clarified that I was trying to race my marathon, and not just 'do one'. If you are just starting out do the shorter faster stuff first. I was coming off of a couple of years of running and trying to improve my run vs my other two disciplines.

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From Jan - April about 60% of my training time went to running as I prepared for my first marathon. About 18% to swim and bike, and the leftover time for weights. Just over 7 hours per week average during the span.

My running performance increased dramatically from 5k to half marathon. It's hard to say where I'd be if I had done more speed work instead of long runs for the marathon. According to the Jack Daniels running table, my marathon time should of been 18 min faster (based off my 5k time), so I think working on endurance helped me more than if I would of focused on speed. Either way, I'm happy I did the marathon. My only regret is running it to finish instead of taking more time to determine a goal time, and trying to get it.

I'm also thinking of doing an ironman, which is part of the reason I wanted to do a marathon. If you finish in 3 hours, but can't run a 5k in under 22 min, then you know for sure that you need some speed work to improve for 2009. Or you could get a coach that can give much more accurate advice based on evaluating your performance.

Posts Member

for what little I know (not a coach, ironman or fast) but it may make you a better runner but not a better triathlete a stand alone marathon is very different from Ironman marathon after cycling for several hours.

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I would say that it's good to use both swimming and biking as cross training through your plan for the marathon. They each help build different muscle groups, which helps keep you well rounded.

I know from my own experience, that swimming has helped my breathing in running. You can't breath freely (as in running or biking) so you need to learn to control that. Swimming did wonders for my running in that aspect. Which, in turn has helped me run faster and more efficiently.

Biking has also really strengthened my legs (some different muscles from running). But, that has made my legs more efficient. And, biking has given my legs a higher turnover rate, thus, helping my legs have a higher turnover rate while running too.

All together, within the last 3 months (yeah, I know I'm a slow runner) I have gone from running 11 minute miles to the mid-9 minute miles. And, I don't feel any worse, actually, I feel better about it. Maybe in another 3 months, I'll be down below 9 minute miles or less, or, the same.

So, I think that you definitely need to cross train, and not throw the other activities to the curb. Just my .02 though. :)

Posts Member

LOL, I obviously didn't do the math, just tossed some numbers out that seemed right. I'm still shocked at how fast you have to run mile splits in order to run a 3 hr marathon. I'm even more shocked that pro marathon runners can sustain 5 min/mi or less. Crazy.