Long Term Goals/Plan
223
Member
735 days
JRH posted 1 year ago.
do want to do the marathon or do you think you need to do it for an ironman training? I'm not an ironman, a coach or all that smart but a stand alone marathon is nothing like a ironman marathon and in my EXTREMELY humble opinion not necessary for your first IM. but if you want to do a marathon I think 3 months following on the heels of a half IM would be enough time to recover and get back into it. my lousy .02 would be to pick up on 16 week program after you recover from the half. BTW the philly marathon and timberman are both great races
proud and high or low and humble - many miles before I go
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29
Member
1224 days
Cardinal223 posted 1 year ago.
If running a marathon is not "necessary" prior to running an ironman that doesn't really effect my decision. I think for me, the running of a marathon would be more for mental training. Like you said, running 26.2 miles solo vs. at the end of an ironman are vastly different animals. But I think that the mental gain of having put in a marathon will be extremely helpful when coming out of T2 at whatever IM I choose to race and knowing that I have run that distance before.
4482
Member
1633 days
kylie posted 1 year ago.
It will really depend on how fast you heal from races. You should have some idea based on how the others have felt, and just imagine that being worse. I personally think that 3 months from a half a marathon would be just fine, but again it is going to depend on your body and how it heals. But many people do a half IM leading up to a full, so it can't be impossible.
I did a marathon before my first IM as well. I was glad I knew I could go the distance and had some idea of what time it takes me when fresher (I didn't taper for that race but still hadn't ridden 112 miles right before it). I think I benefitted from that: during the IM as I got off the bike I knew I could do the distance, and I got it done.
173
Member
890 days
wesmeyer11 posted 1 year ago.
I will be doing WF half IM before IMCDA, which is a little less than two months before. It is doable and a good training tool as well. As for the marathon...(depending on whether you are racing or participating - there is a HUGE difference) a stand alone marathon can be harder than a marathon in the IM. Running is simply harder on the body than any of the other three elements, and in an IM you just don't have the gas to run fast enough to put the wear and tear on your body that you can when running a stand alone marathon. As long as you get to 18 or 20 in your IM training you should be fine. Once you have that under your belt, the marathon would not be my big concern in an IM, rather I think your focus should be pacing yourself on the bike so that you can finish the marathon. How you perform on the marathon doesn't necessarily correlate to your ability to run a marathon, I think it is more a factor of how you pace your race on the bike. You need to give yourself the opportunity to perform, and by going too hard on the bike you can do yourself in. Sooo...stand alone marathon is not necessary...I would focus on training for the bike, your long runs and develop a good plan, and the ability to recognize when you may need to deviate from it, which is why doing a half IM is so critical.
3354
Member
1401 days
RV posted 1 year ago.
While running a stand-alone marathon is not required for an IM, there was no way that I was going to attempt the IM without doing a marathon first. Just a mental hurdle that I needed to cross first.
I did a HIM in late July and did the marathon the first weekend of Oct. I modified my training to be more run focused and had no issues. It was a great confidence boost for my IM prep.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
1008
Member
1192 days
PJT posted 1 year ago.
Doing a marathon was important mental training before my first IM. It's not strictly necessary for everybody, but if you feel you want it, then go for it.
3 months after a HIM is enough time to get fit for a marathon. Just be sure to take a decent recovery break after the HIM before rolling into marathon training. You'll probably have to pick up a couple of weeks into a plan, but if you've been doing long runs as part of your HIM training, that should not be a problem at all.
1767
Member
1395 days
brittda posted 1 year ago.
I will be doing a HIM July 8, and then doing IMC at the end of August
This will be my third year of doing triathlons, the first year I did sprints, last summer a mix of sprint/olympic and this year I am focusing on olympic. My ultimate goal is to work up to an Ironman, but I believe that will not happen until 2009. Next year I plan on doing some early season olympics and then Timberman 70.3 in August of '08. I then planned on doing a later season Marathon (thinking Philadelphia in November '08). My question is, if I complete the HIM in August of '08 and have never done a Marathon before, will that be enough time (roughly 3 months) be enough time, or do I need to try and figure out a new kind of progression?
I know that this is a long ways off, but I have found that setting goals, no matter how far off, create much greater motivation and allow me to focus more.
Thanks