Advice please

[AnnieW55]

Well, with just over 6 weeks to go to the York marathon I have a question re-tapering. Having read of people getting twitchy about doing too little during taper time, I'm wondering if My ASICS has it in for me 😮 as it doesn’t seem to taper that much - but it may just be me. My last week fits in 4 runs, including the marathon, when I’ve only been doing 3 a week on the plan. Also not sure if the longest run of 32k is too near The Day.

Long run this week is 28k

8/9 28k

15/9 12k

22/9 32k

29/9 16k

6/10 12k

14/9 Marathon

My other runs are all 5k and then either 8 or 12k.

I was wondering whether to leave as is or swap the first 12k with the 32k so that run is 4 weeks before the marathon?

Hope that makes sense. Would value any thoughts.

Thanks

[misswobble Marathon]

I would do the 32 k a month before the marathon! I did my long run 3 weeks before, hurt myself, so was sweating on the top line as I couldn't run after that!

Your taper week should be modest and slow I would do three runs on taper week and nothing more than an 8k, then say a 5k, and on the day before, or two days before, just a jog round the block

[AnnieW55 in reply to misswobble]

Thanks MW. That was my thinking but wondered if I was being a bit too cautious.

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

The first 12k is there to give you a rest between those two long runs, I'd have thought. I did this same plan before the Brighton Mara 2017 and was fine, but it wasn't my first marathon. What Wobble is saying sounds fine though, if that's what you prefer 😊

[misswobble Marathon in reply to roseabi]

We are more mature ladees so we have to be cautious.

[AnnieW55 in reply to misswobble]

😮😂 sad but true. Doing my first marathon at 63yrs 9months

[misswobble Marathon in reply to AnnieW55]

I Jeffed mine cos of the hip thing but it worked a treat. I finished strongly 💪🏃‍♀️👍. I think I will do it again in November 🙂

[AnnieW55 in reply to misswobble]

good ole Jeff 😄. It’s an option I’m sure I will be using.

[AnnieW55 in reply to roseabi]

Thanks Abi. Think I’ll stick with my idea for now and see how it goes nearer the time. As MW says we older girls need to be careful 😄

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to AnnieW55]

Oh absolutely! I was just thinking actually that for my first marathon I did my own plan, and although I think my longest run was 3 weeks before the race (I must have read somewhere that this was a thing), I took the last week completely off!! 😊

[Lordi Marathon]

My marathon is on Sept 9th and I did my longest run last Thurs Aug 23rd at 31km. I don't plan on doing anything too long now, just a few 5k looseners and maybe a 10k. My main aim is to have a fresh pair of legs with no niggles when I get to the starting line. I don't think I will lose much fitness over those 2+ weeks. I'm not exactly planning to "run" my marathon though, just a joggy attempt to simply get round/finish and hopefully try to get as close as I can to 5hrs as a first pb. If I manage to finish it will be exactly a year since starting C25K!

[AnnieW55 in reply to Lordi]

You decided against the full distance in training then? I think that was a wise decision (says she with zero marathon experience ☺️). I think I’ll go with my gut feeling nearer those weeks when deciding to swap them around or not - at the moment I am.

I’m doing mine the same as you. I keep saying I’ll be happy to finish on the same day😉 but secretly would like to be around the 5hr mark. This came as a bit of a shock to Mr Annie, who will be spending a lot more time in York than he expected! He thought I would be round the course in about 3 1/2 - 4hrs as “I have been training long enough” 😂. Needless to say he doesn’t run, but is very supportive 😍.

Good Luck with your marathon.

Look forward to hearing about it.

[Lordi Marathon]

Yep. The 42k idea faded once I'd done 31k and 42k was more easily in sight from that distance. I asked myself at 31k "Could you carry on for 11km now?" and I knew I could, so there was no need risking a full 42k.

I feel I could run the first 21k easily in about 2hrs at (6:00) would then suffer to get the next 21k run faster than about 7:30...so overall I plan to just jog the whole way at about 7:00 at get a first marathon pb I can have a crack at next year.

[benwill Marathon]

Yes looks about right, as others have said and done the same plan. I did the plan for my first marathon and done a couple since without a plan and still not been able to beat that time. Stick with the plan have faith in the plan. I normally taper two weeks, and then half the distances and do slow less as the day becomes near.

[ju-ju- Marathon]

We are all different and it depends on how much you are used to doing etc.... I took my mileage right back from the week before to barely anything so that I would have fresh legs....