This question is more a training one then a question that specifically target the athletica platform. However I’m sure there’s a lot of experience here.
background: ran 400km in 2021, 1180 in 2022, 1700 in 2023 (and as of today 874 km in 2024). In the past I was essentially playing soccer. Now with athletica I’m on mid volume 4 to 20 hours per week
Along running I do Muay thai (~5 hours max per week) and I try very hard to keep 2 strength and conditioning session per week. I also do some yoga and mobility session during the week. I sleep an average of 7h45 and more when I can, I almost completely stop drinking alcohol, I eat clean and have a nutritionist. Since 2021 I haven’t been injured (maybe niggles and nothing remotely serious)
I’m 54 years old male
In 2023 I decided to do the following races in 2024
- 5k in may 11th
- 18k trail in may 20th
- half marathon october 6th (that would be my fourth one )
but in my province we have a sort of road running championship, I did very well in my age group in the 5k in may and now if want to qualify at the end of the year I need to do 4 races which would be:
a marathon 8th of september
a mile 20th of september
10k 20th of october
never did a marathon. However I see later in my athletica plan overview weeks of over 120k (and my plan is only for an half marathon october 6th) I have the feeling that’s the kind of volume someone would do for a marathon
I look forward to run that kind of milleage, I already feel empowered.
My question is do you think it’s possible to fit a marathon, a mile and a 10k in that schedule ? I also find it’s kind of short to start training for a marathon. What is your take on this
Hi @headgeek. Congratulations on your increasing run volume and fitness while staying injury free! It sounds like you have a healthy and balanced lifestyle regarding fitness and nutrition.
In my opinion, the hardest part of what you are proposing would be the mile on September 20th. With the fitness you currently have, you can be ready for a marathon by September 8th. I think the key will be to focus on daily recovery (even multiple times per day) the 12 days between the marathon and the mile race. It often takes 2-4 weeks or more to fully recover from a marathon.
I don’t know what your current recovery looks like (sleep and quality nutrition are a great start) but I would start trying different things out now to figure out what works for you. There are tons of options - massage, foam rolling, hot tub, cold plunge, percussion guns, recovery boots, etc. Figure out what works for your body leading up to your marathon and recover “hard” after. Take plenty of time off/easy days after the marathon. Don’t worry, your fitness will still be there. You will still want to mix in just a little bit of strides or short efforts before the 1 mile race to remind the body of what it is like to keep the tension in the legs.
You will probably receive a lot of great advice in the forum. I would also recommend the Athlete’s Compass podcast and the Crushing Iron podcast (triathlon related, but with 700+ episodes to find topics that fit).
Let us know how everything goes!
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Hello and welcome to Athletica. I would echo what Jeremy says about the recovery after the marathon.
My comment is simply on Athletica: the program will get you in the best possible shape on race day. You may need to make a few adjustments for recovery after the marathon, though.
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Thanks a lot, I’ll check for extra recovery tools. I’m also an avid podcast listener, the athlete compass is among them (although I don’t listen to them while running) thanks for the extra suggestion I’ll see if there’s anything in this other one.
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I’ll definitively look into extra recovery tools, since just getting more sleep, avoiding alcool and eating well might not be enough. Getting started on those new tool asap so I can nail the right ones.
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