Harold Buck said:I'm working on planning my training and racing for next year. I'm a triathlete--I did my first
Ironman this year (slowly, but successfully)--but I'm planning to do a number of single-sport
endurance events next year. I want to do a 50k ultramarathon, but also a Marathon.
I won't be breaking any speed records in either of these; I'm thinking 4 hours is a realistic goal
for the Marathon, and however long it takes to finish the ultra is fine with me.
Does it make sense to run the Marathon 5 weeks before the ultra, using the Marathon as the
last really long run before tapering for the ultra? If not, how long do you need to wait
between the two?
--Harold Buck
"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."
- Homer J. Simpson
It depends on whether you you want to RACE the marathon or 50K, the length of recovery. Essentially,
a 50K and a marathon have similar preparation and recovery. Often, however, 50K and 50mile races are
run together as a trail run, and the largest of these in is in Huntsville, Texas at the Sumart Trail
run. This kind of course actually takes LESS time to recover from 50K than the nearby pavement
marathon in Houston. You are running the trail at a slower pace, and it's a softer surface, so you
do less orthopedic and muscular damage.
This is a good lesson for all forms of longer running: if you are just going out to have a good time
and run 3.5-4.5 hours at your TRAINING pace, then you can run as many marathons as you like to do
long runs. Most ultradistance and some marathoners run 26-30 miles every weekend any way, and the
50mile experts will run these on back to back days. Which also points out the relative amount of
base or long runs you do.
If you're the kind of person who doesn't mind doing 3-3.5 hour runs in training (and even most
Ironman folks are not necessarily like this), then you could do both the 50K and the marathon within
30 days of each other. Let's say you want to RACE one of these, perhaps the marathon. Then you do
the 50K first as a slower training run, your overdistance run about 3-4 weeks before the big event,
then race the shorter marathon. IF you combine this with some mid-week speedwork, you'll find you
can really tear up the last six miles of the marathon, which have the most to do with a good time.
If you want to race both the 50K and the marathon, give yourself 4-6 months for optimal time in both
events, just as you would an Ironman. Running more than 26 miles, especially on pavement, is the
hardest thing you can do to the body. In the early days of Ironman, folks like Scott Tinley, Molina,
etc., said they could do one every few weeks if only they would shorten the run to 189 miles (as
they do in Nice). It's the marathon run that kills you.
As with Ironman, it's really the long run and the overall base that is the key. I have found that
continuing with longer rides of 3 and even 5 hours is also helpful to the marathon, giving you a
"second long run" every week without tearing up your legs. I still do the basic Saturday long ride
and Sunday long run, just as with Ironman season, just a shorter ride maybe with or without a
shorter run afterwards. Sometimes I may do the long run on Saturday to work more on speed, but that
means you will have to go slow for the longer "recovery ride" on Sunday. Can't really expect to do a
longer peleton ride swiftly if you ran a lot the day before.
You mention just trying to break four hours in the marathon, maybe five hours for the 50K, so five
weeks should be enough. Again, start building base now, and make sure you take one or two easy weeks
every month. I did a five week rotation on the Sunmart 50K in 4:20, then went out and a marathon PR
in 3:07 just five weeks later. For the 50K, I ran the first 25 miles easy and then ran the last six
miles fairly hard, to mimic the last six miles of the marathon.
