Ronald H. Nicholson Jr. said:What's the best strategy for a basically fit but severely
undertrained runner (say a 10 mi/wk fitness runner) to
complete a marathon in the best time possible, assuming
the course time limits allow, and assuming that time-on-
feet isn't the limiter? (e.g. a hiker who can do multi-day
backpack trips at altitude, a swing/lindy/ballroom dancer
who does all day and/or all week dance camps, or someone
who's job includes spending almost an entire day standing
and walking, etc.)
You didn't say if it was a trail or road marathon. If road
marathon, then all of your above activities may mean little
in terms of conditioning your feet to run / walk / crawl
for 26.2 miles on asphalt - the same motion, again and
again and again.
Quoted message said:
What formula should one use to estimate ones finishing
time, given only a VO2 max from a fairly short distance,
5k or less, plus ones average miles/week fitness running?
ouija board 😉 I'd take your hiking times as the best
estimators, but it may depend on how many miles you hiked in
a day. Hopefully, that would be the worst case scenario, but
if you try to run/walk too fast too early, that may be an
underestimate.
Quoted message said:
I assume that trying to run the entire marathon will most
likely result in an injury or DNF for such a low milage
runner; and that furthermore an even or negative split
strategy will still result in the best time.
So would the best strategy be to:
1) forget running shoes, put on the well-tested hiking
boots and plan on hiking the whole thing (but without
the heavy backpack, yeah!).
Depending upon how your feet like running shoes or hiking
boots on roads / trails, I'd pick the most appropriate foot
wear. FWIW, I've had some foot problems, where they still
don't like asphalt at all. For awhile I was hiking up hills
(3000 ft ones) in hiking boots, then using running shoes to
hike down (that's what my feet liked at the time). Now,
after a lot of strengthening exercises, I'm using my running
shoes for all my hiking (including bushwhacking) and
running. The place where I was bushwhacking could've been
the location of an orienteering control, so I was testing
(while I was actually working).
Quoted message said:
2) walk the first 20 or so miles, then discard sweats, and
try to
run the last 5k or 10k. (obvious negative split
strategy)
3) walk the first half, then run every other (or 3rd) mile
of the last half. (perhaps a better negative split
strategy?)
3) run every 3rd or 4th or 5th mile from the very
beginning.
3) run N00 meters out of every mile from the very
beginning. (pseudo-"Gallowalk" strategy?)
5) or?
Given those restrictions, I think I would run / walk it in
running shoes, alternating from the start. Since you seem
more experienced on trails than roads, I'd probably lean
toward a trail marathon, since that might be kinder to your
feet - assuming you have ankle strength. Run / walk for me
usually involves hills or obstacles that are easier to
negotiate while walking, so this makes more sense than
fixed intervals. If doing fixed intervals on a road
marathon, I'm guessing the alternating from the beginning
will provide more rest for the different muscles, so
provide more efficient pace. I would base it on time or
obstacles, rather than distance simply because it's easier
to keep track of time than distance. You can drink / eat
during the walk breaks.
Even though you do a lot of hiking, don't underestimate the
difference between roadways - hard, uniform - compared with
trails - softer (except where rocky), more variation. Also,
if you go without high-top hiking boots, your ankles might
need more strengthening for running shoes (but may not make
a difference on roads).
But, like Joe Positive, I would have to wonder why you would
want to do that, esp. if you were doing a road, rather than
trail, marathon. I know I always hated it when some of the
trails I backpacked on back east followed roads for awhile.
I'd train for a couple years before doing a marathon. OTOH,
if you're supporting someone or a charity or whatever, I can
understand, but would think it would be beneficial to try to
increase time on legs while running.
Dot
--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd
Heinrich in Racing the Antelope
