Push through or back off?

[Traci]

I am training for my first marathon. I am a novice runner at best. I train with a group of competitive runners, which keeps me motivated, but has also taken me from a base of 10 miles per week 3 months ago to 45 miles last week. They are all training for the Mountain Mist 50k here in Alabama. As part of their training they are running a half and a full marathon in the upcoming months. I started out just training for the half, but got to 13.5 miles easily, so thought I'd try for the full. I run slowly, but did my first 18 this Saturday. I have handled the additional miles well and without injury. The only problem is that my legs are exhausted and my feet ache all the time. No specific injury, just fatigue I think. My question is....do I keep pushing through with my training, do I take some time off, do I back of my miles or my pace? I don't want to end up injured, but also don't want to use fatigue as an excuse not to run. Any advice?

[Jon Allen]

If you are feeling that bad, it is your body warning you that you are pushing it more than you are ready.  Back off, take a little time off, then start going again and see how you feel.  If you push through, you will likely end up injured or burnt out.  As for the marathon- there is a big, big difference between one successful 18 mile run and a marathon.  I would suggest building up a lot more before you do a marathon- do it right the first time rather than suffering for a marathon.

Read this post:
http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,1177.0.html

[Sasha Pachev]

Traci - Jon had good thoughts. To this I would add some more thoughts I got from looking at your training as well as the info you provided.

You essentially just ran an ultra. Yes, 18 miles for somebody who has spent most of the previous 12 months running 10 miles a week is equivalent of an ultra. So count your blessing that you do not have an injury from that. The big question is what to do to recover.

Probably some jogging - 2-3 miles a day at a very slow pace, maybe 11:00. 6 days a week. A week should be enough, if you do not feel better after a week, then make it 2 weeks.

After that start with 6 miles a day for 5 days, followed by the long run of 10, followed by a day of rest. If you still feel good after 3 weeks of that make it 7 miles a day and 12 for the long run. Do not be in a hurry to run the marathon. Run a good half first.

[Traci]

Thank you both for your advice. I didn't realize until I read your posts, that I was really hoping you would say "Hang in there. Keep logging those miles and your legs will adjust." As many people on this blog have said, running has gone from being a chore that I felt I had to do to lose some weight to something I look forward to everyday. The thought of going "backward" in my mileage is heart-wrenching, even though I know you are most likely right. I really have been feeling good until after my 18 on Saturday which was followed by 2 days of hiking in Tennessee while carrying my 14 month old. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up the idea of running my marathon. It isn't until December and I have two 20 milers and a 22 miler planned between now and then. I think I will take your advice and back off my mileage this week and see how I feel next week. If I don't recover or start to feel overly fatigued after picking the miles back up, then I will reconsider the marathon. I know I'm being stubborn...when I end up injured, feel free to tell me you told me so!

[Jon Allen]

Sounds like a good plan.  A low mileage week every now and then can definitely help you train better the rest of the time.  And if things don't go great, there are always marathons at a later date, like Sasha said.