Am I ready to run a marathon in 5 weeks?

Can anyone advise me please...I have decided that I want to run a marathon on 15th March 2013.  I just turned 50.  I have run 2 marathon's before (2007 and 2010 3'40' and 3'50' respectively).  I have not done anyone 'marathon training' yet but for the last year have run an average 40-50 km per week (albeit on the treadmill in the gym 10km 4-5 per week).  Mentally I think I can do it but.....having a few nerves set in...Its a flat marathon and weather should be pretty ok.  Can anyone help me in deciding?

Don't do it. Train properly, do an autumn marathon.26.2 miles is a mental test but the physical part is still pretty important!

Although unless you're a hippy and 15th March 2013 has special astronomical meaning for you, I worry that you've already signed up for a particular race.

Im not sure why the negativity ........ the guy is doing over 6 miles every other day .... for a fair while ......... he's got 5 more weeks and so what if he has to walk a bit. The only question is, will he get a good time? Probably not. Will he finish it ........ of course he will.

And as he didnt say 'Do you think I should enter a marathon and finish under 4 hours?' ...... I think he'll be fine.

Thanks David Falconer 3...

Yes, I am running more or less 40-50km per week (10km at time between 46-49 mins)...so not starting from scratch...but is that considered a 'type' of training for the marathon....

and yet to click on the 'sign-up' button

No it is not considered marathon specific training, especially if your "long" run is also in the 10km range. You probably would finish. I know someone who finished several marathons off less training, but really why bother if you can't do it properly?

A marathon is way more than four times harder than 10k on a dreadmill.  Do it. What's the worst that can happen?

What sort of training did you do for the previous marathons?

for the previous marathons did almost daily 10km runs with a once a week 20k run and once only a 30k run - that got me 3.40 and 3.50

cougie wrote (see)

David - the question asked was "am I ready to run a marathon in five weeks ?"

Clearly the answer is no. 6 miles is nowhere near 26. How many marathons have you run ?

Jade Goody managed to get about 18 miles into the race on a diet of kebabs and chinese and a daily walk to the shops.

Do you think when Arg from TOWIE tells people when he ran the London marathon in 6 hours 1 minute, that he always adds the line 'well I say ran, it was run and walk' ...... in fact do you think 99% of people who are  clearly walking a bit of the marathon, afterwards refuse to acknowledge that they've 'RUN' the London marathon.

Of course not ........ so when someone asks if they are ready to run a marathon, it is pretty obvious that they dont mean 'If someone was to hold a gun to my head and shoot me the minute I stop to take a drink of water at any point in the race, do you think I could still make it?'

And to answer the second point ......... I wonder if Wayne Rooney asks how many screamers Sir Alex Ferguson scored when he's giving advice to Wayne about how to play as a striker.

Toni Minichiello coached Jessica Ennis to an Olympic Gold medal. Now before he was appointed coach, I protested against the appointment because as I wrote to Athletics UK ....... 'How many Heptathalon gold medals has Toni won? So what right does he have to give advice and coach Jessica? Im also not the only one as Cougie also agrees with me that unless youve done something yourself you have no right to comment, despite the fact that there are a billion and one examples where this has not been the case. But if ignoring reality is good enough for Cougie, its good enough for me. Yours faithfully, David Falconer'

You're clearly a fit guy.  I suspect that there's a good chance you could find a way to get round the marathon. But why?  Why risk the injury that is a notable danger, given that you'll be stretching from 6 miles to 26 miles in 5 weeks? 

You might succeed (but probably not in a time that will thrill you)... but on the other hand, you might put yourself out of action for a few weeks. Is that really worth the risk?

The advice to look for a later marathon is sure good advice.

cougie wrote (see)

David - good that you class yourself in the same bracket as the coach of Jessica Ennis and the manager of Manchester united. It could happen one day eh ?

In all honesty, I think I better

There are oodles of marathons. Why do one that has you questioning whether you should do it?

Start upping your long run distance by about 3.5-4k per week and I reckon you'll be alright. OK, your longest run will only be 16 miles but you can easily just add a minute or so to your mile splits to ease your way around, and if push comes to shove then walk for a bit. It's not like you have zero marathon experience.

Having said all that, I'd probably still hold off if the date wasn't crucially important for some reason. There are loads of marathons all year round so it's not like there's a rush to get one in.

Who knows? Is the best answer I can come up with.