Done first marathon!! What now??

personally i'd just seem trying to do the same plan, but faster to try and knock time off your time. maybe add a new londer runs every now and then to boost fitness even further. you seem motivated to continue running which is a great help! after my first marathon i didnt run for 6 months!

Continue training to get your next marathon time down and consider training for the enxt big thing...a few short ultras. I know thats what ill be doing when i have a couple of marathons under my belt

Take a couple of weeks off running, then do a couple of easy weeks (don't under-estimate how much recovery you need after a marathon!) ... then look at a good base training plan (e.g. Hadd) to get you through the winter ... before starting a more race-specific plan next spring.

Take it easy for two or three weeks -run if you want to, but don't push speedor distance. Then yes, a schedule of three weeks building and one week drop-down (that is, not no running, but reduced), repeating is good to maintain endurance. For speed, have you got a parkrun nearby? Running that regularly should help.Maybe look for some cross-country and stuff to mix it up over the winter?

Absolutely if you've kept on a loop then you can jump into the training plan later.

The other thing to do is join a running club, see what runs they're offering. Mine for example will be starting marathon training runs in December (long runs on a Sunday, gradually increasing in length, and often e.g. taking the train away from base then running back, for a change from the local routes.

I'm faced with sort of the same thing myself at the moment - spent 15 months building back from almost zero, after four months off for injury, reached my goals (50K, marathon and 50-miler) and now I'm determined not to lose all that endurance, so I'm doing a three-week schedule for my weekend long runs - one moderate (10-15 miles), one long (18-20) and a back-to-back (20+ followed by 10-12 the next day). Also running cross-country races for my club and the odd  other race, mostly trail, although I ran a road 10K recently.

Lakeland 50 is end of July, but it sold out weeks ago. However, I wouldn't recommend it as your first ultra unless perhaps the Lake District is where you do all your training anyway. I finished NDW50 in under 10 hours and I'm expecting 14 hours or more for Lakeland 50... Perhaps Ladybower 50, or go for a 50K or 35-miler or something first.

Rob, can defo recommend the L50, I did it this year, I'm not as fast as Debra but an amazing experience. It was my first Ultra after completing the marathon and the only thing I 'd have changed was II wish I'd concentrated on bringing my marathon time down first. I'm running Manchester as well. Hoping for sub 4:30, what about you?

Rob, come and read some of the threads in the Ultras section, particularly the "wannabee ultra runner" thread.

Training is basically lots of LSR and drop the speedwork to nothing/minimal. I find back-to-backs very useful - i.e. a long run followed by another long run the next day.

There's a 50M schedule at http://www.trailrunevents.com/ul/schedule-50m.asp which gives you an indication of the training volume needed for a 50-miler.