Tickover Training

Hi All

I'm having a bit of a freak out this morning.... 

I am running VLM in April '13, and my training plan doesn't really start till mid-Dec. I am currently ticking over on 15-17miles a week, is that enough I split it over 3 runs a week 5-7-5 or 5-7-3....

Help, panic, panic....

Is this your first mara? Are you generally fit? What are the other variables? What's the furthest you've run? What time are you aiming for?  Bit more info and you'll get a lot more response Jennie.

Cheers Straycelt,

Generally quite fit, furthest I have ran is a half marathon, longest run lately is about 8,

It is my firsdt marathon so am terrified, also very scared of picking up injuries etc. I would like around 4hours if i can

For your training plan, does it have any explicit expectations about your current fitness level at the start of the plan?  For example, must be running 20 miles per week and capable of running 10 miles etc.

If nothng explicit, have a look at the first week of your plan and work out what the total mileage for the week will be, and also what distance the longest run will be.  You want to be entering the training plan knowingly you can comfortably accomplish the first week's training.  If you are stretched by the first week of the trianing plan, you will struggle later in the plan due to the cumulative stress of the training.

No harm in picking up some more miles before Christmas. Treat it as base miles in the bank. Which schedule are you going to follow? RW ones seem to do the trick for most.

PS Take your half time, double it and add 15 mins to give an approx idea of what you could do with increased training at level you were at then.

Isn't that putting the training plan before the running? If you want to run a bit more, why not run a bit more?

Unless you are specifiaclly aiming for a 3- run per week plan, it would be useful to get used to runnig the same number of days as your plan does, so add another short, easy day or 2. Then gradully push the length of your longest run up by a tiny bit each week, but keep it all at easy pace. That will mean that once your plan starts, you don't sufer the same amount of sudden increase in both mileage and intensity as most people do when following thier first marathon plan- that is why so many people get injured, and never make it to the start line.

Hi Jennie,

I don't think you need to worry too much - 3 runs per week is OK to keep you ticking over.  

Good advice from tricialitt, on slightly increasing your mileage between now and when you start training proper as you can ease yourself into it. 

Best of luck!