Hi, I'm in the London Marathon this will be my first marathon and I'm trying to be a good girl and stick to a schedule(good old Hal!) However I've entered the Reading Half as a warm up to the London, but it occurs when my schedule specifies 18 miles. with 12m the week before and 14 afterwards.

Any thoughts on how best I should adjust things, apart form asking the Reading organisers to defer a week!

thanks

Fiona

Hi Fiona

Don't let schedules rule your life! You can adjust them accordingly. Running a 1/2 marathon will be harder than running 18 miles as you'll run it at a faster pace plus the other benefits, such as running in a large race packed with runners, will outweight the fact of not running the extra 5 miles. Plus you can always make those miles the following Sunday!

I think its more about your average mileage than an individual days mileage. there was a study in the late 70's that worked out if you took your total mileage for the 12 weeks before the marathon, and divided it by 84. this would give you your daily average mileage. times that by 3 and it will give  you your fatigue point, or in other words where you will hit the wall. you can reduce the affect of this by running at a slower pace. but it helps to know where to expect you will hit the wall, that way you can prepare for it. and it affects everyone different. your long runs have only one objective that is to give your body a little taste of what the wall is like. hope you have a good marathon.

pete  

Thanks for the advice chaps,will try not to worry too much. sorry for the late reply, but have had computer problems- no internet!

fiona