Comment by cullenking | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cullenking | Hacker News Reader

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Whatever you do just realize that marathons are, for most people, bad for your body. I ran my first (and last!) marathon last year and ended up not being able to go on light runs for over 6 months. This isn't an uncommon story.

There are a bunch of training plans you can find online and they all share one thing in common: start out easy and work your distance up, then back off a month before the run. Make it to 16 or even 18 miles as your longest training run, give yourself at least a couple weeks to recover from it before running an actual marathon.

Identify your pace! There's a ton of rules of thumb out there based on half marathon times. I looked at my finishing time in a half marathon 2 weeks before the full, then used that to determine the percentile I was in and how it corresponded to the full marathon results. Saw that it wasn't crazy to do a sub 4 hour, so I set my pace accordingly. I used both a running watch, and in general kept with the pace flagger.

Final word of wisdom: don't do what I do and train in only 5 weeks! It's way harder on your body that way, even if you are in good cradio shape (I bike alot). Your muscles need to build up to stabilize your knees.

> don't do what I do and train in only 5 weeks

This part needs to be first because it heavily discounts your first paragraph.

You're not wrong. In context here, I was in a running club, regularly racing half-marathons-usually running a longer distance than that at least once a week, as one of 4 training sessions, and I'd run a marathon before. But training for my second marathon, I developed a niggle in my left hip.

I tried to cut back on training but still do the marathon, as it wasn't far off; but on the day, 6 miles in, I tore my right calf (most likely because I had unbalanced my stride from the first injury).

A torn calf takes weeks to recover from, but after I recovered from that I found I was still hirpling from the injury on the left. That was over a year ago, and while I don't limp any more, I still can't walk distances without pain, despite physio.

The moral here being - don't attempt to run one carrying an injury.

Marathons are bad for your body if you train for 5 weeks! That's ludicrous! I trained for 6 months and (despite being built like a computer programmer) was jogging again straight away (with a day of rest, of course). My time was 3 hours 45 - so not too slow. But man, a LOT of training before hand!

The training required to run a marathon is way past the sweet spot of (exercise benefits - side effects). A one-off marathon is not necessarily a big deal. However, running 2500 miles a year is not good.

They are bad regardless. They are just less bad if you train more than 5 weeks :) I hit 3:55 taking it easy and never hit the wall, though my legs felt like wooden poles. The 5 week training plan wasn't optimal, but I went into it as a bike rider who rode 100-150 miles a week and didn't bat an eye at a 100 mile ride. So, cardio was there, leg muscles were partway there etc. Just didn't quite have enough muscle built up to support the knees.

I have literally known 2 people who have died while running a marathon (one 30ish, the other in his mid 40s). It's stupidly abusive on your body, but if you do want to run one, make sure you get your heart fully checked out by a doctor.

Yup! I watched a 50 year old fit guy drop dead in the first 10 miles of a 100 mile ride. He was gone before he even hit the ground. It's pretty common in hard endurance sports to hear about heart failure, though I think the benefits outweigh the risks in the long term. This is assuming you are training a normal/sane amount, getting plenty of rest, listening to your body etc etc. Work hard play hard doesn't last forever.

Everything causes death; I would not discourage running a marathon based on your anecdote.

Not being able to run for 6 months after a marathon you've trained only 5 weeks for may not be uncommon, but you didn't take an intelligent approach.

Your experience is not common for people that put in the effort early.

I disagree. I used to run cross country competitively, and had been running off and on until I discovered cycling. It is universally accepted in the running community to be injured at any given point. It's almost like a badge of honor. Yes, 5 weeks is dumb and contributes to it and I should have swapped around my statements, but I stand by the fact that your chance of injury, regardless of how well trained you are, is high.

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