“Do you think I can run the marathon by running only one day a week?”
Say what???
This was in fact a question posed to me recently by someone I’ll name “Penelope” who is aiming to run the LA Marathon next month.
To be honest, I don’t know much about Penelope’s overall conditioning, or past running experience. I do know she has run a marathon before. But she could run a 6:00 minute pace for all I know, or she could be a back-of-the-pack runner and could end up knocking out a PR come race day. Who knows? For me, yeah I think I could run a marathon by training only once a week, but would I want to?
Someone can definitely complete a marathon with very little, if any, training, regardless of pace. Case in point, Joe Strummer, frontman for The Clash. Reportedly, Strummer ran the London Marathon without any training whatsoever, and finished with a rather respectable time of 4:13. An anomaly? Perhaps. There are well over 500,000 people who run marathons every year and who’s to say all of them train for the distance?
Which begs the question: Do we really have to train a certain number of days, or run a certain mileage a week, to run a certain distance successfully?
I’m believing more and more, we don’t.
Most training plans seem to have around 5 days a week with an optional extra day for cross-training for someone running their first marathon. While the long runs may be different and overall total mileage, this may even be true when training for an ultra as well.
Knowing me, ideally I’d prefer to train 5 to 6 days a week, but there have been training cycles where I only hit 3, sometimes 4 days. I take that whole “being flexible with training plans” very seriously and can be extremely flexible.
There are times when I need an extra rest day, or need to reduce a long run, or add another run day because I feel so good. But would I knock down my training to only one run a week? Eek! I’d feel rusty. If I could prevent it, I will.
The thought of training for a marathon, or an ultra for that matter, running only once a week kinda scares me. I would be worried about injury even more so than if I ran 3 or 4 times a week which is what I suggested to Penelope. If she could swing running at least 3 times a week, she might be in much better shape on race day.
For some time now she’s taken up residence in Weekend Warrior mode and I could sense she feels a bit worried and anxious about the marathon because her training has been lacking. Maybe it was when she asked me, “do you want to run the marathon for me?” that gave it away. Sure! Umm, wait, no. No, I don’t.
But I did offer her this:
You may, or may not, have the best marathon, but do the best you can until then. Have fun on race day and throw out any expectations you may have. Just see what the day brings you.
And sometimes that’s all we can do.
Thanks for reading!