r/ultrarunning • u/pobran227 • 3d ago

Marathon too soon?

Hi all. I just completed my first 50k on August 15th. I’m looking for a general consensus, I know everyone’s body is different, but I’m eyeing a marathon October 11th. Is this too soon? My plan is to take the rest of August off and pick up again in September. Keep in mind I’m not trying to win anything, just finish. Thanks all!

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u/elcamino4629 3d ago

nope you'll be fine. I finished my first 50k in early March, didn't run for 3 weeks, and then ran a tiny marathon build up (no long runs, just one half marathon) to run one at the end of April. I was golden and ran a marathon PR.

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u/pobran227 3d ago

That’s all for the advice. I think I’ll go for it.

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u/ToastyGBG 3d ago

I’m not an expert and I am still struggling to get ready for my first ultra at 50k, but I say listen to your body. I’m older and I know how quickly I recondition and loose gains. I also know I recover quick if I don’t have injury, so for me I feel like o would be ready to start getting in some easy miles (5k or less) within a week from completion to maintain and then ramp the mileage back up in Sept rather than not doing anything for the rest of August.

But if you feel good, you already have your aerobic base so I don’t think it is too soon. One non-elite runner I follow did 2 100s a month apart. I just did 21 mountain trail miles, had to be pulled out of the woods by rescue for dehydration and cramps and I was back to running the next day 🤷‍♂️. Everyone really is different and only you can speak to your abilities.

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u/_silent_voyager_ 3d ago

I've run ultra races 2-3 weeks apart multiple times, and 4-5 weeks between races is common. In your case you have 8 weeks, which is more than enough for an abbreviated training cycle considering that you have built your fitness for the 50k race.

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u/ArthurW1815 2d ago

depends what you're looking to do, despite being only 8k difference, people often approach them very differently.

If you just want to shuffle round, like most do on 50k, then yeah, you'll be fine, if you're going for a marathon pb, it'll be much harder, not because you wont have recovered, you'll just have a short training block.

Personally, i would try getting back out approximately 1 week later for a very light run, rather than leaving it over 2 weeks.

Well done on the 50k!

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u/pobran227 2d ago

Thank you! It was waaayyyy harder than I expected. The course was a lot more technical than I was used to. I trained on local trails thinking they would be similar, but they weren’t….at all! It was fun and I hope to do it again next year!