Okay, I have a question for the serious (and not so serious) runners out there. Every May there is a 40 mile relay race in my area. I have been training to run it with a friend. We will each run 20 miles. It's really hilly & in the desert.

Lately, I've been thinking of doing the whole thing myself. Do you think this is unrealistic? I can run 3 miles easy, and am upping it a mile each week. So by May 2004 I would be there.

Or should I do the 20 this year & try for the 40 next year? A couple of people do it each year, and I want to be one of them.

Either way, what's the best way to train for this? Besides Runner's World, are there any books/mags on long-distance running?

Any advice welcome!

Hi Ladybug,

That,s a very ambitious goal. Congratulations for even thinking about it. I would suggest that you try training for the 20 miler first - even that is a reach if you,ve never done distance running, but definitely not impossible. Jeff Galloway has written a couple of books on marathoning, and he,s quite big on doing 10:1 (running 10 minutes, walking 1 minute), which is a wonderful way of doing distances. It gives your body time to recover and stretch out and also gives you time to drink some fluids.

The biggest rule when you are starting to increase your distance, however, is don,t increase it by any more than 10% a week. Right now, upping it by even 1/2 a mile a week would be a safe bet. You want to avoid injuries and this is the easiest way. Quality is better than Quantity. If you have any running stores in your neighbourhood (we have the Running Room and others up here in Canada, I don,t know what you have in the States), they usually have all sorts of clinics and running groups that will help you out. Training for the long runs on your own can be quite boring for a lot of people. Also, a lot of the staff at these stores are experienced runners and can help you out with shoes and other tips and tricks.

Hope this helps some. Good luck in your training and keep us posted as to how you go.

Check Journals for Ysabella she just did the Danskin Triathalon!!!! She would probably be an awesome mentor here.

Hey ladybugvv, I think you can definitely do it!
I ran two marathons recently using the Jeff Galloway method. You don't have to run 10 and 1. You can make it any combination you want. I personally run 5 and 1. The key is base training and like Alpha stated, make sure you don't increase your mileage too much too soon. Check out www.runinjuryfree.com (Jeff's site). He has a marathon training schedule on there that will give you a good idea of how you should be increasing miles.
I would also check out his site for a training group. I think running with people definitely makes a difference in training.
Good luck and stay safe!

A marathon is MERELY 26.2 miles. Anything over that is considered an ultramarathon. 40 miles definitely is an ultramarathon. I suggest doing a hard 20 miles. If you finish and think you could go further, then you're ready to try longer disances.

I did at least 30 marathons before trying anything longer. My favorite author wrote, "Endurance comes in waves. What seems impossible one moment becomes possible the next." I found that even if I was hurting, I could go on and the pain didn't get worse with time and distance.

Thanks for your advice & encouragement. I think 40 is too much for a newbie. I will try for the 20 and see how that goes.

I wonder if Joe Henderson's book "Jog, Run, Race" is still in print. Great workout strategies for completeing long runs. If I remember correctly, he said you had to average an hour a day of running for several months to be able to complete a marathon.
His beginning program went something like this: Monday & Tuesday 10 minute run, Wednesday 20 minutes, Thursday 10, Friday 20, Saturday 10, Sunday 30. Every week small additions of minutes were made each day (with the biggest increments on the long run days) until the sixty minute average was reached.
I used it in training for 10ks, never a marathon, but his system worked!