Training: When can I run my next marathon when one goes awry?

In an ealier post, I wrote about how long you should plan between marathons to take into account proper recovery, training and tapering after the first. That article sketches out some good guidelines that you might want to take into account when scheduling marathons - whether they be close in time or months apart.

However, after the Chicago Marathon debacle this week, a number of people have asked me how they should handle a “no go” or a race that’s gone awry? When they’ve properly trained and tapered, when can they try again?

First, in the earlier article, I sketched out some timing guidlines that I’ll revist here. In most cases, you’ll need recovery time, some additional training time, and then a second taper. These times were listed as follows:
A) recovery period of 2-3 weeks
B) training period of 6-16 weeks
C) taper period of 2-3 weeks

The question is how do you apply these numbers when a blown race or missed race figures into the equation.

The answer depends on what exactly went on, so let’s break this down by the situation involved.

“I didn’t run the first race at all.”
In some cases, you may have completed your training, tapered, and then not run the race at all. This could happen due to an illness or a race being cancelled. In either case, it’s pretty annoying. I had this happen personally a few years ago when I was bitten by a spider on my face a few days before a race. (See a funny article on the subject, “what’s the worst that can happen?”)

If you didn’t race at all, then the primary concern that you’ll have is that you’ve been tapering for 2-3 weeks and may feel that you’ve fallen out of step with your training. The lucky thing is that in most cases, people don’t taper enough. You’re probably safe with up to a month taper if you’ve been training really hard. So in this scenario, I’d suggest finding a race in the next 2-3 weeks and trying again. In these interverning weeks, you should run as if in maintenance mode: focusing on speed work and race-pace work to keep your edge, but keeping the distance to intermediate length runs. This scenario would then be: get another race in quickly.

“I ran the race, but bailed out early before things got bad.”
The next group of people likely started the race and made it only so far before sensing that there was a problem looming and then bailed out. This could be either a preventive strike or it may just have been apparent that it wasn’t going to be a great day. In this case, you would not have been overly taxed or tired, but would feel like you put in a medium to longish run. Bailing out early like this is a prudent decision in many cases, because it allows you to follow the same advice as above: treat the excursion as a good training run and then get your next race in quickly.

“I ran the entire race, but just had a bad day.”
If you ran the whole race, but missed your time goal, then you have some reflection to do. Was your pacing off? Was it the weather? Did you not eat or drink enough? You’ll need to get to the bottom of this question in your mind. But what I can tell you if that if you DID NOT bonk - meaning you ran the whole race from start to finish without crashing- then in this case you may be able to “try again” with a short recovery period, some additional training and a short taper. This might be a case where you could race again in say six to seven weeks or so (1 week recovery, 4 weeks maintenance training, 1-2 week taper). The advice here: Figure out what went wrong and try again after a short break.

“My race was a total disaster.”
If disaster befalls you on race day, then you need to think carefully before racing again. If the Chicago Marathon heat sent you to the hospital or just knocked you out, you’ll need to make sure that you get plenty of recovery before trying anything soon. If you crashed on the course (bonked, got seriously dehydrated or if you feel tremendously tired and sore afterward) then you need to plan a full 2-3 week recovery from the race event.

If you have put your body through trauma, for whatever reason, take time to get over it before even comtemplating returing to training. In this case, I’d recommend a longer recovery and training time and a second full taper before running another race. In this case, I’d say that you’d be looking at a minimum of 10-12 weeks (3 week taper, 6 weeks training, 2 week taper) to really be ready to race again. The advice on this one: make sure that you’re fully recovered and take the time you need before you race again.

Fall is marathon time
If there is any bright spot to the Chicago Marathon disaster it is that October and November are the biggest months for marathons. There are some great marathons out there that could serve as back-up races if you had to bail out of this one. Consider the excellent California International Marathon in Sacramento, which is about six weeks from now. Sacramento is a fairly cheap city to fly to and stay in and the course is one of the fastest in the nation. Check out my race report and review from last year for more details.

Coach Joe English, Portland Oregon USA

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