Five Weeks to Marathon and Having Training Problems

Hi, I'm currently training for the Dublin marathon which is five weeks away. I have been training for five months and got up to just over 2hrs at the end of August. Since then, with the kids going back to school and I have travelled over to England on two separate day trips in two weekends I have failed to make any progress and started chasing my programme.

I do my long runs every Monday and speed workouts on a Thursday, I went out today hoping for 18 and started to struggle on the 2-hour mark 14 miles approximately and didn't complete the run although this was much better than last week.

I do work long hours 46 - 54 a week in the bar trade and I know resting is a problem but the pace I'm trying to run I feel is not beyond me.

I did do a 12-week programme two years ago for the Dublin half and finished it in 1hour and 48 so I felt at the start I was well able.

If you have any suggestions to get my training back on track I would much appreciate it, at the moment and for the 2nd time in a week I feel like quitting but my head still says I can do this.

I know I can finish it but only interested in starting it if I can break 4 hours.

Yours sincerely.

– Chris

Answer by Dom: Hi Chris, five weeks out and working 46-54 hours a week – that's a genuinely hard spot, and the "I feel like quitting" thought is normal under that load. You don't need to fix everything. You need to protect the two or three things that actually matter and let the rest go.

1. Protect the long run above everything else
2. Cut the speed session, keep a midweek medium-long run
3. Test your fitness with a time trial, not a guess
4. Run the race anyway – the time goal is a bonus, not the point

Protect the Long Run Above Everything Else

The marathon is an honest distance. If your preparation isn't up to scratch, it lets you know. You've built up to two-hour runs, which is good, but ideally you'd have a couple of 20-milers behind you by now.

Here's the priority order for your last two weekends, given your hours: long run first, everything else second, nice-to-haves gone entirely. Your last big long run needs to land two to three weeks out, so you've basically got two weekends left to use. Aim for 18 miles this coming weekend, 20 the weekend after, then taper. If the pace feels too hard, take walk breaks – but finish the distance. Getting that time on your feet matters more than the pace you do it at.

Cut the Speed Session, Keep a Midweek Medium-Long Run

With 46-54 hours a week at work, you don't have recovery capacity to spare on sessions that aren't earning their place. Drop the Thursday speed workout. Replace it with a medium-long run of 12-14 miles instead. That's more mileage in your legs where it counts, without the extra fatigue cost of a hard interval session you can't properly recover from on your schedule.

This is the trade-off worth understanding: in the final weeks, quality speed work is the first thing to go when time and recovery are tight. The long run is the last thing to go. Everything else sits in between.

Test Your Fitness With a Time Trial, Not a Guess

It's hard to know if sub-4 is realistic without some recent racing evidence – a half marathon time trial or test race would tell you plenty. From what you've described, your training looks a little light for that target right now.

So make one of those medium-long runs a time trial – run it at a strong, honest pace, as if it's a race. Then use the race conversion calculator on this site to see whether four hours is within reach. Read the small print under the calculator first, so you understand its limits. It's a calculator, not a magic predictor – but if you're well trained, it's remarkably accurate.

Run the Race Anyway – the Time Goal Is a Bonus, Not the Point

You've trained five months for this, around a demanding job. That's the hard part, and you've already done it. Don't let an arbitrary time goal you set at the start decide whether you toe the line.

Prepare as well as you can in the time left, run it, and see what happens. Even without breaking four hours, you'll have finished a marathon. There's always next year, and you'll have this year's experience working in your favour when you go again.

Just a thought – you know your situation best, Chris.

Kind regards,
Dom

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