Training: How To Train For A Marathon In A Week!

The last few months have been marked with successive illness/injury - stomach bug, CECS, followed by viral pneumonia. But at long last I'm feeling better. However, the outcome of my enforced hiatus has meant that I have not been able to train as much as I would like / at all!

Following such a break most sane people would not consider undertaking a Marathon - especially one that is in just under a weeks time! And rightfully so, as this will be a massive strain on the heart and body. On the whole I would tend to agree that training for a marathon should take a minimum of 4 to 6 months, building up one's weekly distances by 10%. However, I see this as the perfect opportunity - not only to see how fit I really am? Understand how my body will react? But, also test my mental strength!

That said I have just six days to train for a Marathon... Can it be done? Having consulted Dr Google, I'm convinced that the answer is yes... Here, is what I have gleamed:

1. "Just because something seems hard and you don't feel prepared does not mean that you can't do it" - Andrew Gertig ran the San Francisco marathon without any training. He finished in 4 hours and 28 minutes. His advice is: 1) Take a walking break at every mile marker 2) Eat half a banana whenever he saw one and, 3) Take two waters at ever water station... Whilst this is good advice, I am going one step further I am going to do some actual running!
2. You can short cut the long run. Those who know anything about running would agree that it’s impossible to run a successful marathon without completing some long training runs first. But how long is long? Competitor Running magazine suggest "you can largely duplicate the benefits of doing a handful of long runs (think 16-20 miles) by doing a greater number of moderately long runs (think 10-14 miles), some of them at higher intensities". Thus, in the next six days this is exactly what I plan on doing. 3x20km and 1x10km. The alarm clock is set to 5:30am!
3. Final thought... Pamela Anderson ran the NYC marathon in 5hrs 41mins... apparently with no training. Surely I'm in better shape than Pam?

I'll keep you posted!

Please don't do this at home, and certainly not without a responsible adult present! Because, according to runners world, you should actually train for a Marathon - http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/breaking-you-should-train-before-running-a-marathon