My wife has been training for the Chicago marathon for months, starting with training for 5k, 10k, and a mini. But she's suffering from an adducter injury and we're not sure she'll be able to run. We've already paid for our hotel and more importantly, she was running to raise money of a charity that supports children from India.

I'd like to start training for it in case she can't run. However, I only have 7 1/2 weeks. I started running last week and can run 4 miles without too much trouble.

How do I accelerate my training while minimizing injury possibilities. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks you.

I forgot to include the following:

height: 6' 1/2"
weight: ~190 pounds
age: 32
gender: Male
past running experience: Have run off and on for years, never for a year straight and never for more than 5 or so miles
events currently running: none
a sample workout for you: running 4-5 times a week, 2-4 miles in a very hilly neighborhood.

Thanks again for any advice you may have.

So do you mean you are NOW running 4-5 times a week, 2 to 4 miles? That's about 8 to 20 miles a week? If that's the case I doubt you have time. If that's NOT the case (i.e. lately you have been off rather than on), then forget running it. Not enough time to do anything but get hurt. You could consider walking it however. Folks do and I'm sure you could pull that off in 7 1/2 weeks.

You don't say how serious your wife's injury is, and how much training she is missing out on. Is she rehabbing at the moment? Can she run at all right now? Where was she in her training when she got hurt? I was having hip problems myself but was able to continue training doing run/walk, taking it slow, and stretching ALOT, including DURING training runs. Took about 4 weeks to get back to pain-free.

All that said, she could continue rehabbing (as above) and running and if the hip doesn't respond she could run/walk the race or even walk it all herself. I wouldn't feel cheated if I had donated towards her effort.

Anywho, long strory short, you and/or your wife could seriously injure yourself, with long-term consequences, trying to RUN 26 miles with an injury and/or without adequate training. Consider run/walking or even just walking.

Good Luck!

I did my first marathon training for about 8 weeks. It was very painful but I finished and ran a 4:14. It took about 3 weeks to recover but I had no permanent injuries and have done 3 more marathons since. I'm not bragging but I really don't think the average person can do this. If you are very athletic and very determined mentally, you might pull it off. This is what I did in terms of long runs, miles per week:
Week 1 6 miler, 15 total
week 2 8 miler 20 total
week 3 10 miler 22 total
week 4 12 miler 25 total
week 5 15 miler 30 total
week 6 12 miler 35 total
week 7 19 miler 35 total
week 8 10 miler 20 total

This by no means prepared me for the pain that hit at 20 miles and I finished by pure will power. But anyway for what it's worth that's what I did so yes it's possible but risky. See how you do on the long runs, if you can get near 20 miles without too much pain you may be able to do it. Good luck

piano_man:

Thanks for the words. I asked for advice and I'm getting it from people who have infinite more running experience than I do. However, so far I'm not worried about permanent damage. I had started running a couple weeks before following any training. My first training week had about 10 miles during the week and a 10 mile long run. Last week had 13 during the week and a 12 mile long run. Both long runs were hard but not beyond determination. My legs are sore the next day but I've been very pleased. In fact, my 12 miler I did with 8.5 minute miles with some significant hills. Granted, I had a giant blood blister on my pinky toe, and some smaller blisters on my other foot, I finished. If it weren't for those, I may have done better. I'm getting new shoes tonight. In any event, my wife's groin injury is getting any better in spite of having seen a PT and taking two weeks off so it looks more and more like I'll be doing the Chicago. If I can stay injury free, I may even start enjoying running. :)

Thanks again!

So, I wrote this answer but then realized you had posted in '06. Whoops; at this point, I'd be interested in hearing how it went!

Try this:

Wks 1-6: M,T,Th,F: 2.5 hrs cardio daily.
Wk 7: M,T 2.5 hrs cadio. Th,F: stretching only, no more than 20 min cardio. (Taper before marathon)

On the weekends, do:
Wk 1 long run of 10 mi
Wk 2 12 mi
Wk 3 14 mi
Wk 4 16 mi
Wk 5 19 mi
Wk 6 Taper- no weekend long run
Wk 7 26.2 (marathon)

The trick is cross-training. While you need to adapt your body to running, you also don't want to injure yourself. So, carefully run the long runs with the purpose of

Also, because of the taper after a short burst of training, when you get out there on race day, your body will be rearing to go and want to start out way faster than you should. Don't focus on your time for most of the marathon, except for the first 3-5 miles, during which you should make sure that your pace is a very easy one. You can pick it up later.

For 2.5 hrs cardio on the weekdays, try alternating eliptical with a little bit of running (to help condition your musculoskeletal system). Adding yoga would also help (but who knows how much time you've got on a daily basis)....