Just curious. I’ve never done either, but have a 1/2 ironman coming up later this year. Running is my weakness, always find it painful. I just want to find out from people’s experience and gauge whether a marathon is something achievable assuming I can complete the 1/2 ironman.
If you can complete a 1/2 IM, you can finish a marathon. No contest, a straight up marathon is significantly harder but you should have a sufficient base from your tri training to get it done. Just make sure you get in a couple 20 milers beforehand - at least one of which goes well (e.g., not a death march).
If running is your weakness, then I would have to assume that the marathon would be harder for you. Other people may disagree however. I personally think that the 1/2 would be harder just because it is the longer event.
your next goal should be a 16 hour ironman
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If running is your weakness, then I would have to assume that the marathon would be harder for you. Other people may disagree however. I personally think that the 1/2 would be harder just because it is the longer event.
Thanks. Please tell me what your own experience is and nevermind my running ability. I’m very curious about your opinion from your own experience.
It really depends what you mean by harder.
You will recover a lot faster from a 1/2 IM than from a marathon. So from a recovery perspective a marathon is harder.
From a race perspective, both are hard.
Fred.
Marathon is way harder. No question. Running gets exponentially harder as you get beyond 15 miles or so. Certainly doable assuming you do some long runs after the half.
No question marathon is harder, assuming you run the whole thing.
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I’ve never raced a marathon alone, but as an ultrarunner/triathlete:
-Personally, I’ve equated a half-iron as comparable to an ‘easier’ 50km ultra.
-Logically, having to run a 1/2 marathon after riding 56 miles after swimming over a mile in open water seems harder than the 26 mile run
-Comparing the top pro times, the half-iron takes almost twice as long (2:05-2:10 vs 3:50-4:00)
-And most convincingly: Oprah hasn’t completed a half-iron, but has done a marathon
In my opinion, the marathon should be easily achievable after training for and racing the half.
I trained for my second marathon, by training for my first 1/2 IM. My 1/2 was exactly 3 weeks out from my marathon and I figured, if I did the half, I could certainly do the marathon again - no problem. I did and did it injury free. The first marathon I did left me unable to run for 4 months afterwards. Turns out (at least for me) that only 3 days of running mixed with biking and swimming really helped in preventing reinjury to my knee.
amyfit
1/2’s are harder in my humble opinion 
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I think it really depends on your goals. If it is just to finish then a half is probably harder, more events, mechanical issues on the bike and a longer day in general. Most marathons you can walk most of the way within the cutoff time. That being said, a half isn’t really all that much harder to complete than a marathon.
In terms of which beats you up more I would say a marathon, I haven’t seemed to be able to get the durability in my legs necessary to run a whole one. But that, of course, is a n=1 opinion.
My answer is marathon is harder then the halfIM. Running is the hardest of the three disciplines…the swim is relatively short (you are not in the water very long in terms of time). The bike is longer in terms of time and distance, but biking is not hard on the body as running. You can coast downhill, or just spin if your legs are getting fried. But running…there is no easy way around it. To run a full marathon (and run the whole time) is going to hurt your body more.
If you have never done either…training for a marathon might be easier, i say that only b/c its one sport versus three.
-Ben
“-Comparing the top pro times, the half-iron takes almost twice as long (2:05-2:10 vs 3:50-4:00)”
But you don’t see pros run 2 marathons 1 week apart, unlike pro-triathletes do with half-irons (Craig Alexander just did it last week, afaik)
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Marathon. I believe a stand alone mary is much harder than a full IM too.
I’d say it depends on how well prepared for the specific event.
A marathon typically hurts more (certainly in terms of recovery is much worse) but gernally takes a lot less time than a half ironman.
Also, you can train well for a marathon in fewer hours per week than training well for a half.
While the last 10k can really suck in a marathon if you paced poorly or were under prepared, the 13.1 in a half can probably also suck if you hammer the bike and have not done the training.
Just curious. I’ve never done either, but have a 1/2 ironman coming up later this year. Running is my weakness, always find it painful. I just want to find out from people’s experience and gauge whether a marathon is something achievable assuming I can complete the 1/2 ironman.
The pain of running is exponential. So a marathon is going to be like 4 times harder than a half-mary, not 2x.
I can do a 70.3, but there’s no way I’d attempt a marathon.
“-Comparing the top pro times, the half-iron takes almost twice as long (2:05-2:10 vs 3:50-4:00)”
But you don’t see pros run 2 marathons 1 week apart, unlike pro-triathletes do with half-irons (Craig Alexander just did it last week, afaik)
I agree that running a marathon is much harder on the body and requires a longer recovery. But that’s why I think what Hillary Biscay did was amazing … back to back IM, Roth (6th place) and Lake Placid (3rd place).
Marathon. I believe a stand alone mary is much harder than a full IM too.
Right there with you…Done several of both. One year I ran a marathan with a second tier pro triathlete and multiple Kona finisher. At mile 22, she stopped in the middle of the road and screamed at me “This is way harder than Hawaii”…Running 26 miles at the increased pace exponentially brings on a sort of pain that you just don’t experience at an IM. You get more tired at an IM and walk or shuffle, but the downright pain is not as bad.
Why do people who have never done a marathan comment???
No contest. Marathon is harder. One reason I never do the local marathon is it’s early in the season. In the month it’ll take me to recover I’d miss too many TRIs. I can recover from a 1/2 IM in three or four days.
If you’re truly racing both races…neither one will be harder. You arrive at the finish having spent the last .01% of your 100% effort, having brought all of your mental and physical ability to bear on the result. Heck…