What exercise have you been doing for the last 2-3 years? Have you been running much?
Whats slightly overweight?
How many smokes a day?
Whats your diet been like otherwise?
Why do you want t do a marathon?

I think maybe we need to know more before comments can be made.

Bear in mind everyone will offer different advice.

You (IMHO) do a marathon not because you just want to, or to tick it off a list. It really bceomes about the journey of getting to that starting line.

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First Marathon: Auckland, New Zealand 29 October 2006

Hi xsmoker! I am too!! 5 months!! 165 days is about 5 months. You could do it but don't plan on anything spectacular if you haven't really run before. (Most of us smokers haven't.) No BQs for you at this point. Probably not even 4:30 (but if you do, wow!!). I also plan on doing a marathon. Notice not "running" a marathon. If you follow a run/walk plan you could do it but training must start TODAY! There are a few books about going from the couch to a marathon in 4 months. I don't know about that. Here's what I suggest (I am no expert, just trying to do it as well):
~Start Couch to 5K program TODAY!!
~Get new GOOOOOD running shoes ASAP from a good running store. You WILL need them. IT'S NOT A CHOICE. IT'S A NECESSITY.
~Find a book with training plans for a walk/run or run/walk marathon program. I like John Bingham's Marathoning for Mortals.
~Find a marathon with a generous cut-off time. I am doing Disney in January with a time limit of 7 hours. That's 16 minute miles. I am run/walking at 12-13 mm.
~Work hard. Be ready to commit the time. Your long runs will take hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning. You need to be ready to give up happy hour, late night movies, bad for you foods, etc.
~Don't be afraid to change your mind and find a marathon for 365 days from now. But if it is a must-do, get in the right mind frame now.

good luck! Congrats on quitting smoking. I love not having a headache in the AM and sleeping well. I love that my pillow doesn't smell smoky. Neither do my clothes or fingers. You made a great choice. Keep us posted. We will support your quit efforts. Keep in minds, non-smokers are better looking! I have noticed that most smokers are fat and ugly and loud-mouthed. Not me anymore!!! Not you either!
KRis

It's possible.

It's also very possible to end up being very painful. Very painful as in if you do manage to pull it off, you won't likely be running it with the marathon being all that enjoyable of an experience. Sure if you finish it, you'll probably get a sense of accomplishment.

Along with a lot of pain.

It might be worth considering setting some more reasonable and less risky goals. If you want to aim for a longer sort of distance run, go with a half-marathon at most for inside of 6 months. I'd even further suggest that you consider making that half-marathon a goal for next fall. This will substantially extend the time you have to build up a running base and you won't get caught in an uncomfortable trap of feeling like you need to get a whole lot of running in in a short amount of time. If you're going to get a whole lot of running in, it's better to give yourself plenty of time to achieve it.

I'd further point out that as an ex-smoker, you're at greater risk of lower bone density than the average population. This is going to increase the risk that while your cardio will respond quickly if you stay smoke free, it will respond quickly while your bones are much slower to rebuild. The point of that is to make you aware that you may be at greater risk for stress fractures.

I've been there with a broken tibia. It completely sucked being in a cast for 6 weeks. I had to take off 4 months completely from running.

Got back to running again on April 21st. I've been very cautious with my build up, and I'm going to be okay enough to run a half-marathon on November 18th. Interestingly, even as I approach that date with some excitement about getting there, I almost wish that I had had a full year of training to get ready for my first half-marathon.

I hope to use next year to further improve my base and run another 2 half-marathons. Maybe in 2009 I'll begin considering the notion of taking on marathons.

But what I know now while building my base over the last 6 months is that the time needed is a lot more than what many people can conceive of if they've never done it before. I've done almost 64 hours of running the past 6 months and doing that has required me juggling the schedule around at times.

Sorry for the length of this. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Yes, it can be done. But as said before it can be painful but very magical also. I did it (not in 5 months tho...more like a year) If I were you I would look into more of a Galloway program for the Mari in 5 months and just do it for the experience. You can build from there.
I had a baby recently and am just now trying to start back up and joined a local Galloway program. It is nice in that there really isn't all that much pressure. I will use the Galloway to run a 1/2 in January and build a strong base and them I will train for a full in June.
Good luck with the ex smoking. It is a hard habit to break!

I am absolutely no expert, but am very much understand your situation. I quit smoking (pack a day for 17 years) about 3 months ago. I've always been athletic even when I smoked, but decided to ramp up the running to help me in the quitting process (which has worked!). I am now at 20 mpw and just completed my first 5K. I know I am nowhere near ready to train for a marathon now but have a lot of other goals to reach, including increasing my 5K speed (I swear people pushing strollers beat me!). It also seems like a lot of people focus exclusivley on the marathon and don't realize how much effort goes into other competitions. Anyway, that's my sort of long-winded way to say that I think you should not shoot for a marathon so soon. Also, speaking as someone in your situation, I think we ex-smokers might be so excited about having clean lungs that we forget that the rest of our bodies need time too. I remember vividly the first run where I had to stop because of my legs and not my breathing. It was exhilarating but also frustrating!
I think we should start an ex-smoker running thread! I could use some support and advice... I am also interested in how you quit? Congratulations, by the way!!

quote:<HR>Originally posted by xsmoker07:
why do i want to do a marathon-Good question. i suppose just to finish something that the average joe cant do with out putting something into it.<HR>

Doing a marathon from scratch in less than six months is going to be tough. If you get to the starting line (because lots can go wrong in training, and injury happens to the best of us), you stand a very high chance of never running again afterwards. It's not for nothing that the term "death march" was invented for the latter stages of a marathon.

What about this: start running. See if you like it (because if you don't like it, you're hardly going to enjoy marathon training, are you?). Do a couple of 5ks. Do a couple of 10ks. Do a half. Then, when you've established a good base, train for a marathon, if you still want to (plenty of very good runners never do one, because they prefer shorter - or longer - distances). This will take you a couple of years. Some of it will be tough - some of it will be more fun than you can possibly imagine.

The average Joe can go into a marathon undertrained, crash and burn, and never run again. The tough guys take it seriously. Your choice.