If it’s your first or 100th marathon, training for a marathon takes sacrifice and dedication. Here are my top tens to get your to the start line in your best shape. 😎
1. Get a training plan
Don’t spend your time doing the odd run with no specific focus. The marathon is a long way and your training needs to reflect that. Variety of training is important. If it’s your first marathon and you want to get round a good frequency and consistency will be your focus. If you’re going for a personal best, then you’ll want to build alternate training with easy, long and interval runs. Consider how much time your can dedicate to training before picking a plan. As a good foundation you should aim for 4 runs per week, with your weekly long run increasing weekly. This will prepare your body for the distance and time on feet. 🏃♂️
If you don’t know where or how to start then consider an online running coach.
2. Do your long runs
Three to four weeks out from your marathon, make sure you’ve banked your longest run. I would recommend basing this on time on feet or distance. Most aim for 20 to 22 miles depending on your schedule and recovery. You want to recover well enough to get out for your next run, rather than be inconsistent and miss a week of training.
3. Practise your race pace
Whether it’s a tempo session or long run, aim to spend time in your race pace. For example you can (after a warm up) run 6 miles below race pace before a cool down. Alternatively you can do a long run, attempting to maintain your race pace for the last 4 miles. This aim of this is to experience your race pace on tired legs. This will both physically and mentally prepare you!
If you don’t know what your race pace should be use a pace calculator. This will help your understand how long each mile or kilometre should take you.
4. Learn to pace yourself
As a follow on from the previous points, know what your race pace is and get comfortable at that pace. If you have no idea, perhaps race a smaller distance to you can understand what a possible marathon time would look like for you.
There are a few ways to estimate your marathon time based on your performances across other distances. Multiplying your 10K PB by five, then subtracting 10 minutes, is one option. Doubling your half-marathon time and adding 10-20 minutes also works.
5. Build in strength training
Training for a marathon puts a lot of pressure on your body. Runners who can hold their posture and technique will find it far easier to maintain their pace in the final stages of a marathon. Strength training is often neglected by runners, even though it can boost performance. Use one or two sessions a week to focus on strength, with exercises such as split squats (shown below), single-leg squats and bridges, as well as core work such as planks and side planks.
6. Make sure you taper
Once you’ve cleared your last long run, start to reduce your mileage and intensity. As you move through the final two weeks of training, aim to keep the frequency of runs the same; if you are running five times a week in your peak weeks, run five times a week in your taper. Aim to reduce the volume of each run, though, by roughly one third two weeks out and roughly a half in race week. Listen to your body though, if you feel you need extra rest, take it.
7. Work on your nutrition
Good nutrition will see you starting your runs feeling more motivated and energised, but will also help you to adapt to the training more effectively. A balanced diet, with plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and whole-foods, should be a starting point to fuel your training and your recovery.
Aim for 4g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight on days before your key hard sessions or long runs. After your sessions, take on food or a shake with a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein within a 20-40-minute window of finishing.
8. Maintain Flexibility
Don’t underestimate the pressure you’ll be putting your body through during training. All those miles on the on tarmac will mostly impact your hamstrings, quads and glutes.
Get into a good (and regular) stretching routine! This should target all your main running muscles. You should stretch yourself, along with using a foam roller, having hot baths and booking regular sports massages. See my stretching articles for ideas! 😀
9. Build ‘sessions’ into your training
Along with your long runs, make sure you build in specific sessions into your plan. This can be tempo, progression and intervals. You’re looking to push your body into being uncomfortable so you will adapt and be able to take on the marathon in fine form!
See my post on interval training for more information.
And finally….
10. Pay attention to your body
Training for a marathon is not easy. If you’re tired and unmotivated, review your nutrition and training schedule. Don’t try to push too hard, too soon. There’s no problem with skipping a day or two if you’re fatigued, but take lessons from it and perhaps look to adapt your future training plan. If you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to get a personal best, perhaps review and scale down your ambitions?
You want to get to the marathon start line feeling mentally and physically strong, rather than run down. 😎
