Marathon Part 1-Getting Started

Running are marathon is tough. Training for a marathon is even tougher. It requires dedication, focus, and sacrifice. Less than 6% of the US population has run a marathon. So deciding to do a marathon should not be taken lightly. Merely getting through the training without sickness or injury and making it to the start line is a huge accomplishment!

Here are my top 6 tips for getting started for marathon training.

#1 Nutrition- I put this one at the top because it is everything. My rule is you can not out train poor nutrition. I have seen some of the strongest runners get taken down because nutrition was not on point before and during the race as well as every day nutrition. I myself have been physically ready to pr a marathon only to fall short because of bad nutrition. Get nutrition dialed in early! If you have a coach which is always a great idea for taking on a marathon, ask them for advice or recommendations for a nutrition coach or dietitian that specifically works or has worked with endurance athletes. Know your calorie burn per mile and per hour as well as your sweat rate. This will help you really dial in how much nutrition and hydration you need for long races. Make sure you know what these rates are in different temperatures and conditions so you can adjust for race day.

Make sure that your day to day nutrition is great. Make sure you are getting in the calories you need not only for your normal activities but your training and recovery as well. Most athletes who are new to endurance training do not consume enough.

Focus on quality and quantity control for your needs and your training not what your friends are doing. Get this dialed in specifically for you and training and race day will be much more successful and one less thing you have to worry about after the gun goes off.

#2 Goal Setting- This one can be tough but it does not have to be. If you have run a half marathon within the last 4 months, take that time and double it and 20-30 mins to that time and that should give you a rough estimate of your marathon finish time. This is not written in stone. That time can definitely change as training goes along. The most common goal I hear is when I ask an athlete what are there race goals is "I just want to finish." That is a great goal, it really is, we all want to finish. I think it is too general of a goal and it allows an athlete to be more lax with training, especially if they are following an online plan as compared to a coach. I am just trying to finish so it's ok if I missed a few work outs but if you have a specific goal of "I want to run this marathon in 4 hours." then missing a few workouts could be detrimental to achieving that goal.

By setting an outcome goal of 4 hours for a marathon or whatever your time goal might be, it is easier and more tangible to put performance and process goals in place as well as benchmark tests to make sure you the athlete is still on pace to hit that goal on race day.

Also give yourself time to train properly. If this is your first marathon give yourself at least 6-8 months to properly train. This will give you the best change at successfully hitting your goals and staying injury free.

#3 Quality Training- There must be quality work being done in your sessions. This also goes back to #2 above. This is vital to marathon success. Are you truly doing recovery runs at recovery effort? Are threshold intervals being done at threshold? Are your tempo runs truly tempo? What percentage of your training is done at your goal pace? All of these are very important to success. I have seen and had athletes that have gotten the miles in but the percentage of the runs at goal pace were lacking because they choose to run with a group or friends. Which there is absolutely nothing wrong with group training for long runs, speed sessions etc.. It is a great motivator and builds comradery. The caution I point out to athletes is make sure your getting in the quality you need with the group. If you have a 16 mile run and 12 of those miles are to be done at your goal pace of 10 min/mile and the group is running at a 12 min pace your loosing out on quality for your goals. Plan to start and warm up with the group and then focus on you.

#4 Mental Training- Training for and racing a marathon is an extreme mental battle. You can go to some dark places and one minute everything is fantastic and you love running to this is stupid, why did I do this and questioning your self worth. I have delt with this both as an athlete and as a coach. I believe you have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations to get comfortable with them and over coming them. For example, one of my athletes had a fear of not the 26.2 miles but having to run for more than 4 hours. This is a mental barrier. So as you may have guessed a few of her long training runs were time based. They started small and slowly increased until one weekend the athlete needed to complete a 4 hour training run and they finished the run coming in at 4 hours and 2 mins. After that run this individual was not as scared or nervous about running for more than 4 hours.

If you run with groups/friends which again is great, make sure a majority of your long runs are done by yourself. When you run with a group and you start to break down mentally it is much easier to get out of that situation within a group setting. Unless you are running your marathon with this same group of people and you are all staying together for the entire race this will not help you mentally. You must do solo long runs to work on getting out of your own head mentally and working through tough situations. In doing so you learn how to cope and adjust and you will have a much more successful race day when you can become comfortable being uncomfortable and staying positive throughout the race.

#5 Strength Training- I see so many athletes neglect strength training, core work, yoga, flexibility exercises, etc.. This is another vital piece of the puzzle for training and race day success. These things play an even bigger part as we get older and are crucial for staying healthy and injury free. By incorporating these sessions mileage can be reduced and athletes can still see great success and recovery faster between training sessions and after races. Having a strong core as well as strong primary and secondary muscle groups are key to success during your marathon journey!

#6 Recovery- Another vital piece and often neglected by athletes. Recovery is where fitness is build and gained. Recovery is when the body repairs itself. All the micro tears and damage done during training, the body must heal and rebuild itself and it can only do that when it is allowed to recover properly. Has your coach given you an off day or active recovery day but you go out and do an intense workout and you wonder why your not seeing as much success as your competitors. This could be a major reason why. Stress comes in many different forms and places. Job stress, personal stress, travel all impact the body just like a hard training session would and you need to recover from those days mentally and physically. Make sure you give yourself proper and adequate recovery time which includes proper nutrition before, during and after training as well as enough sleep each night. A coach can help athletes see the benefits of recovery through experience, data and metrics.

Those are my top 6 tips for getting started for that first marathon. Hope they have helped and given you something to think about and use during your journey to your first marathon! I have seen these tips yield great success for not only myself but for the athletes I coach. What are some tips that have helped you? Let me know!

-It's all about the journey!

#coachray

#mindrightendurance