Whether you’ve been successful in the ballot or are running for a charity the marathon is an exciting but often daunting spectacle especially if you’re new to running or running your first marathon.
So the big question where to start?
The first piece of advice I would offer would be to structure your week. This will help with giving each run a purpose and ensure you’re training efficiently as well as ensuring you’re starting off safely without over doing it too early into the plan. I’ve seen it happen so many times were runners simply jump in at the deep end and ramp up their training far too quickly, which more often than not ends in injury and interrupted training.
To help with structure chose a plan that works for you and stick to it. There’s a range of free training plans available here, which are all progressive and can help offer you support and guidance along the way. Alternatively get in touch for a more personalised one to one training plan.
Don’t fall into the trap of seeing what another runner is doing and think you should be doing the same. They might have been running for longer than you or have a different goal so put your faith in a plan and tick the training off day by day, week by week. Remember that every runner is different and you will not know how much mileage is manageable until you start building towards your race distance goal. Listen to your body and over time you will learn when you’re doing too much! Common signs include exhaustion, losing control of your emotions, injury, slow paces and not being able to elevate your heart rate.
If you’re just starting out trainers are going to be very important to help you stay injury free. Hopefully if you’re running a marathon soon you’ll already of had this covered but I’d highly recommend calling into your local running specialist store to check your running gait. As a member of JM Run Club you can save 15% online using the code UTSRUNCLUB15 when shopping at Run North West. You can read more about a gait analysis and help when picking your next pair of trainers here. It’s important to remember what you wear on your feet can often make or break your race. Invest in your health and make sure you’re running in a suitable pair of running trainers. Trust me there’s nothing worse than being injured watching everyone on social media recording their runs!
Replace trainers as necessary leading up to race day and never race in a new pair of trainers you’ve not ran in before or had chance to properly break in.
In terms of running kit as a marathoner you’ll now need to worry about chafing! Select an outfit that you will be able to wear on race day and wear it at least once on a long training run. This will ensure it’s comfortable and if there are any areas that are prone to chafing make sure to invest in some Vaseline. I always spend time before a marathon (or long training run) making sure I’m vaseline’d up before hand around all of the crucial areas…
Make your easy days easy! One of the most common mistakes runners make is running too fast on easy days, or indeed not taking easy days at all. Easy days are so important to allow for recovery from your harder sessions and also allow adaptation from all of your training. As a 2:12 marathon runner, I would estimate a good 80% of my weekly mileage is ran easy! This allows me to hit my hard days hard and ensure I’m getting sufficient volume in. Be confident enough in your training to run at an easy pace. This should be a pace where you can maintain a conversation if you were running with someone else. Over time the easy paces will increase so you can run faster with less effort.
Nutrition and hydration will also play a part when training for a marathon. Make sure you’re testing hydration and fuel for race day well in advance. Check the supplier at the marathon you’re running so you know what to try in training before hand. For example if a marathon are offering Lucozade energy gels on race day, it’s a good idea to stock up and try them in training before hand.
When you’re training you’re going to need to increase your calorie intake to fuel your training. This will also help with recovery post training. As always make sure you’re getting enough nutrients in to your diet, which will also help with recovery. For more advice on nutrition and hydration check out our guides here.
A marathon is a major commitment whether you’re aiming to run 5-hours or sub 3-hours! Make sure you avoid making silly mistakes along the way to ensure you get the most out of yourself on race day. Look forward to the marathon, but respect the challenge.
