Marathon Training

The secret to winning a marathon is marathon training, and the secret to training is motivation. No matter what distance you decide to want to run, you will first need a plan based on three basic components: Safety, smarts and nutrition. Before beginning, the prospective runner must always ask him or herself if they possess the discipline and dedication to complete the task. Since the preparation time for a marathon is extensive, it can be easy to fall into procrastination and put certain important milestone off. This will only result in poor performance, undesirable outcome and potential injury.http://www.marathonrookie.com/

Although your focus is on winning or finishing the marathon, your ultimate goal should be to arrive at the start line rested, ready and healthy. Consider running for a full year before you begin training for a marathon. Running 4 or 5 days per week will help establish timing and comfort. This is considered practice and improvement will be marked over time. Keep your mileage rates low at first, building up as time progresses. Once you are able to consistently and comfortably cover over 10 miles per week, you are prepared to begin marathon training.http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/marathon.html

You can get in shape for a marathon in 16 weeks! This training plan assumes that you can run 10 miles in your first week without too much difficulty.

For each week, the total miles are listed first, with individual run distances to be done. For example, week 1 is 10 miles with 3 runs of 3 miles, 3 miles, and 4 miles.

The Plan:

1. Week 1: 10 miles (3, 3, 4)
2. Week 2: 12 miles (3, 4, 5)
3. Week 3: 14 miles (3, 5, 6)
4. Week 4: 16 miles (4, 5, 7)
5. Week 5: 18 miles (3, 3, 4, 8)
6. Week 6: 20 miles (3, 4, 4, 9)
7. Week 7: 22 miles (3, 4, 5, 10)
8. Week 8: 24 miles (4, 4, 5, 11)
9. Week 9: 26 miles (4, 4, 6, 12)
10. Week 10: 28 miles (4, 5, 7, 12)
11. Week 11: 31 miles (5, 5, 8, 13)
12. Week 12: 34 miles (5, 5, 9, 15)
13. Week 13: 37 miles (5, 5, 10, 17)
14. Week 14: 40 miles (5, 5, 12, 18)
15. Week 15: 44 miles (5, 5, 14, 20)
16. Week 16: (Rest Week - 2 miles max)

Now you're ready to run your marathon.

Tips:

1. Find comfortable shoes that match your step type: pronate, supinate, mid-striking
2. Stay injury free, don't add more than 2 miles per week until you get to at least 25 miles in one week.
3. If you feel excruciating pain while running, stop!
4. It's normal to feel sore and muscle twinges while you're running.
5. Cross training is a good option for your off days. Make sure to not overtrain!