Whether you’re prepping for your first 5K or a marathon, these tips and plans will help you reach your goal.
1. Build slowly
When you prepare for a marathon, it’s mainly about building up mileage to a point where your body—and mind—can handle 26 miles (the mileage in a marathon). After a couple of months of increasing your mileage, runner and trainer-to-the-stars Wes Okerson recommends doing two short runs (4 to 5 miles), two intermediate runs (6 to 8 miles) and one long run (10 to eventually 18 miles) per week. Completing 40 to 50 miles a week puts you on track.
2. Map out a schedule
Pick a day of the week when you know you’re not busy and make that the day you’ll do your long run. Make an effort to fit in short or intermediate runs before or after work, but be sure to space them out so you’re not running late in the evening and then early the next morning. You want to give your body about 24 hours to recover between sessions.
3. Avoid common mistakes
Common mistakes people make in training include not running far enough. If you’ve only done 12 or 14 miles, you’re going to have trouble completing 26. On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who are doing way too much. They’re abusing their bodies and getting overuse injuries. You don’t have to do an excessive amount of mileage. As long as you have a plan in place and are running four to six days a week and resting at least once a week, you should be fine.
4. Cross-train
This is vital because it enables you to give your running muscles a rest and use your body in a different way. With running, you’re only moving in one plane with one motion and it can be very stressful on the joints. It doesn’t matter what activity you do to cross-train as long as you’re keeping your heart rate at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum.
5. Don’t risk “hitting the wall”
When you reach that point where you feel like you physically can’t go on, the issue is usually nutrition. Your muscles store enough fuel for about two hours worth of physical activity and when that’s used up, you need another source of energy. You should be consuming food every eight miles and drinking water or half a cup of Gatorade every few miles. Energy gels are great because your body absorbs them much faster than solid foods. If you carb up the night before and are drinking and eating during the race, you should have enough fuel left in the tank to finish.
6. Don’t go out too fast
Get a heart rate monitor to get an idea of how hard you’re working at various speeds during your runs. You should train at a pace that keeps your heart rate at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum. If it’s above or below this zone during the marathon, you’ll know you’re off pace.
7. Ice it
Running is an extremely repetitive movement for the knees and ankles. If you start to feel sore during training, ice your joints once a day for 20 minutes after your workout to keep the inflammation down.
8. Know you can win
Remember: a marathon is doable. For first-timers, running 26 miles sounds like an eternity, but your body gets to the point where running becomes second nature. If you’re healthy and willing to train for it, you can do it.
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