Tips for First Marathon
If you think the idea of challenging yourself to run a marathon is appealing, you’ll need to have a good marathon training program.
If you’re considering marathon running you probably already have a reasonable level of fitness. Maybe you already have a good cardio program which includes training at varying intensities.
Training for a marathon is a little more specialized. Firstly, you need to include long run days in your program. As the name suggests, this is a day when you go on a longer than usual run. It should be a minimum of 60 minutes. Once a week is enough. More than this and you increase the risk of sustaining overuse injuries.
As with any good fitness program, you should also include interval work when training for a marathon. This involves alternating a few minutes of working at a high intensity, such as sprinting, with a few minutes of walking or resting completely.
Another important aspect of training for a marathon is to get plenty of rest. This means getting ample sleep and, if you have any sort of injury or are even just feeling a bit sore, take some time out to give your body a chance to recover. Even just one day off can work wonders. You also need to make sure that you eat nutritious meals to give your body all the energy it needs.
Varying your program with some cross training is a good idea too. Doing some swimming or cycling one day a week will still give you the cardio training you need. It will also give your joints a rest from the constant impact involved with running.
If you’ve got a race lined up, at least a month beforehand do a couple of 18 to 20 mile runs. Then reduce the distance and amount of training you do substantially in the few weeks before the race to give your body time to recover and rejuvenate before the big day.
Good luck!
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