Marathon Preparation“I will prepare, and some day my chance will come.” – Abraham Lincoln I doubt that Abe Lincoln had marathoning in mind when he wrote those words, but they are certainly applicable to the task of getting ready for your fall marathon. How well you prepare during the coming months will be the biggest determinant of how well you perform on race day. Here are some tips that will help you prepare for the big day. Stick With Your Training PlanFor most of us, going out for a 26.2 mile run doesn’t come naturally, so there is a lot of hard work that has to go into preparing your body to run that distance. Get yourself into a steady training routine and have the discipline to stick with it. A sound plan should include a weekly track workout, some tempo running at your target race pace, and a weekly long run. Sometimes your work or family schedule may wreak havoc on your training plans, but try to find a way to always squeeze your workouts into your day. Pay particular attention to finding the time to do the track workouts and long runs since those are the 2 elements of your training that will do the most for building the fitness you’ll need for the marathon.
Train But Don’t StrainDon’t make the mistake of trying to run as fast as you can on every training run. Preparing for a marathon does require a lot of hard training, but you must also build plenty of “easy” days into your training program so that your body can rest, recover and rebuild from the “hard” days. Save your best efforts for your track workouts, tempo runs and long runs. All of your other training runs should be done at a relaxed and comfortable pace. Training is nothing more than repetitive cycles of stress (the physical kind as opposed to the mental kind) and rest. To become a better runner, you must occasionally run outside of your “comfort zone” and make yourself run a little harder/faster/longer than normal, but those high stress training sessions must be followed by easy days to allow your body to recover. If you are doing your stress/rest cycles properly, over time your body will be able to handle an ever-increasing workload and you will steadily become a stronger and faster runner. Dress RehearsalsTreat all of your long runs as dress rehearsals for marathon day. Figure out what pre-long run routine works best for you in terms of what to eat, what to drink, how much sleep to get the night before, what shoes and socks to wear on the run, etc. so that on race day, your pre-race routine will be one with which you’re comfortable and getting ready for the race will be just like getting ready for any other weekend long run. During your long runs, practice taking your gels and fluids just as you will on race day, so that again, your in-race routine will be just like your typical long run routine. Many marathoners waste a lot of energy in the days leading up to the race stressing out about these little details, but the well prepared marathoner has all of the race day details figured out well in advance. Good luck as you start training for your fall marathons! Be prepared! George Buckheit |
