The #1 goal when training for a marathon is to keep runners healthy so they can train consistently! In this blog, I wanted to share my thoughts on the things that should be prioritized throughout your training cycle:

Sleep

My general rule of thumb with the runners I coach is, if you have a sh***y nights of sleep and you have a workout the next morning, it's not worth it to push through. If you have a regular run, I would still recommend to do it later in the afternoon but if you must run in the morning, then completely throw pace out the window and run by effort.

Nutrition

Nutrition is an area that I continue to learn more and more about! Two dietitians that I recommend following are Starla García and Majo Vallasciani.

I find that most runners don't eat enough (myself included) and that can lead to increase risk of injury and decreased performance. For the marathon, the biggest game changer tends to be fueling/hydrating properly in order to avoid “hitting the wall.” As such, these things need to be practiced throughout a training block!As such, these things need to be practiced throughout a training block!

Social Network/Stress

Training for a marathon is a commitment! Some runners do great with being 100% disciplined and skip out on outings with friends, dinners with family, you name it! For the sake of maintaining “balance” and making sure you are not burning out, it's important to keep some sort of level of social interaction with friends/family!

We can't ignore stress levels! I won't go into the details of how stress leads to elevated levels of certain hormones which can make our body go haywire. Aside from the regular “stressors” of life, if running is stressing you out, that is also a sign that you should probably re-evaluate some things. After all, running is something that you likely enjoy doing if not, why else would you commit to training for a marathon?

Strength/Cross-training

Strength training (ST) is a key part of any running plan! The goals of strength training include: “improve performance, improve the capacity for training, lower risk of injury.” (Blagrove, 2015). A “stronger” body can better handle the demands of running —> decreases risk of injury —> less interrupted training = better performance! Strength training should be programmed to fit each individuals schedule. If someone has 45-60 minutes 1x/week to dedicate to ST, great! And if someone only has 20 minutes 2x/week, that’s okay too! The point is being consistent with incorporating to your training plan :)

Cross-training (CT) is very useful for newer runners that aren’t quite ready to handle increased mileage. It can also serve as an alternative workout for runners that like to mix things up or for runners that might need an “off day” from running. Cross-training activities that are aimed to replace a run should ideally target the cardiovascular system, such as, swimming, biking, rowing, elliptical.

Runs

If you want to run fast, you need to run! We won’t jump into the specifics of training but I highly recommend that you work with a running coach so they can help you to create a plan to reach your goals!

Steve Magness, one of the running coaches that I’ve enjoyed learning from his work recently posted this on instagram and I thought that it beautifully summarized what training should look like.

Of course, all these things are sometimes easier said than done. Which is why before you decide to train for a marathon ask yourself, is this the right time?

I’ve tried training for a marathon while working 10 hours a day, where I was up on my feet most of the day, with a 30 minute commute to and from. This meant that most of my runs were done early AM or late PM. This was not sustainable, and I ended up suffering a calf strain which sidelined my training. I didn’t think it was wise to “rush the training” and decided not to race CIM that year.

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References:

Blagrove, Richard (2015) Strength and Conditioning for Endurance Running