Think about of the marathon on for a minute. Well, maybe not full minute. It's a long way. It requires you to keep moving your legs at a fairly quick rate to drainage your radiator and empty your fuel tank it’s mentally challenging. The key to survival then is to teach your body and your mind to handle these stresses. Prepare, and you will survive.
The most important thing you can teach your body is the basic acts of running. Step after step, day after day. Most people in training will be simply about easy runs and aerobic pace increasing the amount you do week by week over the course of three or four months. That will build a foundation for your success.
Part of that process will be a long run, usually once in week at a distance that gets progressively longer. There are different opinions about how long. The longest run should be. Most experts though encourage extending the weekly long run at about one additional mile per week until you are running the amount of time, not distance, but time that will take you to complete marathon distance.
Your training pace will be 10% or 20% slower than your planned marathon pace. That means a long run in the 22 mile range should keep you on your feet the desired amount of time. Your long run shouldn't be fast. In fact, it should be comfortable enough that you can chat with people you are running with. If nothing else you will learn some embarrassing personal things about your training partner as they get too tired, they screen out information they normally won't share.
One training system popularized by Jeff Galloway encourages runner to take walking break during long run and during the marathon itself. It's not cheating. Giving yourself a periodic walking break can help extend the distance you can run and improve your performance. If you decide to take walking break, start early in the run well before you start to get tired.
We have just covered the most important aspects of marathon training. Develop good aerobic strength through lots of easy running, progressively increase your weekly mileage, and teach your body to go long. Now let's talk about a few other training techniques that can add some zip to our drive.
If you say the marathon is a test of endurance then why on earth are these marathoners doing speed work, running much faster than they will in the marathon? Well, many runner enjoy very gratifying marathon without ever breaking out of the steady running pace and training, because I learned on the 1976 Olympic marathon occasionally training at faster than marathon pace make marathon pace itself, feel very comfortable. Periodic speed works can help you develop a quicker leg turn over which can lead to a more comfortable marathon experience.
Even if you have never been to the track, adding tempo runs to your weekly training can help you improve your leg turn over, so you tolerate faster running. tempo runs are usually done at about 80-85% of your maximum heart rate. The term controlled fast is sometimes used to describe this pace. Fast, but not so hard that your muscles are slowed down by lactic acid accumulation. Tempo runs are usually an inserted 15-20 minutes up kick in pace during a standard run, but they can also be done as cruise enable, in shorter segment with short breath between. Either way they can help a lot.
Finally, that I truly fear is hill review. Up the hill at swift, steady pace, jog back down, repeat. Trying to take these steps every week or so, will really give an ability to manage hills on the marathon forum. Even if the course has hills, you will long stronger on the flat. If I spill through with intervals, repeats, and tempo runs, forget them for now and go back to the most important part of marathon survival, develop good aerobic strength to lots of easy running and teach your body to occasionally go along.
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