A different take on marathon training. By Simon White

08.02.2011

It’s that time of year again!! Like me you may have noticed the increased amount of runners on the street in some very bright and tight lycra. This can mean only one thing- marathon training has started. I was lucky enough to gain entry into the London Marathon last year and it was a fantastic experience. It is a great opportunity for runners of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities to run the distance that real runners are judged by.

This time last year I read through many articles related to Marathon based training and faced the dilemma of which direction to go in my own training schedule. Most endurance running coaches go with the theory that if you are training for Marathon distances then the best way to get there is to progressively run a certain amount of miles per week. Be it with tempo runs, interval and hill sessions or as active rest. But I have also read an article suggesting that the increase of miles run can be of detriment to the runner the closer it is to race day. I have been told previously that it takes a day to recover for every mile run during the Marathon, thus making it almost a month of recovery. Taking this into account I decided to do my last long run 4 weeks prior to race day. Using this theory I found that to allow my muscles to recover during my training I only run the long runs every other week progressing up to around 21 miles.

After doing my research I also did 2 other runs per week which included hill runs, intervals etc along with some gym based exercises to strengthen my legs for the gruelling event. Below is an example of the sort of training schedule I did in the gym, the % represents a percentage of your total body weight:

Exercise	Week1-2	Week3-4	Week5-6	Week7-8

Step Ups onto bench	3 X 15 reps No weight	15 reps/10% 20 reps/20% 10 reps 10%	15 reps/10% 10 reps/15% 7 reps/20%	25 reps/10% 30 reps/10% 20 reps/15%
Single Leg Squat	3 X 15 reps No weight	15 reps/5% 20 reps/5% 10 reps/10%	15 reps/5% 10 reps/10% 7 reps/15%	25 reps/5% 30 reps/5% 20 reps/10%
One Leg Hops	10 secs X 3	20 secs X 3	10 secs X 3	30 secs X 3

I am glad I embraced this slightly different way of training as I felt my legs were fresh and not pre fatigued going into race day. The resistance based training definitely helped me as I felt that my legs were strong enough to get me to the finish line without the feeling of running with lead legs.

During my training I also had a weekly sports massage which is a must for EVERYONE training for a marathon to prevent injury and help your legs recover from the mileage ahead. You must stretch after every training session, using foam rollers if necessary, although this can be somewhat uncomfortable.

It goes without saying that good nutrition pre and post training is incredibly important to any athlete and the extra calorie consumption can sometimes be just reward after those long gruelling runs. I would recommend trying different foods as a Pre and Post training meals throughout your training. By doing this you can eliminate what food s do or don’t agree with you before the race. Also, stay away from spicy food the day before your longer runs as it is more likely to make your digestive system uncomfortable.

It is also very important to get the right amount of rest, this can change in the individual due to lots of different factors but I would recommend trying to rest as much as possible when not training and also pre and post race.

My top tips and musts for your training and race day are below:

Training

Get a good fitting pair of trainers and a running gait asessment (runnersneed.co.uk)

Try to get a sports massage at least every other week

Eat right pre and post training and try out which foods work best for you to run

Have 2 scheduled rest days per week (more if needed)

Stay hydrated as often as possible

Stick to your program DON’T do more or less

Visualise yourself running across the line on race day

Pre Race Day

Eat well and stay hydrated the few days leading up to the race. DON’T eat spicy foods

After eating your pre race evening meal go for a walk to help digestion

Prepare your bag the day before so that you don’t forget anything

Put your feet up and relax the day before

On race day try to leave early so that you don’t have to rush around.Think positive, you have done the hard work with all the mileage you have put in during the months leading up to the big day. Now just enjoy the occasion, you deserve it!!