Heres how it goes. I remember about 8 yrs ago I used to smoke heavily and decided I was going to quit. I started to exercise and run to help get over the bad habits I developed. As I did I started to feel better and I felt motivated.
I started running one mile and soon that became three and then five As I read books and learned how to expand I decided to run a marathon. My first was the New York City Marathon in 2003 and my goal was to finish.
The first step is to find a marathon and sign up for it. This will show your personal commitment and will help you knowing that you have a goal. Look for one approximately six months out from the beginning of your training. Take the first month and start running 3-4 days a week being sure to stretch before and after your runs. Stretching will help prevent injuries and promote long term health.
Build a base run of 3-5 miles a day over your first month. As you approach the second month start to increase this base run to about 4-6 miles a day 4 -5 days a week. By doing this you will have a good base to start from. It is not necessary to run fast. The goal here is to finish, if you need take 30 seconds to 1 minute in between each mile.
As you start to get up in mileage hydration and nutrition is very important and must not be forgotten I will discuss that in the next article. Now that you have a nice base run of about 20 miles per week you can build on this over the next 12 weeks.
Month three begin to build on your run lengths and intensity. You will need to add one “hill” work out and one “speed work” exercise to your routine along with adding one long run to your weekly mileage.
Here is an example of what is can look like. Monday run 3-5 miles at an average pace. Tuesday run some hills (8-10 times up a hill that is approximately 100meters in length at a brisk pace and slowly jog down) and take Wednesday off and then on Thursday run a brisk 4-5 mile run. Friday try some speed work and then Saturday off. And last try a long run on Sunday of about 7-9 miles that are at a slow pace. As you do these routines add mileage to your long run every other week by 2 miles, your mileage will increase dramatically along with your stamina until you reach around 20 to 22 miles on your long run.
The last thing to do is the taper. Three weeks prior to your planned race you need to taper off the long runs and decrease your mileage by fifty percent. Cut your long run in by a third at the first week of your taper and then run an easy 10 miler the weekend before the marathon. The week of the marathon try a few short 3-5 milers and then take some rest on Friday and Saturday before the race.
Try this and you will finish your first marathon and there is no feeling in the world like this accomplishment.
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