The bug has hit-after running 4 half-marathons and maintaining 20-25 miles on average a week, I have signed up for my first marathon in May, 2009. With this 7 months away, I have lots of time but also want to be sure and not lose what I have gained up to this point My goal is to finish the marathon strong and smiling. What training plans do you recommend and what key steps do you have for avoiding injury? Any good training books or programs that you recommend? (I usually use Runner’s World’s moderate plans.)
Most coaches recommend increasing mileage slowly—no more than 20% per week (an increase of 5miles a week seems to be fine for most people), with your long run being no more than 25% of your weekly mileage. I recommend incorporating down weeks every 2 to 3 weeks to allow recovery and enhance the benefits of all your hard training. For example, once you hit 30 miles, you might run that for 2 weeks, but then go back to 25 or even 20 for a week. You would then go up to 35 for 2 weeks. Please note that under special circumstances, you may choose to run a very long effort before your marathon (18-20 miles). Since you are new to marathon, this effort should be treated like a race effort for preparation and recovery.
7 months gives you lots of time to prepare, but you will want to have specific hard efforts and target races to make sure your training is on track and to give you some focus. The ultimate guru on running is Dr. Jack Daniels and I highly recommend using his book as a reference for determining paces for you various workout types.
Quick Tip:
Consumption of food with 30 minutes of completing an event or hard effort decreases the amount of time to recover. By consuming carbohydrates or a mixture of lean protein and carbs, you maximize the uptake of glycogen stores and reduce recovery time from an average of 72 hours to 24 hours. Why is this important? Depleted glycogen stores (or stored sugar) can lead to muscle breakdown and increases the risk of injury. (from Jackie Berning, PhD and Nutritional Consultant to the Denver Broncos)
Keep those questions coming!! Email Jen Toomey at jen@toomeysports.com.
