Running a marathon is not for everyone nor is it something one should take on casually. Running or walking 26.2 miles requires planning and hard work to prepare you physically and mentally to insure an injury free and positive journey to a successful marathon. The time period to prepare for a marathon can vary depending on your fitness level. Someone with a high level of fitness and is an avid runner maintaining 30 or more miles per week can be ready in as few as 12 weeks but someone getting off the sofa with little or no fitness level may require 12 months to be fully prepared. As a rule most people with a running or aerobic base can prepare in 14-18 weeks.

Now that we have established the basic time line you need to prepare for a marathon let's look at some training tips to help you through your journey to complete the 26.2-mile event. These tips are applicable to all levels of athletes embarking on running a marathon.

Your training regiment should have six distinct phases to it. The length of each phase will vary depending on your fitness level and marathon experience. The phases are:

• Aerobic Base -- 2 to 8 weeks (Longer if you are coming off the sofa) here is where you build your stamina and fuel pipeline to the muscles. Most of these runs will be well below your marathon goal pace (MGP)
• Advanced Aerobic Base -- 2-4 weeks, here we continue with aerobic base work but incorporate higher heart rate workouts like tempo runs and MGP work.
• Power Phase -- 4-6 weeks, here we increase the intensity of the workouts by introducing intervals, hills, track, and longer tempo runs. This is where you build strength and aerobic endurance.
• Peak Phase -- 4 weeks, here we ramp up the mileage and experience runs up to 22 miles and your weekly mileage can exceed 50 miles.
• Taper In Phase -- 2-3 weeks, here is where we focus on rest and getting ready for the race. Your mileage will gradually drop down to about 40% of your peak mileage week. A three-week taper would have you at 80% of peak, then 60% of peak and the final taper week would be 40% of your peak week. During this phase it is important practice visualizing your race. See yourself finishing strong and cover your race strategy with your coach.
• Taper Out Phase -- 2-3 week, here is where you celebrate your success and work on recovering from the race. Enjoy a recovery massage, some long walks, and some easy runs while you gradually return to your normal fitness routine.

Running alone is not enough to fully prepare for the marathon. It is important to incorporate other exercises into your regiment. Bicycling is a great aerobic cross training exercise and complements running well. You also need to incorporate core strength training into your routine. Core strength is essential to maintaining proper form especially as fatigue sets in and will help prevent injuries. You will want to concentrate on strengthening your lower abs, gluteus muscles, quads and hamstrings.

Balancing your training routine is essential to preventing injury and keeping your mental state fresh. A good balanced ratio for your base to speed to race pace is 60% base/recovery (slower than MGP), 20% speed work (faster than MGP), and 20% race pace work (at or near MGP).

A well-balanced weekly routine might looks like this:

• Monday -- Tempo Run
• Tuesday -- Easy active recovery run plus core work
• Wednesday -- Speed workout
• Thursday -- Cross train plus core work
• Friday -- Pace run
• Saturday -- Long slow run plus core work
• Sunday -- Rest Day

Managing your weekly mileage increases and long runs are key to staying injury free and insuring success on marathon day. Your long runs on the weekend should never be more than 50% of your total weekly mileage and you should keep your mileage increases to about 10% each week. Too much too fast is a recipe for injury. This is where a coach can be helpful in keeping you from over training.

Finally I want to emphasize the importance of running your long runs at a slow enough pace to keep your heart rate in your zone 2. A good rule to follow is to keep your pace 1-2 minutes slower than your MGP. If you know your heart rate zones run what ever pace keeps you in zone 2. These long slow distance (LSD) runs will continue to build the mitochondrial capillaries that deliver fuel to the muscles. This conditions your body to use oxygen and fat more efficiently as your primary fuel source and is essential to helping you run longer distances at a faster pace.

John Schueller
Life Time Endurance Coach
Life Time Fitness

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