Marathon training

Training for a marathon run is a months- or years-long project for most recreational runners. This article is about training for recreational runners, i.e., runners who run for sport, physical fitness, or other reasons. Elite athletes who compete for money or Olympic medals usually have professional trainers.

Basic Fitness
The Marathon is a physically very demanding event that places a great deal of stress on the human body. A physical checkup with a medical professional prior to starting marathon training is strongly recommended by every trainer. Individuals who seem to be healthy, and have received the approval of their doctors, have died in marathons.

Olympic level athletes are not exempt. Ryan Shay died during mile six of the 2007/2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Marathon running is a dangerous activity even with medical clearance, and can result in death or disability.

Most trainers recommend that you should be able to easily run five (5) or six (6) miles before undertaking marathon training.

Good shoes
If you are a recreational runner, it is important for you to determine which shoe is best for you. Buying a pair of running shoes can be a complicated process. One way to determine the right shoe is to figure out your foot type by taking the "wet test". A wet test is an easy way to tell you about your degree of pronation. If you have a high-arched foot, you may be a supinator. A normal foot means a normal pronator. A flat foot means you have a tendency to overpronate.

Race strategy
There are currently three basic approaches to completing the marathon distance. Running, alternating run and walk, and walking. Training plans based on one of these three approaches are typically adopted before starting serious training.

For perspective, the average adult in reasonable physical condition can walk at about 3.5 miles per hour. That speed for would mean an elapsed time of seven and a half hours. Most marathons close their courses 6 to 8 hours after the start of the race. To complete a marathon in six hours requires an average speed over the entire of 4.4 miles per hour. Typical runners complete the marathon in times between 3 and 5 hours, for speeds of 5.25 to 8.75 miles per hour.

The world records for men and women are slightly over 2 hours, with average speeds of up to 12.5 miles per hour, three to four times as fast as the average walker.

There is an emotional bias on the part of some athletes against walking any part of a marathon. According to this point of view, marathons are about covering the distance in minimal time, for a personal best. The only way to accompish this is by actually running the entire distance.

Progressive Training Strategy
Training for a marathon does not start with running . As with most athletic training, the distance run gradually increases about 10% per week over a period of time, with adequate rest and recovery between runs.

Recreational runners typically run between 3 and 6 days a week, with most doing 4 or 5 days of running. Some runners may do two-a-days, meaning two training runs in a single day.

A typical week may involve a long run during the weekend, a half long (or "medium") run during the week, and two quarter long runs as well. (The half long run is roughly half the distance of the long run for that week, and the quarter long runs are one-quarter the distance of the long run.) There are probably as many weekly schedules as there are trainers and runners. The total distance covered on a weekly basis may start at about a week and build gradually to 40—50 miles. Generally, it is not advised that recreational runners exceed about 50 miles per week, as the probability of injury increases. Many elite athletes train at more than 100 miles per week.

Adequate rest is required for building strength. Muscles do not build strength during the training exercise, they lose strength during the training exercise because of the stress of the exercise. Muscles gain strength during recovery from exercise, when the muscle rebuilds itself, repairing the damage done by exercise. The repaired muscle is generally stronger, hence the basis behind gradually increasing stress in the course of training.

Marathon training has an additional goal after a basic level of running training is attained. The goal is no longer to gain strength, but to increase endurance. Increased endurance is accomplished by training the muscles, particularly the leg muscles, to store more glycogen and make better use of the stored glycogen.
However, muscles respond to the same training regimen for endurance as they do for strength, increased stress followed by adequate rest can increase endurance. The difference is in the training exercise, running progressively longer increases endurance, doing squats with progressively higher weights increases strength.

There is no single plan to train for a marathon or any other major physical challenge. Individuals vary in their initial fitness, biomechanics, desire, and time, as well as time and ability to train. While a specific plan may be adopted and prove successful for a specific individual, another individual may find that plan unsuitable. All plans share some common characteristics, however.

Training for sprints, or short runs, is completely different from distance running training, and requires different training strategies.

Long Runs
The long run is the heart of the marathon training process. The goal of the long run is to gradually increase the ability of the runner to cover the marathon distance. Long runs may start at , and build a mile a week to about 14 or . At beyond 15 miles (approximately), more than a single week of recovery is generally necessary, so the schedule switches to a two-week plan, with a shorter "long run" between full long runs. Typically the shorter long run may be 70% of the distance of the long run (a run, then a run, then an run.

For most recreational runners, distances over about increase the probability of injury and so more recovery is needed between long runs at these distances.

The maximum distance for long training runs is usually 18 to , although some trainers will go all the way to , and beyond. Many runners, however, are just as successful with multiple 20 or long runs in the weeks before the marathon. Unlike other events, a two or three week tapering period after the last long run and before the marathon allows the runner to store up energy to cover the remaining distance.

Pace during long runs should be conversational, meaning that one should be able to carry on a conversation; it is not necessary to run at top speed. Long runs at less than top speed (60 to 70% of maximum exertion level) train the body to store energy more efficiently and make more effective use of oxygen.

Speed training is generally done with shorter runs, using tempo runs or interval training (see below).

Periodization
Rather than a single progressive plan, where the running mileage increases every week, periodization involves three steps up, followed by one step back, then three steps ahead again. For example, the three steps might be 15, 16, then long runs, followed by stepping back to 16, then 18, then long runs. The one step back, three steps forward process allows the body additional time to recover, without much loss of training fitness.

Periodizaton was developed in Eastern Europe for weight training, but its underlying principal can be used in any sport utilizing progressive training techniques.

Recovery
Speeding recovery after long runs, and even after every training run, can improve the training experience.

During training runs, particularly longer training runs, three major changes occur in the muscles used for running: glycogen in the muscles is depleted; microscopic damage is done to the muscles themselves; and lactic acid waste products are left behind.

Glycogen stored in the muscles are reloaded by consuming complex carbohydrates shortly after running. Muscle damage is repaired by rest and the consumption of proteins. Lactic acid can be removed by soaking the legs and lower body in cold or ice water, forcing the body to pump more blood than normal through those muscles to maintain warmth, more rapidly repairing muscle damage and flushing out the waste lactic acid. Contrary to popular belief, an increased concentration of lactate does not directly cause acidosis, nor is it responsible for delayed onset muscle soreness.

Glycogen is stored in the muscles and is the source of energy used during running, when glycogen is utilized by the body to create the energy to run, the waste product is lactic acid. During most lower intensity physical activity, the body can dispose of lactic acid at a sufficiently rapid rate. Intense running (and other intense physical activities) leave lactic acid deposits in the muscles themselves because the body cannot get rid of the waste fast enough. The longer the exercise, the more lactic acid buildup there is in the muscles. Lactic acid accounts for some of the stiffness after a long run. An effective strategy for removing this waste lactic acid is to soak the lower part of the body in cold or ice water for a short period of time (about 20 minutes). The cold causes the body to pump blood into the muscles and cleans out the waste products in the process. (Ice packs and cold soaks are used in other sports as well, such as basketball and football.)

The Glycogen stored in the muscles that was consumed during a run should be replaced prior to the next run. In the first couple of hours after the run, the human body will more easily convert complex carbohydrates to glycogen. Failure to adequately replace the glycogen over time will lead the runner to slower and slower times, and runs that take more effort instead of runs that take less effort.

Protein consumed in the hours after a run will also speed muscle recovery.

A well-balanced, post training run meal, combining both protein and complex carbohydrates, immediately supplies the body with the materials to recover from the training stress, and prepares the body for the next training session.

Tempo runs
Speed for long distance running can be improved using a number of training strategies, with tempo runs considered the best by most trainers at this time. A tempo run consists of a warm up phase, a tempo pace phase, and a cool down phase. Typically the warm up and cool down phases may cover one or two miles (3 km), while the tempo pace phase may be two to six miles (or 20 to 35 minutes), depending on the individual and the goals.

Tempo pace is usually run at what is called the individual's Lactate threshold, which has been determined in laboratory and other tests to be the optimal metabolic rate at which an individual can train. At this pace, the body is removing lactic acid as fast as it is being produced, any faster and lactic acid will build up in the individual's system, any slower and optimal training does not result.

Every individual has a different lactate threshold pace, which increases over time as that individual trains more and more.

Using a heart rate monitor is generally the easiest way for an individual to monitor pace; the training pace should be at 80 to 90% of heart rate reserve.,
You Tube
and Runner's World can be used to learn proper form.

Cross Training
Marathons exercise more of the body than just the legs. The typical marathon runner may take between three and five hours to complete the distance. This requires other parts of the body to be adapted to this amount of stress for that period of time.

Core Training
Core training involves training the lower back, oblique and abdominal muscles (those muscles at the core of the body just above the waist) to keep the runner upright and vertical during the entire run. Elite distance runners typically run with the upper body in a vertical position using the core muscles and running from the hips and thighs.

Core muscles do not receive much training during running, typically various weight or special exercises are done at other times (such as on non-running days) to strengthen the core.

"Plank" exercises (plank, side plank, back plank, dog) are one popular form of these exercises.
The body is supported on the toes and the elbows (or hands, similar to a push-up) in the plank, and kept in that position for up to a minute. Variations have the athlete raise a leg, raise a leg and hold it up, or pump the hips.

Side planks support the body on the side of one foot and a hand or elbow on the same side of the body. Leg raises, bicycle motions and other motions can make this more challenging.

The goal of these exercises are to use the body's weight and a horizontal position (face down, face up, or sideways) to strengthen all the muscles involved in keeping the body in a straight line from head to toe. No extra weights are typically used, instead the positions are held for longer and longer periods of time.

Sites such as Runner's World. have training videos that demonstrate various core training techniques.

Walking
Walking uses most of the same muscles as running, but at a lower intensity.
Depending on the training level of the athlete, walking can be an effective cross training exercise.

Weight Training
The marathon is a long event involving the entire body — the upper body to a lesser extent than the legs. Leg strength gained with weight training improves hill climbing ability. Training of the core muscles (those around the waist and hips) using weighted crunches, situps, and straight leg dead lifts, improves posture as well as speed, and reduces effort.

Sites such as ExRx.net have various weight training exercises and training plans that can be adapted for use by runners.

Some runners feel that weight training is not useful because they think it will lead to too much muscle bulk.
However, there is no requirement that the recreational athlete use as much weight as weight lifters.
Using only the weight of the runner's body limits the strength that can be gained; using weights to further stress
the muscles leads to greater strength.

Diet

Modern nutrition can inform us about which natural foods are more useful for which processes in the body. For example, a diet of roughly 55 to 65 percent carbohydrates, 15 to 20 percent fat and 20 to 25 percent protein as measured by calories is a good starting point for a basic diet. Some natural food will be better at supplying certain compounds than others: potatoes (baked, with skins) are better than sweet corn for carbohydrates.

Timing of food intake can be important as well. In particular after the weekly long run, the muscles in the body will absorb carbohydrates as glycogen more readily than at any other time.

Certain basic numbers can be used to compute the number of calories, grams of carbohydrates and grams of proteins needed by a runner who is training.

The basic caloric requirements for the human body to survive are 12 to 14 calories per pound of body weight per day for a male, and 10 to 12 for a female. (For a 140 pound adult male, that is 1680 calories per day, see Basal metabolic rate.) These numbers apply to just maintaining existence, they do not account for the calories burned in exercise. As there is a wide variation in these numbers, they should be used only as a starting point.

The net calorie burn for a runner per mile per pound of body weight is about 0.63, so a five mile (8 km) run for a 140 pound runner will burn about 441 calories. If the only activity the runner did that day was the five mile (8 km) run, then the runner would need about 2200 calories.

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