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How To Run a Marathon

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Today I would like to offer some advice on how to train for a marathon. Essentially a beginner’s guide. The first rule of thumb is to;

Build Your Mileage Slowly.

The essence of marathon training is the weekly long run. Your weekly long run should start at about five minutes longer in duration than your current longest run, you should aim to add around ten minutes per week to your run each time. These runs should be completed at around Seventy percent of your maximum heart-rate. You are ideally going to need to run around three to five more times than usual during the week, but these particular runs can be shorter if you wish.

Some of them can be faster, there’s certainly nothing stopping you, but they shouldn’t really exceed an hour to an hour and a half in duration for optimum effect. It is also advisable to consider cross-training using weights, swimming, or cycling too to help build up your stamina quickly.

Understanding The Task At Hand

A marathon is a long way to run and many people tend to forget this; it is exactly twenty-six points two miles, so the key focus of your distance training should always be building up your stamina and getting farther and farther with each run you undertake.

As a new runner, I would estimate that you are probably looking to build up to around twenty-three miles for your single longest run. You should also be looking to focus on acquiring an astute physical and mental awareness of what an actual marathon feels like and how distance running is affecting your body.

In order to achieve this, it is advisable to start with some fairly regular training in the three months or so building to the date of your first marathon. I recommend doing this either as one long run, (perhaps eight or nine miles at a realistic pace, or by slowly building up the distance on your shorter runs. It is also advisable that you run the last couple of miles with the same effort you would impart if it were there real thing.

Having The Right Equipment

Another key point: you need two good pairs of shoes that were fitted to you by a good quality running store, taking into account your needs. And your weekly mileage shouldn’t exceed 50 miles per week. With those two pairs of shoes, you can rotate them each run so you give them two days to recover their cushioning.