Marathon Training Blog

Some websites deliver a nice easy read that’s enjoyable to digest and one such website is at http://run-down.com/. I actually started off reading through some of their running stories (see Running Pages menu on left hand side) where I found a mix of inspirational and funny postings. The stuff is actually a few years old and some new stories are needed but what’s there is worth reading.

On a similar theme, I also looked at Running Quotes which again could do with padding out a bit but well worth checking out. I particularly liked the following one which can be applied to anything and not just running :-

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.”   - Doug Larson

Do make sure you take in the sections on Running Tips (check out Proper Rest and Mental Preparation in particular) and Training (keep in mind it’s written by someone who generally runs 1500 metres and this is how the article is geared up).

While some parts of the website feel like they need some extra material adding, the discussion forum (http://run-down.com/forum/) is very well used and as a consequence is full of up-to-date postings on varying aspects such as Rambling Runners, Training Talk, Coaches Corner, Distance Den, Mid-Distance Depot, Sprint Central, The Field House (field events) plus more. Do check out the Crazy Experiences posting & replies in Coaches Corner at http://run-down.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1023. I partcularly liked the posting by Micah Ward which was as follows :-

In college I ran a road race in Savannah. While we were waiting on the race to start we were standing on River Street looking at the Savannah River and a dead body floated by. We got to watch the Coast Guard retrieve the body…then we ran the race.

As I say, this website delivers on entertainment aswell as the serious stuff. Worth checking out.

Just been checking out some stuff on the MarathonPal.com website and there’s certainly a lot of useful content packed into it.

In particular I noted the Training Tips page at http://www.marathon-training-program.com/marathon-training-tips.html which gives a good common sense rundown of ten tips for training for marathons. Here we look into the vital subject of rest intervals, the pace at which you train in comparison to the big event itself, putting yourself strategically through similar conditions to those expected in the marathon, importance of strides, drills and stretching plus a whole lot more.

While on the site, check out the Avoiding Runners Burnout page at http://www.marathon-training-program.com/runners-burnout.html. Here the point is driven home that you shouldn’t overrace or overtrain. Make sure you are fresh as you approach a race or you will face the possibility of burnout. Marathon athlete Shawn McDonald gives some vital advice here :-

“If one has a cutback week every fourth or fifth week, then in the long run they will be a stronger and faster runner, have fewer injuries and be much more likely to avoid burnout,” said McDonald. “It takes some planning and motivation to put these changes into your running program, but it is the smartest thing to do”.

You’ll also get four important guidelines from MacDonald on this page on how best to avoid burnout.

I think you’ll find this site invaluable whatever your angle - good advice leaps out from every page.

Well this week we’re leaping ahead to the forefront of running research to pick up on some new research which may well have a big influence on part of your training now or in the future. I’m referring to the idea of incorporating sprint training into your training programme even though you’re principally interested in long distance running.

I’ve been looking at the Running Research News website at http://www.runningresearchnews.com/ which uncovers the results of a study looking into the effect of building an increasing frequency of sprint workouts into training programmes lasting 6 weeks. Controversially, while sceptics may poo-poo the idea, in fact it turned out that participants in this experiment did in fact benefit in lasting the course better in their subsequent long-distance events. Unfortunately the website does not provide for free a breakdown of results without taking out a subscription to Running Research News.

In the interests though of providing you with something for nothing, it should interest you to go to http://www.cbass.com/Sprintendurance.htm where some hard evidence is provided on a similar experiment carried out last year. Let’s take a look at what was found there :-

In that study, sixteen active but untrained students, average age 22, were divided into two groups: eight who performed two weeks of sprint intervals, and eight controls who were tested before and after, but did no training.

The test group did four to seven “all-out” 30-second sprints on a bicycle ergometer with four-minute rest periods, six times over two weeks. (Dr. Tabata’s subjects did intervals five days a week for six weeks; the rest periods were much shorter, of course. We’ll discuss the differences in the two studies below.)

The muscles of the trained group showed substantial aerobic adaptation: 38% increase in citrate synthase, a mitochondrial enzyme that indicates the power to use oxygen, and a 26% increase in glycogen (muscle sugar) content. Interestingly, there was no change in peak oxygen uptake (VO2max) or anaerobic work capacity.

“Most strikingly,” the researchers wrote, “cycle endurance capacity increased by 100% after [sprint interval training].” The time to fatigue cycling at about 80% of VO2max increased on average from 26 minutes to 51 minutes!

The control group showed no change in any of the test parameters.

I’d recommend that you read the rest of the material on this particular web page as there’s plenty more useful information if this facet of training grabs your imagination.

Well last week we looked at running for beginners but we’ll switch today to getting started in marathon events. I’d suggest a good place to go for some basic reference material is the Marathon Rookie website and to go to http://www.marathonrookie.com/marathon-training.html.

Here we get some very important bullet points without going into too much detail. Let’s face it, we don’t want to be running before we can walk ! So what’s the advice ? Well we get to hear about the 6 key points regarding preparation for marathon training; Pre-Training, Training, Nutrition, Hydration, Mindset and Avoiding Injury.

You’ll notice the following link; ‘Select the right marathon for you’ and this is well worth looking at. What’s good is that hard and fast rules aren’t set as differing factors suit people in different ways and what’s one man’s meat is another man’s poison. One concrete piece of advice though is to choose a marathon with lots of competitors and to get your name printed on your shirt. The reason for the latter is to encourage supporters to cheer you on and let’s face it a bit of increased self-esteem ain’t gonna do you any harm in mid-race !

To be honest there’s tons of stuff on this site including an ebook (which you’ll have to pay for!) but let’s finish by suggesting you go to page http://www.marathonrookie.com/top-10-rookie-mistakes.html. This is well worth reading for the uninitiated - a walk through of 10 sound bits of advice that steer you away from some critical mistakes that could scupper your chances of getting through your first marathon. It’s hard to see how you can manage by ignoring just one of these pieces of advice so you’d best get all 10 !

Let’s start at the beginning here and feature some tremendous advice from John Bingham at http://www.johnbingham.com/get_started.html. Are you in a position where you intend to start taking up running as a pastime or means of keeping fit ? Well you could hardly start off in a better place than looking at John’s website which starts off from a very constructive way at looking ahead before you even begin running. Once taking your first steps, John advises that it doesn’t matter how little you run to begin with as you can start off running a very short distance and then simply aim for improvement from there.

After adopting a principle of patience, persistence and consistency, the changes in your body will allow a transformation to happen in your body as you start to take control. It is now we can begin to look ahead to the future stages which John features and describes in an excellent way. John splits his advice into the following categories; Becoming a Runner, Training Tips (which splits into Food as Fuel, Pace vs. Effort, Pain, Road Manners) and Running Gear. All of these pages are well worth reading if you are considering getting out on to the road. While there, you’ll find tons of other interesting stuff on the site so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pay this website a visit.

For some time now I’ve been wanting to set up a blog about running and marathons. While my running interests occupy a lot of my time, I also want to devote some time to looking at what’s out there on the internet and highlighting it here on this blog. Let’s hope we find plenty of good material out there to enlighten these pages !