The most common question I get from both beginner and veteran marathoners alike is: “What should I eat during the week and the morning of the Marathon race?” It’s a great question and a very important part of success on race day. Since I covered how to practice your marathon nutrition strategy in training in one of my previous posts, this week I will cover an ideal nutrition plan starting 5 days out from the race so you can start planning your pre-race nutrition strategy now.

Marathon Rule #1: Never try anything new on Race Day

In addition to clothing, pacing, and training, this rule also applies to your nutrition strategy in the five days leading up to the race. You should not experiment with any new foods or venture too far from your normal diet. It’s easy to get nervous in the last few days of your taper and be persuaded by a new product a friend recommends or something you see at the race expo. However, if you haven’t tried it before, especially at marathon pace or during a long run, don’t be tempted.

It’s also important that you experiment with the types, quantity, and timing of the food you eat before you run. Some runners have very weak stomachs and need up to three hours to digest food before they can run comfortably. Other runners can eat within an hour of a hard run with no adverse side effects. It is important to figure out which type of runner you are during training and to take this information into account when you plan for the race morning.

Experiment with your pre-race meal before race day. Your last two long runs or difficult marathon paced workouts should be similar to race simulations. Try wearing the clothes you think you’ll wear on race day, the shoes, socks, and everything you can think of. Eat the same pre-race meal you’re planning for the night before the race and when you wake up in the morning, eat the same breakfast you plan on having. This will give you time to change things up before race day if you find it doesn’t work for you.

5 days from the race

Begin to increase your total carbohydrate intake by adding in more pastas and starches (low glycemic index foods) to your diet throughout the week. The old idea of depleting your carbohydrate stores the week before the race and binging on carbohydrates the last few days in an attempt to trick your body into overcompensating and storing more fuel is outdated. Ensuring that you consume a higher percentage of your total daily calories as carbohydrates is sufficient.

Remember, you’re not running as much as you have been, so eating too much more than you normally do will make you feel bloated and lethargic. At this point in the nutrition cycle, relax and don’t go overboard.

48 Hours before the race

Your last big meal should be two nights before the race. It will give your body ample time to digest anything you eat so you won’t feel bloated on the morning of the race. I’ve seen too many people gorge on pasta the night before the race only to reach the starting line the next day stuffed and lethargic. Have you ever tried to run the morning after Thanksgiving? If you have, you know the bloated feeling I’m talking about, and if you
haven’t, I don’t recommend scheduling a tough workout.

24 hours and before

Eat normal balanced meals like you would normally do on any training day. Make sure you drink plenty of liquids all day long, especially electrolyte fluids such as Gatorade or use electrolyte tabs such as Nuun. It helps if you carry a water bottle along with you throughout the day to remind yourself to drink.

Your main meals should still be in the form of low glycemic to medium glycemic index foods. Ideally, you won’t be too active on the day before the race, so you may feel full quickly. That is fine, you shouldn’t try to stuff yourself.

18 hours before the race

Start eating small meals every 2-3 hours, but after lunch, cut out red meat, fried foods, dairy products, fats, nuts, and roughage. You should only be consuming light, digestible foods like energy bars, bread, and small sandwiches. Keep drinking water and electrolyte beverages and avoid salty foods.

4 hours and less

You should be up early enough before the race to eat a small breakfast with plenty of time to start digestion before the gun goes off. If you need 3 hours to eat a small meal before running, then you need to get up at least three hours before the race to get in a light breakfast. You’ll want to drink mostly water (unless you know temperatures at the race are going to be warm), with some electrolyte fluid. Don’t try to get all your fluids down by chugging your water bottle. Drink small, regular sized amounts. Room temperature water is absorbed quicker than warm or cold water. I estimate that you’ll need 6 oz. every hour or 8 oz. every hour on hot days.

Lots of runners will take a GU or energy gel right before the gun goes off. I only recommend this if you have a weak stomach and you haven’t eaten in 3 hours. If you’re able to stomach more solid foods 60-90 minutes before the race, this is preferable. Basically, energy gels are mostly simple sugars and you’ll be consuming another 2 or 3 gels before the race is over. Even for the biggest sweet tooth this is a lot of sugar.

I hope this article was a practical and informative nutrition plan you can implement for race day. In the last article of the series, I will cover the nutrition plan during the actual race, so stay tuned!

It doesn’t matter how hard you train, there’s one thing that can ruin a race (or any long run) faster than anything else.  And that’s getting dehydrated.

There are 2 primary methods for carrying your water (or drink of choice).  The first, and most common, is a hand held water bottle.  For this I’ve recommended the Nathan Quickdraw Plus Handheld.  Nathan is unmatched in quality, so you can’t go wrong with this bottle for a 5-10 mile run.

If you’re going longer than 5-10 miles, you’re probably going to want more than 22oz’s that the Nathan hand held water bottle carries.  For this, you’re going to need a hydration backpack.

So when I got my Nathan HPL #020 and took it out for my first run, I immediately fell in love.  Why?  Let me count the ways.

Comfort

The unique (and somewhat strange looking) technique that Nathan designed to keep the hydration pack tight against your back is incredible.  When I first saw this pack, I thought it looked like a Mansier (or Bro?  Seinfeld anyone?). But it works amazingly, it keeps the pack right up against your back, which means no bouncing.  This is the single most important factor to consider in a hydration backpack.

Now, the one problem with keeping it tight against your back is that it’s a sweat trap.  Nathan avoids this by having a small insulator between the pack and your back, wicking it away and keeping your back cool.

Weight

The pack itself weights only 6oz’s.  That’s less than half a pound.  In other words, it’s virtually non-existent.  The only weight is what you’re carrying.  This is extremely important when you start talking about running 20, 50, or 100 miles with it on your back.  Every ounce matters.  I’m not aware of a lighter pack, but if anyone knows of one I’d like to hear about it.

Convenience

By convenience, I mean the ease in which you can access everything.  It comes on in off in seconds, which means you can stop, refill, and go in no time.  The propulsion harness easily snaps in the front, which means it’s not flopping around and it’s extremely easy to access, drink, and put back.  No messing around with it while you’re running.

This Nathan pack also has 2 front zippered pockets for carrying gels, snacks, phone and electrolytes.  It’s easy to access while running, unlike most of it’s competitors.  I also have a Camelback pack, and I swear I can’t get the front pocket open without stopping and using both hands to get the zipper open.  This is not the case with the Nathan.  Lastly, the Nathan has two large compartments in the back, capable of carrying a light jacket, flashlight, larger snacks, or just about anything else you think you might want to bring on your long run.

Durability

Let’s just say I’ve had my Nathan HPL #020 for 2 years, trained for an ran countless ultramarathons, and I’m still using the original  bladder.  So if you are worried about the extra cost of Nathan over it’s competition, consider that.  Every other pack I’ve had has started leaking, or ripped, or the zipper broke, or something.  In the end, my Nathan has proven to be the CHEAPEST option because it lasts forever.

Appearance

OK, I have to be fair.  I don’t like the look of this pack.  The elastic meshing in the front is effective, but it looks like a bra.  Butlet’s be real, I don’t look so hot after 50 miles in the Texas heat anyways, so the last thing I’m concerned with is the look of my bag.

What does it take to get to Boston?

It’s April and one of the annual signs of spring is the running of the Boston Marathon. This year will mark the 114^th running of America’s oldest and most prestigious marathon. For many runners Boston represents a lifetime goal and would be on most runners’ bucket list. The only problem, they just don’t let anyone in. Boston is the only combined elite and non-elite marathon that requires qualification times. So what does it take to qualify? And more importantly, how long and hard do you have to train to get yourself there? This article will tackle Boston head on and give you the breakdown of what it really takes to get to Beantown.

Boston Training Essential

1. Know Your Qualifying Time (Not all times are created equal)

It may seem pretty basic, but it is important to know where you are going before you set out on your training journey. While the Boston standards have changed over the years, mostly getting easier, for many they are still a formidable challenge. However, not all qualifying times are created equal. How can this be? Well you would have to take that up with the Boston Athletic Association. But I can tell you this; in general the times are harder for men and slightly easier for women. The way all of the qualifying times are compared against each other is by using an Age Grade Calculator. The calculator takes into account the world-record time for your age and gender in the marathon and divides it by your actual time. Thus, if you are a 40 year old male and need to run a 3:20:00 to qualify, this means you are 64% as fast as the world record (which is currently 2:08:46!) For a 40 year old woman it is a bit easier as you only have to run 3:50:00 which is 61.8% as fast as the current world record (2:27:42). I tell you this because knowing your qualifying time and factoring in your age and gender can greatly increase your chances of qualifying. An easier way to qualify is to hit the time standard for an age group above you. However, you have to be on the border of your current age croup in order to do this. An example would be a 54 year old man qualifying for the 55 year old age bracket. You can do this because the Boston marathon is only concerned about what your age will be on race day not when you qualified. Thus, a 54 year old can run a 3:45:00 as opposed to a 3:35:00 as long as he is 55 on race day. So you basically are a year older but the qualifying standard is 10 minutes slower! To see what your qualifying time is and how you compare against the world-record for your gender and age group click on the links below.

Boston Qualifying Times:

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/Qualifying.asp

Age Grade Calculator

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/agegradingcalculator/0,7977,s6-238-277-415-0-0-0-0,00.html

Take Two

If you are not on the edge of your age group and really need to see some big improvements then this step is crucial. As my time as a coach I have been fortunate enough to work with several Boston qualifiers, but when a new runner approaches me and says they want to qualify for Boston, I usually tell them to take two training segments to do it. For some this may seem like a long time to wait but if you tell yourself, “by this time next year I can be a Boston qualifier,” it won’t seem that long. However, the ability for each person to qualify varies greatly and depends on several factors. For many runners I have worked with, qualifying for Boston represents at least a 10-15% improvement in their current marathon time. When you do the math on this it can mean a substantial amount of time.

For example: A male runner who is 30 years old and has a current time of 3:39:00 will need to run 3:10:00. That is obviously 29 minutes and would mean improving by at least 12%. While this is certainly obtainable it is hard to realistically improve this much with just one 12-16 week training plan. Instead I typically try to get runners to cut off a big chunk (7-8%) in the first training segment and then get the last 4-5% in the second training segment. Usually this takes 24 to 40 weeks but it is well worth it. It is much better to make the standard in one year rather than three or four. A real life example of how the numbers might break down is listed at the end of the article.

Improve Your Training Habits

While that last paragraph might seem to simply the qualifying process there really is more to it than training a little bit longer than you have in the past. One of the most common issues that I see runners struggle with is general training habits. These include but are not limited to;

• Nutrition
• Stretching
• Sleep
• Recovery
• Resistance training
• Injury prevention/Treatment
• Pacing both in workout and in races
• Mental training
• General lifestyle

You don’t have to be perfect on any single one of these, however if you completely neglect one of them it can really hurt your training. All of these training habits are part of a well rounded training plan. Many of these habits are simple to incorporate; you just have to seek out sound advice and then follow it. Most likely you will not pick up on all of them at once. Part of the training process is just learning and exploring what works for you and what you can improve upon. These habits are great things to focus on during your first training segment. It may take some trial and error but by the time your second training segment has started you will have a solid understanding of what you need to do to keep your body healthy and improving.

Run More, but Slower

I can’t tell you how many times I have said this in my coaching career. This issue seems to be one of the biggest problems for runners. The common trend that I see is that a lot of people start on training plans that have them running 3-4 times per week. This is fine. However, commonly runners will use the 3 or 4 days to really push hard even on easy days and then run hard again on the workout or long run days. This, along with less than stealer training habits, can lead to overtraining and injury. The approach that I have been successful with is getting runners to run more often but much slower on their easy recovery runs. They still incorporate typical speed work, tempo runs and long runs but they make sure they are running relaxed and recovering on their easy days. I can’t stress this enough. In fact the aforementioned marathon runner who went from 3:39:00 to 3:19:00 in one training segment only had 4 days off during his training! Now I don’t recommend that for everyone but the point is that the marathon is all about an accumulation of work on your body. Running more often but doing it the correct way can significantly improve your performance. I have also written training plans for individuals that still only run 3 to 4 days a week but on the other days they are resistance training or taking one well deserved day. Everyone is different but the general tread that runners need to accept is that they will most likely have to train differently to get a different result.

Weigh In

One of the simplest but often over looked ways to improve your marathon time and fitness is to improve your diet and overall body composition. Image if you carried a 5lb pound weight for 26.2 miles. Think it might affect your time? The answer is that is does. However, the way to lean up is not to go on a crash diet or severely restrict calories. Often simple training and dietary habits can be modified to help you lose that extra 5-10lbs. However, in the marathon a few pounds can make a significant difference.

For information on how to safely run and loss weight reference the February newsletter article:

http://www.bigriverrunning.com/TimsTrainingFeb2010.pdf

Numbers Breakdown

What will it take to get to Boston?

Runner Profile

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Old Marathon PR: = 3:39:00

Current Marathon PR: = 3:19:14

Boston Qualifier Time = 3:10:00

3:10:00 = 7:15 per mi = 4.5% improvement on current marathon pr

1st Training Segment Improvements

Old PR: 3:39:00 = 219min

New PR: 3:19:00 = 199min = 9.1% improvement

+ 4.5% improvement in 2nd segment =

Qualifier Time: 3:10:00 = 190min = 13.6% total improvement over 2 training segments

Projected Impact of Wt loss on Marathon Time for 150lb male runner with 3:19:00 PR

1.2% wt loss = 2lb = 156lb = 3:17:35 = .05% improvement

1.8%wt loss = 3lb = 155lb = 3:15:55 = 2% improvement

3.1%wt loss = 5lb = 153lb = 3:14:16 = 2.5% improvement

3.7%wt loss = 6lb = 152lb = 3:12:36 = 3% improvement

5.0%wt loss = 8lb = 150lb = 3:09:16 = 5% improvement

Tim has trained seven different Boston qualifiers and is currently training two runners for the 2010 and 2011 Boston Marathons.

For more information about this article or to set up your own Boston Marathon training plan contact Tim at the information below:

Coach Tim Bradley

Phone: 314-882-1778

Email: tim@bigriverrunning.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/coachtbradley

As August begins, I’m going to start a series of articles on fueling for the marathon. It’s a pertinent topic given that over 400,000 people finished a marathon last year – so, I figure this series has to help at least a few people. This article is going to discuss the scientific background behind the use of energy (fuel) in the marathon and how you can prepare your body more effectively.

Let’s Jump in the Car

Close your eyes and imagine your body is a car. Corvette, Beatle, semi-truck, it doesn’t matter as long as it uses gas. Whichever car you’ve envisioned yourself to be, let’s assume that your gas tank is large enough to hold about 2 hours of fuel at cruising speed (Note: 2 hours is actually about the amount of fuel your body can hold while running at marathon effort). Now, if you were to run a marathon, how many miles would you get before you ran out of fuel? Here’s a hint – it’s your pace in minutes per mile.

Let’s say you plan on running the marathon at 6 minutes per mile. Given our example, you’ll hit the 20 mile mark just as you begin to run out fuel. The problem quickly becomes apparent – you’ve still got 6.2 miles to go. However, the solution seems simple doesn’t it? Stop for gas at 13 miles and you’ll be good to go for the rest of the race, right? Not so fast. Stopping for fuel isn’t going to help you set a new personal best. Furthermore, your body doesn’t always digest the carbohydrates you take in while running. As your body becomes increasingly stressed, it begins to shut down non-essential functions such as the digestive system. So, while you could be consuming enough energy gels to keep a small nation alive, they may not be getting processed by your body – it’s kind of like putting leaded fuel into your automobile.

Moreover, the problem of fuel during the marathon gets further complicated because, just like an actual car, the faster you drive the faster you burn through your fuel. If you’ve ever sped along the highway and compared your miles per gallon at 55 mph and 80 mph you’ll understand this concept. Burning fuel while running is very similar to what you would experience in a car. The faster you attempt to run, the faster your burn through your available fuel. Similarly, if you run slow enough, your body will use its available fat stores as an energy source instead of glycogen, which means you can chug along for quite a long time, but at a very slow pace.

Now you can easily see the conundrum we’re in when trying to train for a race like the marathon. Run fast and you’ll burn out of fuel quickly and bonk in the process. Attempt to refuel the tank when too stressed or without practicing and your body will reject energy. So, what is a runner to do?

Enough about Driving

The two best ways to address the problem of fuel during a marathon are: (1) to practice taking in small amounts of fuel while running fast and (2) to train your body to burn more fat and less glycogen at higher speeds. Fueling during the race will be covered in the third article in this series as this article will focus primarily on how to train your body to burn a greater percentage of fat while running at marathon pace.

If you want to set a new personal best, it’s not enough to run just long and slow miles. Sure, you’ll get used to the fatigued feeling in your legs and you’ll gain the mental confidence from cracking the 20 mile barrier. However, long and slow miles aren’t the best way to make you faster, which is why I don’t believe that slogging through multiple 20 or 22 milers is the best idea for marathoners with a goal of over 3:30. I believe it’s too much time spent running slow and thereby not teaching your body how to burn fat at marathon pace. Instead, you need to (1) practice running fast while tired and (2) teach your body to become more efficient at marathon pace.

Breaking up your long runs

One of the best ways to get in the volume similar to that of a 20 or 22 miler, yet also maintain a faster pace is to break up your long run into two moderately fast long runs. For example, instead of running 22 miles on a Saturday, try running 10 miles on Saturday at a steady pace and follow it up with a 16 miler on Sunday with surges throughout the run or with the last few miles at or near marathon pace. You’ll carry the fatigue of Saturday’s run into Sunday, which will simulate the latter stages of the marathon. However, you won’t be so fatigued that you can’t run fast at the end of the 16-miler.

In this plan, you’ve now run 26 miles for the weekend as opposed to 22 and you’ve completed a good 60% of the run at or near marathon pace, compared to almost none during the 20 miler. That’s 60% more time teaching your body to burn fat at marathon pace as opposed to just slow and easy running. Furthermore, running 22 miles at once will require a significant increase in recovery time, resulting in 4 to 5 days of nothing but slow, easy running. By breaking your run into 10 and 16 mile efforts, you’ll recover within 2 or 3 days, which means returning to more marathon paced work sooner than you otherwise would have been able to.

Practice Running Fast

Many beginning runners wonder why I assign them speed work during marathon training. If the race doesn’t require you to run faster than 8 minutes per mile, why would you need to run faster? Again, the more efficient your body becomes at burning fuel while running fast, the longer you can run marathon pace on race day. Workouts such as threshold intervals enable your body to maintain a marathon effort while running faster than marathon pace and thereby learning to burn fat more efficiently at race pace.

In addition, training elements such as strides and hill sprints help you improve your mechanics and form, which will make running faster feel easier. If running marathon pace becomes less of an effort, you’ll burn less carbohydrates for each mile run (remember more effort means your body utilizes a greater percentage of carbohydrate).

Sum it up already

The marathon is a unique and grueling race, but when you understand the physiological principles of the event you can start to eliminate some of the difficulties presented on race day. This article should help you better understand the basics behind marathon fueling and how to better incorporate faster paced workouts into your training schedule to prepare for the specific demands of the race. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to include them in the comments section.

From elites to first time 5k runners, almost everyone knows it is important to get some sort of long run into their training plan every week or two. However, the long run has the potential to be more than just time on your feet with long, slow miles. While fast-finish long runs are quickly becoming a fundamental element in advanced training programs, an underutilized and rarely mentioned workout involves surges during the long run. Implementing planned surges during a long run serves a multitude of purposes. First, you can inject speed into a training plan during what would otherwise be a “slow” running day. Second, you can learn to run fast while fatigued, which develops race specific strength and skills. Finally, surges help increase the overall quality and pace of your long run, thus enabling you to finish faster.

Speed in Disguise

Any runner I currently coach knows I love to “disguise” speed into my training programs. I believe that it is essential to insert some sort of speed development into the training plan at least four or five days per week. Speed training helps improve running mechanics, increases efficiency, and buffers the body for race pace or faster efforts. However, speed development doesn’t have to occur all in one workout. You can spread speed training throughout the week in small doses, which enables you to maximize your time spent developing the more important physiological elements, such as threshold and aerobic strength, while also reducing the risk of injury associated with speed work.

By adding surges to a long run, you can go from 0 minutes spent working on speed, mechanics, and efficiency to 10 or even 15 minutes of “disguised” speed training per week. This slight increase in speed development is all you need to start seeing dramatic results in your mechanics and overall speed.

Specific Strength

One of the most difficult aspects of racing is realizing that as the race goes on, you have to keep working harder to maintain the same pace. Anyone who has ever raced at any distance knows that the first mile is significantly easier than the last mile. The increase in difficulty is caused by fatigue. Therefore, anything you can do in your training to improve your ability to run faster while tired is going to lead to better race results.

By injecting surges into your long run, you develop the specific physiological adaptations and mental skills necessary to increase your effort and pace as the race gets more difficult.

In addition, if you’re training for a marathon or your goal is to run a half marathon in the 2-hour range, surges late into a long run, especially when you’re low on fuel, help teach your body to burn fat more efficiently at race pace. Why is this important? Typically, the faster you attempt to run, the greater percentage of carbohydrates you burn (since carbohydrates are converted to energy quickly). Therefore, if you can increase the percentage of fat burned for energy while at race pace, you’ll have more carbohydrates to burn late in the race.

Quality

When doing surges during the middle of the run, you will typically notice two things:

The first surge is always the hardest because you have to wake your body up. As runners, we’ve been conditioned to think of long runs as slow and leisurely Sunday strolls. (Granted, running slow for your long runs is appropriate at times, especially after a hard week of workouts or following an increase in volume). Therefore, the body and mind aren’t ready for the hard interval you’re about to throw in. Luckily, as your body and mind get adjusted to the speed, you’ll start to feel invigorated by the change of pace. You will also notice the pace increase bleeds into the recovery portion of the workout and you will find yourself running a faster overall long run than you normally would without surges.

How to Incorporate Surges

Long run surges should begin about half way through the intended long run distance and end about ¾’s to 8/10’s of the way through the run. This means if you have a 10-mile long run that usually takes you 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete and you’re scheduled for 5 x 1 minute surges with 5 minutes rest, you should begin the surges at mile 5, which will result in the last surge occurring at around mile 8. If you have a schedule written by me, I will designate the starting point of the surges for you.

The length of the surge itself, the rest in-between the interval, and the starting point of the surge during the run are all variables that you can adjust to make the workout harder or easier. Typically, I start most runners out with 4 x 1 minute surges with 5 minutes normal pace (normal being your average long run pace) between each. For runners at a very high level, we may progress to 6 x 2min surges with 3-4 minutes rest. The pace of the surge should be anywhere from 5k pace to 8k pace. The exact pace will depend on the length of the surge and how much rest is given between hard efforts. Again, a schedule from me will have a goal pace included; typically, the longer the surge, the slower the pace. While this explanation of surges was a long article, it didn’t delve into detail regarding specific physiological adaptations such as myoglobin and mitochondria development because I wanted to keep the article simple and practical. If you would like to discuss surges in the context of advanced exercise physiology, I am always available via email or the comments section.

Enjoy the new training stimulus and if you try out the surges in your own training, post back here with your experiences.

Happy running!

Before you start your first marathon training program, you need to specify your goals of the race.  A marathon is a hell of a challenge in itself – so the goals range quite a bit.  For some people, the goal is to reach the starting line healthy.  For millions of runners every year, the goal is just to reach the finish line (healthy or not!).  And for a few others, it’s a specific time goal.

For your first marathon, the goal to finish is a normal and reasonable goal.  And if you follow our plan below, you’ll greatly increase your chance of success.

You should have 3 race goals.

The first goal is your bare minimum goal – the one that you must achieve to have any level of satisfaction with your first marathon.  This is the most critical marathon goal, especially for first timers. It’s the one that will scare you into getting up early week after week for your long Sunday runs. This is the goal that will force you back out on Monday when you’re sore, to get in your recovery runs – because the fear of not accomplishing this goal is too much to deal with.

Your second goal is your realistic goal.  This goal is something you know you can accomplish if you train hard.

The last goal is the fun one.  This is your stretch goal – it’s a marathon goal you’re not sure if you can accomplish or not, but it’s that golden ring worth reaching for.  This accomplishment is the one that will have you smiling for weeks (as your feet and blisters recover!).  It’s also the one that will keep getting you back on the saddle for another try until you accomplish it.

As you set your goal, I want you to think about this one lesson I’ve learned in my many years of experience running marathons and ultra-marathons:

You are capable of more than you think. If you push your body, it will respond.

Now it’s time to start running (or walking)

A first-time marathon training program should be 20 weeks.  Some programs will be squeezed into 16 weeks, while others stretch to 24 or more.  I believe 24 is too many, not for your body but for your sanity. Getting up every Saturday or Sunday morning for 6 months is mentally exhausting, and it’s unnecessary.  There will be plenty of challenges with this marathon training plan, there’s no need to add additional challenges.

If you already have solid base miles of 20-30 miles per week, then you can skip straight to week 8 of this training plan. This makes the training program a 4 month marathon plan.  If you do not have these base miles, then start from week 1.  Pushing your body too hard too fast will result in injury leaving you sitting at home on race morning.  Follow this plan consistently, and we’ll get you to the finish line.

Beginner Marathon Training Program

Details about the Marathon Training Plan

• All runs should start with a short 3-5 minute warm-up and 3-5 minute cool down.  This is to get the blood flowing, nothing more.  This can be a swift walk or a slow jog.
• Easy means easy.  Not as easy as the warm-up, but not heavy exertion.  A simple test is the “talk test.”  You should be able to carry on a conversation.  If you are alone, you don’t need to talk to yourself, just make sure you could talk if you wanted to.
  • Medium means it would be a little difficult to talk.  You can talk, but there’s some heavy breathing between sentences.
  • Hard means you can’t talk.  You can grunt some words, but you shouldn’t be able to have a conversation.  No matter your age or fitness level, you can run hard (relatively).  This is important if you really want to reach your stretch goal.  (If you don’t want to reach your stretch goal, you shouldn’t have set it.)
  • A tempo run should start easy for 5 minutes, run hard for 10+ minutes, then back to easy for 5 minutes.  So a 20 minute tempo run is 5-10-5, a 40 minute tempo run is 5-30-5.  Got it?
  • Intervals runs should be repeating an easy-hard pattern.  For this marathon program, all interval runs should be 2 minutes easy, 3 minutes hard.  You should be running a 5K pace during the hard running section, and focus on recovery during the easy.  Do not push the easy, because it only takes away from the hard. This workout is all about learning to recover quickly.  Believe it or not, it’s the easy running sections that are the most valuable to this workout.
  • X-training is something physical you like to do for fun.  No, Wii Fit does not count.  Biking, hiking, walking, yoga, stretching, and weight lifting are all good examples, but there are many more.

You’ll also notice that this plan utilizes something most do not, back-to-back long runs on the weekend.  Your typical cookie-cutter marathon training program will not have these, but Rundurance believes in the power of back-to-back long runs for building endurance and learning to run when you’re tired.  The second day will be rough, you’ll wake up in the morning sore and tired and unsure whether you can really go for a run.

Let me answer this: Yes, you can!  The first 2-3 miles won’t be fun, but you’ll find yourself loosening up and feeling better, and by the 3^rd or 4^th mile you will be feeling great.  Still tired, but your legs will build strength and you will build confidence.

Preparing the night before your first Marathon race

You’re probably pretty nervous, but don’t be.  You’ve done all the hard work and now it’s time to reap the benefits.

Don’t worry about carbo-loading; a 10K does not require it. In fact, it won’t help at all because you will not be short on carbohydrate energy in 6.1 miles.  You don’t reach that threshold until 12-16 miles.  You have 1800 calories worth of available carbohydrate cells with immediate energy stored away.  Most people burn between 125-150 calories per mile. Eat a normal meal, drink lots of water, and get to bed early.

Have a beer or glass of wine if it helps ease your nerves, but just one!  Then go to bed, and think positive thoughts about your race.  You’ve trained hard, and what was your stretch goal 6 weeks ago is now within reach.  Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  We love to hear from people that successfully use our training programs.

Before you start off your beginner’s half-marathon training program, you’ll want to set your personal race goals for your first half-marathon.  You should have completed a 5K or 10K prior to this race program.  This pre-requisite isn’t just for building up your mileage base, it’s also to make sure you’ve been through the unique environment a road race has.  It’s not wise to mix the challenge of your first half-marathon with the nerves of your first race.

Now that we have that established, let’s talk more about goals. For some people the goal is to do nothing more than reach the finish line.  That’s cool, that was my goal for my first half, first full marathon, and my first ultramarathon. For other runners the goal is to run throughout the entire half marathon without walking. And for many other runners, a specific finish time is your goal.  If your time goal is less than 2 hours, you should visit our half-marathon training for intermediate runners.

You should have 3 race goals.

The first goal is your bare minimum goal.  This is the most important accomplishment you’ll set – so write it down.  No, seriously, write it down and give it to a friend or family member.  I’ll wait.  This is the goal that will scare you into training as hard as you know you are capable of. This is the one that will have you getting up at 5am to run before the summer heat, or running through the rain when you’d rather be at home watching TV.

The second goal is your realistic goal.  This is the one that you are confident you can reach if you train hard for the half marathon.  It’s not an easy goal, but it’s something you know you’re capable of (by the way, if running has taught me anything it’s that you’re almost always capable of more than you think).

The final goal is your stretch goal.  This is the one you’re not so sure you can do, but you’re willing to give it a try.  This is the goal that will have you bragging at work, celebrating all night and back on the roads on Monday ready for your next challenge (OK, maybe not the last one).

Now it’s time to start running (or walking)

A novice half-marathon training plan can be done in 12 weeks.  Of course it can be shorter if you have solid base miles.  This plan assumes you have moderate base miles (10-15 miles per week).  If you have more, you can skip straight to week 4.

Running a half marathon is the first distance where you have to consider the possibility of overuse injuries if you don’t train smart.  So if you’re unsure, then make sure to follow the plan from week 1. If you follow this plan, you will greatly reduce the likelihood of injury.

Beginner Half Marathon Training Program

Details about the Half Marathon Training Plan

• All runs should start with a short 3-5 minute warm-up and 3-5 minute cool down.  This is to get the blood flowing, nothing more.  This can be a swift walk or a slow jog.
• Easy means easy.  Not as easy as the warm-up, but not heavy exertion.  A simple test is the “talk test.”  You should be able to carry on a conversation.  If you are alone, you don’t need to talk to yourself, just make sure you could talk if you wanted to.
  • Medium means it would be a little difficult to talk.  You can talk, but there’s some heavy breathing between sentences.
  • Hard means you can’t talk.  You can grunt some words, but you shouldn’t be able to have a conversation.  No matter your age or fitness level, you can run hard (relatively).  This is important if you really want to reach your stretch goal.  (If you don’t want to reach your stretch goal, you shouldn’t have set it.)
  • A tempo run should start easy for 5 minutes, run hard for 10+ minutes, then back to easy for 5 minutes.  So a 20 minute tempo run is 5-10-5, a 40 minute tempo run is 5-30-5.  Got it?
  • X-training is something physical you like to do for fun.  No, Wii Fit does not count.  Biking, hiking, walking, yoga, stretching, and weight lifting are all good examples, but there are many more.

Preparing the night before your Half Marathon race

You’re probably pretty nervous, but don’t be.  You’ve done all the hard work and now it’s time to reap the benefits.

Don’t worry about carbo-loading; a 10K does not require it. In fact, it won’t help at all because you will not be short on carbohydrate energy in 6.1 miles.  You don’t reach that threshold until 12-16 miles.  You have 1800 calories worth of available carbohydrate cells with immediate energy stored away.  Most people burn between 125-150 calories per mile. Eat a normal meal, drink lots of water, and get to bed early.

Have a beer or glass of wine if it helps ease your nerves, but just one!  Then go to bed, and think positive thoughts about your race.  You’ve trained hard, and what was your stretch goal 6 weeks ago is now within reach.  Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  We love to hear from people that successfully use our training programs.

Congratulations to James McDermott, our winner of a free Nathan Quickdraw Handheld Bottle!

HOW TO ENTER:

All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what you love about this give-away.

Really wanna win this week? Here’s some ways to get extra entries to the contest:

• Leave a comment below!
• Tweet it (include #rund for extra entries)
• Become a Facebook Fan of Rundurance or get a friend to become a Facebook fan (this will automatically give you an extra entry for future give-aways after you leave a comment)
• Join our newsletter so you never miss another give-away again (sign-up is on the right side of this page)
• Make sure to tell us in the comments below on what you did for the extra entries.

Good luck!

Contest ends July 6, 2010.

Product Information:

Nathan is the premier running hydration company, ranging from water bottles to best-in-class camelbacks and water carrier systems.

This particular water bottle system is ideal for endurance running because it provides insulation to keep your water or other fluids cold for long periods of time.  It also offers:

• Moisture wicking hand straps with adjustable tension
• A Zippered pocket for carrying keys, gels, or other small objects
• 3M Scotchlite reflective trim
• and a 22 oz. Bottle for carrying water, Gatorade, or whatever you preferred drink is (Jagermeister?)

Good luck!

The Garmin Forerunner 405CX is the latest released GPS watch in the long list of products Garmin has put out over the last 8 years.  The sports watch keeps getting smaller and the features keep getting more abundant.  When I saw the 405CX was being released, I wondered what it had over the Garmin Forerunner 405, and the Forerunner 305.  As a running geek, I had to get one to find out.  Keep reading to see my product review of the latest Garmin Forerunner.

Like the 405 and 305 models, the Forerunner 405CX was loaded with the basic features like time, distance, pace, and heart-rate while on the run.  It also had a feature I’ve come to love, the Virtual Partner.  For those new to Garmin sports watches, this is where you can race against yourself from a previous run, or set up a goal pace and be notified whether you are winning or losing against the Virtual Partner.  I’m so competitive, I even get hyped up trying to beat this virtual runner.

The Forerunner 405CX also allows you to sync to your computer wirelessly using their technology called ANT+, meaning all you have to do is come within 20ft of your computer and you’re already uploading your latest run.  That’s pretty great, I just take off my watch and set it on the counter near my laptop after a run.  I hop in the shower, and when I come out my run is uploaded to my computer and stats of my run are pulled up.   For some people, this might seem trivial, but like every other running gadget, you get used to it and can’t remember how you ever got by without it.

One of the most impressive things about the Forerunner 405CX is that you can also share your runs with friends wirelessly.  After a great run, I shared my run with an occasional running partner who usually pushes the pace on me.  He was then able to go repeat the course and try to beat my time.  I thought I might have had him, but he still beat me.  :(

All in all, I’d give the Forerunner 405CX an A-.  It’s definitely a quality product, but it adds only a little above the Forerunner  405 but with a much steeper price.  If I was to chose, I’d save the extra money and buy the Garmin Forerunner 405.

Buy the Forerunner 405CX here

Buy the Forerunner 405 here

If you have experience with either of these Garmin products, please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Before you commence your beginner’s 10K training program, you need to figure out your goals.  For many first-timers, the goal is to finish.  For others, your goal might be to run the entire time without walking. And for the more aggressive, your goal might be a specific time goal like 80 minutes, 60 minutes, or 50 minutes.  If your goal 10k goal is to finish in less than 50 minutes then that’s great!  But you need to go check out the 10K training for intermediate runners or experienced runners on our rundurance.com.

You should have 3 race goals.

The first goal is your stretch goal.  Your stretch goal is the race pace or accomplishment that will have you celebrating after the race and into the late hours of the night.  Your second goal is your realistic goal.  This is the goal you’re confident you can accomplish if you train hard.  Your final goal is called a minimum goal.  This is your bare minimum accomplishment; failing to reach this goal will be total failure.  This may sound harsh, but it’s possibly the most important goal that you set because it just might scare you into that important training run in the rain after a tough day at work, even though you really want to go home and drink a beer (or glass of wine, whatever you prefer).

Now it’s time to start running (or walking)

A novice 10K training plan can be as short as 6 weeks.  In fact, 6 weeks is my preference because it utilizes a quick ramp in miles, avoids injury or mental burnout, and has you in peak condition on race day – ready for your 10K race.  A beginner runner should ramp up to about 4.5 miles very quickly.  While a 10K is a worthy challenge, 6.2 miles is not enough distance that you need to over concern yourself with injury.  10K runners (or 10K walkers) don’t have overuse injuries, so get that out of your head now.  When you increase to half marathons, full marathons, and ultramarathons, we’ll talk about overuse injuries.

Beginner 10K Training Program

Details about the 10K Training Plan

• All runs should start with a short 3-5 minute warm-up and 3-5 minute cool down.  This is to get the blood flowing, nothing more.  This can be a swift walk or a slow jog.
• Easy means easy.  Not as easy as the warm-up, but not heavy exertion.  A simple test is the “talk test.”  You should be able to carry on a conversation.  If you are alone, you don’t need to talk to yourself, just make sure you could talk if you wanted to.
  • Medium means it would be a little difficult to talk.  You can talk, but there’s some heavy breathing between sentences.
  • Hard means you can’t talk.  You can grunt some words, but you shouldn’t be able to have a conversation.  No matter your age or fitness level, you can run hard (relatively).  This is important if you really want to reach your stretch goal.  (If you don’t want to reach your stretch goal, you shouldn’t have set it.)
  • A tempo run should start easy for 5 minutes, run hard for 10+ minutes, then back to easy for 5 minutes.  So a 20 minute tempo run is 5-10-5, a 40 minute tempo run is 5-30-5.  Got it?
  • X-training is something physical you like to do for fun.  No, Wii Fit does not count.  Biking, hiking, walking, yoga, stretching, and weight lifting are all good examples, but there are many more.

Preparing the night before your 10K race

You’re probably pretty nervous, but don’t be.  You’ve done all the hard work and now it’s time to reap the benefits.

Don’t worry about carbo-loading; a 10K does not require it. In fact, it won’t help at all because you will not be short on carbohydrate energy in 6.1 miles.  You don’t reach that threshold until 12-16 miles.  You have 1800 calories worth of available carbohydrate cells with immediate energy stored away.  Most people burn between 125-150 calories per mile. Eat a normal meal, drink lots of water, and get to bed early.

Have a beer or glass of wine if it helps ease your nerves, but just one!  Then go to bed, and think positive thoughts about your race.  You’ve trained hard, and what was your stretch goal 6 weeks ago is now within reach.  Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  We love to hear from people that successfully use our training programs.