How To Run A Marathon
Only 0.17% of the world’s population can say they have ran a marathon.
You clicked on this article, so I assume you’re on your way to becoming a marathon finisher. I want to start by congratulating you on taking this huge step. I know all the emotions you’re feeling. I understand that the stress and anxiety of the occasion are building up in your head. But you’ve made it real. You’ve signed up for the event, now you have to put in the work to reach the finish line.
Marathon training is a long journey with many opportunities to trip up. This article will help you navigate these challenges of running your first marathon.
In April 2023, I completed my first marathon. I have always been active - I played football since I was 8 years old - but massively underestimated what running 26.2 miles would do to my mind and body.
All 257 minutes of the race took me on an emotional rollercoaster. From feeling like I’m on top of the world to seriously contemplating quitting the race once the cramps had set in. I was grossly underprepared to run a marathon, though.
In the 2 months of training before the race, the furthest I’d run was 13.1 miles, and I only ran 100 miles throughout the entire training “plan”.
Why sign up for a marathon?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that if you follow this article, then you’re going to have a pain-free day and feel refreshed as you cross the finish line.
Signing up for a marathon is like paying to voluntarily put yourself through torture for 3-5 hours. And that’s not even mentioning the hours of training you have to put in to reach race day.
So why do millions of masochists sign up for this self-torture every year?
I can’t answer for everyone, but I can confidently say that running a marathon changed my life. It will change yours, too. The pride you’ll feel after participating in a marathon is worth every minute of pain, and a feeling that I haven’t been able to replicate in my 25 years of life.
Picture this. You’ve trained for months. 25+ miles per week. Eating right. Recovering. Everything. Months of hard work and dedication are all released when you cross the finish line.
You feel like you’re on top of the world, and that can translate to every other area of your life.
You are now part of the 0.17% of the world’s population who have run a marathon.
Unfortunately, many people (including me) don’t prepare enough to join the marathon runners club.
You can simply turn up on race day with no plan or preparation, but you won’t have a great time. You’ll be faced with some horrendous side effects (I suffered so much I debated ever wanting to run again), including:
Cramps (everywhere)
Nausea
Blisters
Nipple chafe (yes, it is a thing, and they bleed)
DON’T WORRY!
I’ve experienced these, so you don’t have to.
Well, you’re going to experience some pain. But you can mitigate it with proper preparation and a tried and tested race day strategy.
Here’s how.
Step 1: Follow a training programme
The biggest mistake I made was arrogance.
I thought that I knew how to train for a marathon, even though I’d never run more than 6 miles in one go before signing up…
I ran 112 miles from January to April to train for my first marathon, which was nowhere near enough. For context, I ran 136 miles in one month of training for my second marathon. I made up my training programme as I went along.
Because of this, my body felt like it was shutting down at mile 18, and I wanted to quit.
There are plenty of free marathon training programmes available online, but you need to be invested in it and understand the reasoning for the programme for it to be effective.
I used the BPN app for my second marathon, but tweaked it slightly to suit my personal circumstances (work commitments, strength training, time, etc.).
The best way to make sure you follow through with your marathon training programme is to use a personal calendar.
Schedule your training runs in a calendar like Google Calendar, and you’ll know exactly what needs to be done and when. Balancing a full-time job and training, it was the best way to ensure my training fit into the rest of my life.
A good training programme will have a mix of easy aerobic, interval, and long runs.
It’s great if you want to do the same 3-mile loop every day to train for a marathon, but you’re probably not going to enjoy race day.
Varying your training runs with a mix of tempo, speed intervals, and elevation changes will help you overcome the challenges you’ll face on race day.
Step 2: Fuel for Performance
One of my favourite parts of running is the food you get to eat afterwards - this especially helps after long training runs. However, the way you fuel your body before training is critical to your ability to perform when it matters most.
Nutrition is the North Star. The President. The CEO of anything fitness-related.
You burn between 500 to 1,500 calories, so you need to know how to fuel and refuel to recover. I get overwhelmed if I think too hard about my nutrition, though. So, I keep it simple.
This isn’t an article on marathon training nutrition, so here are some tips for marathon race day nutrition:
Race day nutrition begins before race day - Carb-load the day before to maximise your energy for the race.
No debuts on race day – Your race day nutrition shouldn’t include foods or liquids that you’ve never consumed before. Unless you enjoy stomach problems, practice your race day nutrition for a few long training runs. Everything from timing, calories, macros, and specific brands. You want to avoid stomach problems at all costs.
Eat, even if you don’t feel like it – You’re probably not going to want to eat when you wake up on race day. With a good mix of nerves, fear, and excitement, I don’t blame you. But if you fast before running 26.2 miles, it’ll be like trying to drive 200 miles in your car with no fuel. You’ll burn out pretty fast.
Consume sugar and salt – Your body needs the contents of these (sodium and glucose) to keep moving without cramping or fatigue.
Step 3: Set SMART Goals
It doesn’t matter if your goal is to simply finish the marathon; setting goals is a huge help when you forget why you started.
Whenever I had a lapse in motivation during training, I remembered the reason I signed up for the marathon. I signed up for my second race to complete it in under 4 hours. The reason behind that was combating the pain I felt after a poor performance in my first marathon. I never wanted that feeling of intense pain and failure again. That is what got me through every step.
Your goals need to be SMART. That means setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Bound.
My goal of a sub-4-hour marathon was:
Specific - I had a specific target of crossing the finish line in under 4 hours.
Measurable - I could measure my pace throughout the race to make sure I was on track.
Achievable - “All” I had to do was shave off 17 minutes from my final time.
Realistic - My training made it a realistic target.
Time Bound - The race date gave me plenty of time to train and work towards my goal.
Step 4: SLOW DOWN!
The biggest mistake people make when they start running is going too fast.
A typical story might look like this:
You start running. You feel exhausted after every run because you’ve pushed too hard. You get injured. You don’t continue running after injury due to fear of exhaustion and re-injury.
I don’t blame you for thinking this way, though. From an outside perspective, running can look intense. But you can chill out.
Your ability to stay consistent in training is a far greater factor for your success than anything else. And you can’t stay consistent if you’re going all out in every run.
To put this into practice, sometimes I use my heart rate to determine my speed. The typical formula for easy aerobic training that will build endurance without exhaustion is to maintain a heart rate of 180 minus your age.
For example, I’m 25 years old at the time of writing this. So, I target an average heart rate of 155 beats per minute for regular training runs.
This doesn’t mean to go at a snail’s pace for all of your training. The best marathon training plan is one that includes varied types, intensities, and distances.
A Selfish Act
Unless your last name is Kipchoge, I doubt that marathon running is the central focus of your life. We have jobs, families, and everything in between to take care of first. Training for a marathon is a selfish act. One that can take you away from your responsibilities for hours per week. But running will change your life for the better, even if you have to sacrifice binging that new show or sleeping in late. You will think yourself for committing to your fitness in a way that very few people do.
Now you have the tools you need to complete your first marathon; nothing can stop you.
Follow a training programme
Fuel for performance
Set SMART goals
Slow down
