1. Build the Base
Before starting any marathon training program, you should be running four to five times per week averaging approximately 20 to 25 miles total. Once this is achieved you can start to build incrementally week to week longer runs.
2. Follow the Ten Percent Rule
Most experienced runners will tell you that the increase in your daily and long runs should be no more than 10 percent of what you ran the previous week. This helps you to remain injury free.
3. Train Your Body
Gradually increasing to higher mileage helps you to better utilize glycogen, the starch-like substance stored in your muscles and liver. The body learns to change it into a simple sugar for energy. High mileage running teaches your body to burn more fat with glycogen, increasing the duration of your reserves from 60 to 90 minutes to 2 hours or more.
4. Make Time for Running
Marathon training is a time consuming endeavor. Fitting in your daily runs and a long run, which in the latter part of your training can take 2 to 3 hours of your day, is difficult if juggling a family, career and other responsibilities. Tailor your runs to your schedule. Most training programs are set up with long runs on the weekend. If this does not work, rearrange your long run to be on a weekday. Decide what works best for your daily runs: morning, afternoon or evening.
5. Know Thyself
Decide early what your personal is goal for the marathon. If this is your first marathon, the goal should be simply to finish. If your trying for a certain time frame completion, consider how much you will need to train to reach that goal. You can finish a marathon on only 30 miles of accumulated running per week. If you would like to finish well, your mileage should be pushed up to 55 or 60 miles per week. Each week you are building stronger and longer miles, however eventually you will find your break point. It is best to cut back before reaching this point. Buildup occurs for 2 or 3 weeks, then cut back the next week to give your body time to recover. Your training program will be successful if you listen to your body and how it is responding to the mileage increase. A common mistake among runners is to give your body inadequate time to rest. The most important goal is to cross the finish line injury free.
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