I’ve cracked how to train for a marathon and I’m not an Olympic athlete nor am I some kind of fitness guru. In fact I’m not an avid runner. Actually I don’t particularly like running. Let me be brutally honest I hate running – despise it but I’ve finished a marathon. How? I learned to CHILL. When I first started training a lot of experienced runners told me that you can reach a point where you get a high, a “runner’s high”. Something to do with endorphine production- read it for yourself on wikipedia. The truth is I never got a high – oh, except when I finished. I’ll tell you what I did get though – numerous bruised toenails that eventually fell off as well as blood stained t-shirts from a bleeding nipple. But I finished a marathon….and….it was fun, well kind of. You still interested? Read on and I’ll tell you how to train for a marathon….the CHILL way.
The fact is I’m just an ordinary guy who lives a pretty mundane life. 5 days a week I get up in the morning, go to work and come home in the evening to watch a bit of TV or surf the net. Since I’ve been honest with you so far, let me continue in the same vain. I don’t have any hobbies (apart from drinking – but I only manage this on the weekends these days). Shameful I hear you say. Well it’s true. I’m a pretty boring person. I’ve tried though. Most recently I bought a kite as I live near a kite park and thought it would be a cool thing to do on the weekend. I’m over that now. Do you think I’m strange yet? But I’ve finished a marathon…and…in a reasonable time too – 3 hours, 35 minutes and fifty five seconds to be precise. I like to be precise.
So, early last year I decided I wanted to run a marathon. I don’t really know why. It wasn’t because I wanted to lose a load of weight or get a healthier lifestyle. I just suddenly thought it was something I should do once. The longest I had ever run for before was probably 30 minutes and I wasn’t a member of a gym but I knew a load of people that had successfully completed a marathon and I thought that if they could do it so could I (and if I could somehow get a legal high, well it all kind of made sense).
Now, there’s already a lot of information on the internet about how to train for a marathon and there are plenty of books that have been written on the subject. Most of it is about how to build up to the distance by following a schedule of slow, fast and long runs over a period. I’m not going to repeat that because if that is what you’re looking for then just check out any number of marathon schedules like Hal Higdon's
(a master who has done more than 100 marathons).
Let me get to the point – I want to add something to the subject that I’ve never found anywhere else. If you really want to know how to train for a marathonand actually make it to the day and finish it then follow my new crazy CHILL method. Here it is:
C is for CHARITY rather than carbohydrates – Sure carb-loading a few days before a marathon helps keep those glycogen levels high but it’s irrelevant if you don’t make it to the week of the race. You will be at the start line though if you run for a charity because if you don’t you will let a lot of people down. Run for a charity and put yourself in the position that it’s just too embarrassing to drop out. Did you know that more than 80% of people who run the London marathon do it for charity? Charities help you get your place in the marathon and avoid the dreaded lottery.
H is for HERO not hill work – Complete a marathon and you are a hero or, as they say, a person of distinguished courage and ability. Keep this in mind every time you’re out on a training run. Don’t worry about hill work, you can get away without any. Sure if you want to run a fast race you need to do hill work but whatever, you are a hero. You are running a race that is one of the toughest athletic competitions you can do. If you run a big race like London or Chicago you will be competing in the same race as Olympic and World Champions. There is no other competition that an amateur can participate in at this level. And I promise you when you run the last miles of a race you will be treated like a hero. Imagine running through Central Park with close to a million people cheering you on. Then you will know what a hero feels like.
I is for INDULGENCE not injury prevention – Don’t get me wrong you want to avoid injury but just stretch properly and listen to your body. Much more importantly think that training for a marathon allows you to indulge freely in high calorie foods! You burn approximately 110 calories for every mile you run (although depends on a lot of factors) – think how much candy that could represent!
L is for LOCATION rather than long runs - I’m sorry but there is no way out of doing a few long runs in your training and let me tell you they are hell and often much harder than the real thing. But they aren’t worth anything if you don’t pick the right race location and I don’t mean choosing a fast course. Did you know there are more than 800 marathons across 82 countries each year? It’s all about location. Why run in your own back yard when you could also get the thrill of seeing a new city. There are big races in cities like London, Berlin, Chicago, New York and Paris and there are some great settings like in Norway where you run in the light of the midnight summer sun. Plan your marathon as a life experience where you do more than just run. If you can’t afford it you can find some charities that will pay your way if you raise above a certain threshold so there are no excuses.
L is for LOOKING GOOD not liquid gels
– I couldn’t handle those liquid gels. I tried them once in training and was close to vomiting so never bothered again. I’m living proof you can get through without consuming that gooey stuff. But I’m vain. I like to look at myself in the mirror and I like gadgets
. Don’t you feel better when you think you look good? Go out and buy yourself some fashionable running gear and get yourself a cool gadget like a distance monitor. You’ll be surprised how much easier your training becomes. Don’t go out in an old discolored cotton T-shirt with worn out sneakers. Get yourself kitted out properly. It works, trust me.
CHILL works – it is exactly how to train for a marathon and finish one! If you need any more help check out some of these great accessories.
Posted bySam
at
2:32 PM
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marathon training,
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