Is it your first marathon? If so, you should take into account a series of tips to run a marathon and not hurt yourself and that the remedy is no worse than the disease.
The first thing you have to know is that you have to start slowly. For example, assimilating the loads well and setting small goals that we meet and give us enough motivation to reach our final goal, which is the marathon.
The important thing is to set a goal that we know we can really achieve and that the training is aimed at achieving that goal. Follow a good training plan for at least two to three months. Although the ideal is to prepare this type of career in more than three months. If you feel ready and fit, at least find a good eight to twelve week plan that will help you finish more effectively.
10 tips for running a marathon
1. It is important to have a prior assessment of our physical form
For someone who is new to this world, it is useful to know where they are. It would be advisable to carry out a stress test to determine that we are in a position to follow a training plan without any setback.
For those who have a certain level, this test can help us determine what our work thresholds are and at what pace we can train.
2. You have to follow a varied training plan
Not only doing it is about doing periods at the same pace, since they do not produce improvement. We must introduce changes of pace, sets, gym training, etc.
For this, we advise you to have a treadmill at home, as it will make it easier for you to do these exercises both slow and fast at any time of the day without having to leave the house. It is a plus point for people who leave work late and do not have time to go to the gym or do not like to go out at night to run.
So there is no excuse, and you can do your exercise every day. In addition, once the marathon is done, you can continue to maintain yourself, and having this kind of machinery at home is much easier for you to do it.
Once a week it is convenient to do a longer period of running and at a slower pace, about an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half.
In addition to the long session, it is necessary to work sessions at higher intensity with an increase in heart rate, but these sessions require 48 h of recovery, so that we will have to intersperse high intensity workouts with other low intensity ones .
3. Work on physical condition
This is very important for good muscle tone and preventing injury. Strength training is essential to be able to withstand stronger kilometers and rhythms.
4. Perform stretching
When we finish with the training, it is very important to do stretching to prepare the body for the next session. It will only take you 10-15 ‘and they will help us prevent future injuries.
Rest after hard training is also very important. Training is as important as resting , this is something that we have to keep in mind.
5. Choose the type of shoe
Something very important is also choosing the right type of shoe for our footprint. Determining the type of shoe we need can be done through a tread study to avoid injuries or overloads.
Use in training the same ones with which you are going to run on the day of the race, although we can alternate one type of shoes with others (light or with more cushioning), they must be the same that we use on the day of the race, thus ensuring , that we will not suffer unforeseen events.
6. Wear appropriate clothing
The clothes that you must use in your workouts must be comfortable and breathable. You should not run with a lot of clothes to avoid sweating too much, since you run the risk of dehydration, especially in the hottest months.
7. Eat a good diet
Regarding food to train for a marathon , you have to eat more carbohydrates than usual, especially after workouts. It is what will help us the most to be able to train the next day with full tanks and better assimilate the loads.
Hydration is very important during training and preparation weeks, not just on marathon day. In each training we lose a significant amount of mineral salts. So we must always take our water bottle with us to each workout.
8. You have to follow a progression in training and competition
It is best to enter shorter distance races such as 5k and 10k. Once we master these distances, we can pose greater challenges, such as a half marathon or marathon. There is no need to be in a hurry: there are always marathons.
9. Visit your physiotherapist
Accumulating so many kilometers in the legs has consequences for the muscles and joints. The physio can make us a set-up every one or two weeks, something with which we will notice less discomfort when training.
10. Train with a heart rate monitor and, if you can, with GPS
Although it is not essential, technology helps to better understand your body. With the heart rate monitor we will know how we are going from fatigue and with the GPS we will train in a more refined way with the distances and the speed at which we run.
Following a training plan will be easier if we use this type of technology.
