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Get serious about marathon training

  • Published
  • By Dr. James Schlub
  • Health and Wellness Center
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  It's time to get off the couch, back off on the barbecues and get serious about marathon goals. Time is rapidly running out -- without training with a concerted effort, a runner might not make it to the Air Force Marathon start line or, more importantly, finish line. 

Novice training picks up

Novices unaccustomed to running should have been walking three miles a day four days a week by the end of April. This also should have included at least one hilly route a week and adding in some brisk walking to work up a sweat.

Now it's time to add jogging into the three-mile walks. The easiest way is to slowly add minutes of jogging into the walks. Always start and end workouts with a few minutes of walking as a warm-up and cool-down.

During May, prospective marathoners need to get into the jogging form if the goal is to run the entire marathon. It is also beneficial to find a course with measured distances for some of your workouts, i.e. high school track or par course. A sports watch with a stopwatch and timer included is a good accessory. This will be used to time your walk and jog periods, and stay aware of goals.

The plan for May and early June:

Week one -- mix a quarter-mile of slow jogging between a half-mile of walking and repeat four times during the three-mile workout. 

Week two -- reduce the walking distance by mixing quarter-mile jogging with quarter-mile walking and repeating the sequence six times over the three miles. 

Week three -- bump up the time jogging by mixing half-miles of jogging with a quarter-mile walking and repeating the sequence four times over three miles. 

Week four -- take a major jump by jogging an entire mile before walking a quarter-mile and repeat the sequence three times. 

If using a stopwatch instead of a measured course, then just convert every quarter-mile of jogging to three minutes (a 12-minute mile pace) and walking a quarter-mile to five minutes.

For the novice, its important to keep the jogging pace comfortable and not push it too hard. The intent is to get the body use to the impact of jogging longer distances. Adding in too much speed at the same time too soon can cause injuries.

Intermediate runners add mileage

By the end of April, regular runners were doing four workouts a week. Each week should have incorporated a "specialty run," (hill, threshold, or interval runs), two easier runs and one long run of six miles.

This month, add a half-mile to each easy run until reaching six miles by the end of the month. The long run should be bumped up a mile each week for the first three weeks. Week four, however, is an "easy" week -- back off the long run down to seven miles and skip both a specialty run and one of the easy runs.

Now don't get cocky from this easy week, only running three days.

From now on until the marathon, break up training by backing off total mileage about 25 percent every fourth week to stay fresh.

But in the week following these "easy" weeks, runners will take advantage of the strength gained by reinstating the specialty runs and, for that week alone, replacing an easy run with another specialty run and making a three-mile jump in the long run.

These weeks following the "easy" weeks will try to make runners mentally and physically tough by asking the body to give a little more than it is used to. So be ready for the first, post-recovery week training schedule. It will be one easy six-mile run, two specialty runs of 45 minutes and a 12-mile long run.

Strength training

All runners should add weight training -- one day for legs and two days on upper body strength. They shouldn't be long, arduous workouts a bodybuilder might do. A runner's goals for weight training differ.

The body needs time to recover to adapt to the stress of running. So one day a week of strength training for the legs is sufficient. The particular exercises would be a selection of leg presses, squats or lunges, leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises. Complete two sets of 12 to 16 repetitions of each until the weight feels challenging but not enough to cause incorrect form. For the upper body add in two sets of dips and chin-ups and crunches and low back extensions.

A stronger body will help reduce fatigue in the upper and lower body during runs, help reduce injuries and increase running efficiency and strength especially in hilly sections of the marathon.

(Editor's note: Dr. Schlub is a marathoner with a Ph.D. in exercise physiology.)

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