Marathon Training?

Question

I was reading a running book in the library yesterday, (I don't remember which it was, maybe Runner's World Complete Running for Women) and I found weekly plans for marathon training that up until race day, never had you run more than 45 minutes. Is this how most people train for a marathon? I know that once I go 30-40 minutes I feel like I could go forever, butis that really all you go till when training for something that'll take you more than 2 hours?

Answer 1

It really depends on how you wish to do. If your goal is to simply finish a marathon, rather than "race" a marathon, then your longest run being 14-16 miles is fine.

But, if your goal is to be competitive and do well in your Age Group, or even qualify for The Boston Marathon, I would definitely take a different approach.

To keep things in perspective, Lance Armstrong ran his first marathon in New York last November. His longest training run was 14 miles and in the end, paid dearly for that shortcoming. When he was interviewed at the finishline, he was quoted as saying that running a marathon was "the single most physically demanding thing that [he] had ever done." This is a man who has won the Tour de France seven times admitting that he was not prepared for the physical demands of a marathon!!......(FYI-Lance is running NYC again this year-a friend of mine is coaching him-and he has already started his training plan....for a marathon in November!).......

Your long training runs should gradually build to at least 20 miles, ideally 22-23. Doing this prepares you in more than one way-obviously, it prepares you physically by "tempering" your legs to the distance, but it also prepares you mentally for the 3, 4 or 5+ hours that it will take you to finish.

Check out either one of the sites that I listed below. Both of them offer free training plans for running a marathon. Runner's World actually kind of "customizes" it for you.......

Good Luck!!

Answer 2

No I would suggest longer runs than that. The main thing thats usually said is to build up tto long runs that are as long in time as you want to take to complete your main race, to get used to being on your feet for that amount of time, although long runs over 3 hours start putting large amounts of strain on your body and risk injury, so most will only do this once or twice, then get a slightly shorter ling run then its taper time. For a marathon at least 2 hours should be done.

If your aiming to take 3:15 on the day to do the 26.2 then build up to 3:15 in your training runs, you'll probably need to cover about 16 miles at least to get the right time.

Answer 3

Marathon training is very important for the athletics whose are playing marathon. Cause there are some rules and regulations in the marathon that a man usually don't know. So its very essential training for the marathon athletics.

Answer 4

I used to do progressively longer runs each weekend building up to the marathon. Of course I ran shorter runs during the week. The longer runs built up to about 13 miles. It was much more than 45 minutes. So my advice is build up to 13 miles.