Training for and running a marathon requires more than strong legs. You’ll need some smarts as well.
Jeff Galloway likes to say that the marathon is a good training motivator because it scares people. The distance is so improbably long, no one can fully train for a 26-miler, and the stories about things that go wrong are pervasive.
All of us have heard the stories, and we all fear that we’ll be next in line.
This marathon fright is what makes people get so nervous as the big day and big hour grow closer. Runners figure that they’ve got to do everything absolutely right, or they’ll pay the consequences. (In reality, there’s more wiggle room than most marathoners realize.) Here, a group of veteran marathoners who are also scientific experts deliver their proven tips for first training correctly and then marathon race-day success.
1. Run just enough. “Stay healthy” is the most important piece of training advice, and the most often ignored. It does you no good to train hard and then get sick or injured. Better to be slightly undertrained, but feeling strong and eager, than to be overtrained. The trick, of course, is finding that fine line between the two.
2. Build your training slowly. Increase weekly mileage by just 10 percent per week. Extend long runs by just one mile at a time up to 10 miles, then by two miles at a time if you want. Take recovery weeks as well as recovery days. Here’s what eight weeks of training might look like, in terms of miles per week: 20-22-24-20-26-28-30-20.
3. Recover, recover, recover. You don’t have to train hard seven days a week. You have to train smart three or four days a week. This was proven in a 1994 study at the University of Northern Iowa, where four-time-a-week runners performed just as well in a marathon as those training six times a week and covering 20 percent more total miles. A similar approach is now endorsed by the Furman FIRST marathon program, where 70 percent of veterans have improved their times on three runs a week.
4. Do your long runs. This is a no-brainer. The newer you are to marathoning, and the slower, the more important your long runs. You simply have to get accustomed to being on your feet for three, four, or more hours. There’s no magic length. Most experts recommend stopping at two and a half to three hours; Jeff Galloway advises going farther, but including walk breaks. All systems work, as long as you get to the starting line healthy and strong.
5. Practice your marathon pace. Ann Alyanak, a coach at the University of Dayton, took 10 minutes off her PR at the 2007 Boston Marathon, finishing in 2:38. The key, she believes, was the addition of “progressive marathon-pace” (MP) long runs to her program. Alyanak would do a two-mile warmup, then six miles at MP + 40 seconds, six more at MP + 20, and her final six at MP. “I was able to run negative splits in Boston,” she says.
6. Extend your tempo-run distance. Tempo runs were born as four-mile efforts, propounded by coaching genius Jack Daniels, Ph.D. Then another genius coach, Joe Vigil, Ph.D., began asking Deena Kastor to hold the tempo pace longer—eventually up to 12 miles. He got Meb Keflezighi to 15. Result? Two Olympic Marathon medals. Gradually extend your tempo runs, slowing by a few seconds per mile from your four-mile pace. “The longer the tempo run workout you can sustain, the greater the dividends down the road,” says Vigil.
7. Run mile repeats. In a fascinating article in Marathon & Beyond in 2002, veteran marathoner Dan Horvath plotted various workouts against his subsequent results in 30 marathons over a 12-year period. The most effective workout? Mile repeats. Horvath would typically run 6 x 1-mile at his 10-K race pace, once a week. It turned out that the faster his mile repeats prior to a given marathon, the faster his marathon time. Mile repeats are a modified form of tempo training.
8. Try Yasso 800s. This deceptively simple workout has been used effectively by thousands of runners over the past decade. The goal, after several months of working up to it, is to run 10 x 800 meters in the same minutes:seconds as your goal time (in hours:minutes). If you want to run a 3:40 marathon, for example, you run your Yasso 800s in 3 minutes, 40 seconds. This workout isn’t based on physiology; it’s just a very tough effort that’s got a mathematical appeal to it.
9. Eat your carbs … To stay healthy and recover well, you need to fuel your body efficiently. First, consume some carbs—gel, sports drink, and so on—during long, hard workouts to keep running strong. Second, eat and/or drink a good helping of carbs as quickly as possible after workouts. This will replenish the glycogen (energy supply) in your depleted leg muscles. Add a little protein for muscle repair.
10. … and pay attention to iron. Running increases iron loss through sweating and pounding. You don’t have to be a meat-eater to run a strong marathon, but you do have to consume enough iron. Cooking in an iron skillet helps, as does consuming iron-rich foods with vitamin C, which increases the body’s iron absorption.
11. Sidestep injuries. I asked exercise physiologist, author, and two-time U.S. Olympic marathoner (1984, 1988) Peter Pfitzinger what he would do differently if he were 22 years old today. He said that he’d rest and/or cross-train for several days a week at the first hint of a problem. And that he’d include core training in his regimen. “I’m convinced that core stability helps runners maintain good running form and pace late in a race,” says Pfitzinger, now the CEO of the New Zealand Academy of Sport North.
12. Taper for two to three weeks. Many runners hate to taper. We are cursed with a sort of sublime obsessiveness—a big help when you’re increasing your efforts, but an albatross when you’re supposed to be cutting back. A study from Ball State University showed a particular gain in Type IIa muscle fiber strength—the so-called fast, aerobic muscles that can adapt to improve your performance—after a three-week taper. Of course, this isn’t true for everyone. Ryan Hall ran a 2:08:24 London Marathon just three weeks after doing a fast-finishing 26-mile workout. Everyone responds differently to training. Still, it’s generally considered that a taper increases your chance of 26.2-mile success.
1. Don’t do anything new. Race day is not the time for new shoes, new food or drinks, new clothing, or anything else you haven’t done on several training runs. Stick with a routine that works for you. “I learned the hard way that when you try something new on race day, you often end up regretting it,” says Russ Pate, who has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and qualified for three U.S. Marathon Trials in ’72, ’76, and ’80. “I eventually developed a routine that I followed ritu alistically before all my races.”
2. Eat first thing. Too many marathoners skip breakfast on race day, opting for just a cup of coffee and/or some sports drink. You need more than that. “From the time you go to bed until the start of the race is usually eight to 10 hours,” says Ken Sparks, who has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and ran a personal best 2:28 at age 46. “In that time, your liver glycogen—which is stored carbohydrate—gets depleted. If you don’t have a simple, high-carb breakfast, you’re going to be in trouble at 20 miles.” Bananas, bagels, or energy bars are good picks.
3. Don’t overdress. Marathons often start in the cool of early morning, and it’s easy to overestimate the amount of clothing you’ll need. As a rule of thumb, it will probably feel 10 or more degrees warmer once you get going, and temps will rise as the day goes on. If you wear too much clothing, you’re carrying extra weight and you will sweat more than you want, possibly increasing your body temperature and risk of dehydration. “If you overdress, you create a microclimate around the skin that induces sweating,” says Mel Williams, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist, author of The Ergogenics Edge, and veteran marathoner. “The best clothing allows for some heat loss, but not so much that you become uncomfortably cold.”
4. Prevent chafing. “During a marathon, every moving body part that can chafe will chafe,” says Williams. And nothing is more irritating and painful than skin rubbed raw. To prevent this, make sure your shoes, socks, and clothing have no raised seams that will rub against the skin. Also, use Vaseline, BodyGlide, or something similar in key locations, including your armpits, nipples, and inner thighs.
5. Wear sunscreen. Marathoners sometimes don’t think about the fact that they’re in the sun long enough to get sunburned. This is particularly true if you finish in four or five hours, which takes you into the high-sun time of the day, or if you run the Boston Marathon, which starts at 10:00 on a course with little shade. “I used to run with a cap on my head, but then I decided that the cap was holding in too much heat,” remembers Williams. “So one year, I ran without the cap. My bald head got sunburned so badly, it turned into one of my most painful races. Now I put a nongreasy sunblock on my head, my shoulders, and my lips.”
6. Pin your race number on your shorts. That way you can fiddle all you want with your upper-body apparel. If the temperature rises, you can peel offthe long-sleeve shirt that kept you toasty for the first three miles. If the wind kicks up, reach for the shirt that’s wrapped around your waist. “When you put your number on your shorts, you can add or subtract layers as needed to adjust to changing conditions,” says Greg Crowther, a 2:22-marathoner with a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics. “On a hot day, you could even exchange a sweaty shirt for a dry one. The easier you can vary your torso covering, the better.”
7. Go for the jolt. Twenty years ago, researchers thought that caffeine helped runners burn more fat, thereby sparing precious glycogen. That theory has been mostly disproved, but caffeine does make the marathon feel easier. “I did a caffeine-endurance study with some researchers at Yale, and we didn’t find any difference in fat burning,” says Hal Goforth, who has run the past 28 Boston Marathons in a row and has a Ph.D. in kinesiology and a marathon PR of 2:28. “But the exercisers on caffeine had higher levels of beta-endorphins and a lower perceived effort.” So drink your normal amount of coffee before the race. Or, if you want to be more scientific about it, Goforth suggests taking caffeine tablets 60 to 90 minutes before the marathon at a dose of three milligrams per pound of your body weight.
8. Top off your tank. Most marathoners know enough to stay well hydrated in the days before their race. It’s tough to superhydrate, however, because your kidneys have time to release any excess water you consume. But in the final minutes to half hour before the start, you can trick your kidneys by sneaking in a late drink. (Your kidneys will mostly shut down once you start running hard.) “I carry my Gatorade to the starting line and keep sipping it as long as my stomach feels comfortable,” says Williams, who also eats pretzels before the marathon, figuring the extra salt will help him retain the fluids he consumes.
9. Keep your warmup short. It makes sense to not warm up much before a mara thon. After all, you want to save energy. But you’ll actually run more efficiently if you first loosen up your leg muscles. “I do a warmup just to the point of a very light sweat,” says Kitty Consolo, who has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and a marathon best of 2:42. “I also use my warmup to gauge the weather, to see how I’ll need to adjust my pace to the conditions.”
10. Run at an even pace. This is possibly the oldest and most important of marathon strategies. “Both the laboratory data and experiences of countless marathoners show that even-pace running is the optimal approach,” says Pate. “In my best marathons, I almost felt that I was running too slowly the first five to 10 miles.” Exercise physiologist Phil Sparling, Ph.D., concurs. “You have to run so slow that it feels like you’re holding yourself back,” says Sparling. “Later it feels so good when you’re going strong and passing people.”
11. Fix it sooner, not later. You might notice that your shoelace is beginning to come untied. Or you’re starting to chafe in that one particular spot. Or a pebble has taken up residence in your left shoe. These things don’t go away on their own. And the sooner you deal with them, the better you’ll fare over the distance. “It’s like the old saying, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’” says Crowther. “Only in the marathon, it’s more like an ounce of cure early is better than a pound of pain later.”
12. Drink early—and late. When you’re aiming for a fast marathon time—say a sub-threehour—every ounce of fluid you consume helps maintain the blood flow to your skin (for cooling) and to your heart and muscles. Since running hard slows the absorption of fluids from your stomach, you need to begin drinking early to have the fluids become available later. That said, Crowther says drinking at the 24-mile mark also helps. “There might not be time to absorb all the water and sugars, but some can get into your system, and this will help you in that last tough mile.” (Important note: If you expect to run four hours or slower, be careful not to overdrink and develop hyponatremia. Drink when you are thirsty, and stop drinking if your stomach becomes uncomfortably full of fluids.)
13. Use some gel. Sports drinks contain carbohydrates and other good stuff, but gels provide a more concentrated source of carbs that can prove especially helpful in the last half of the marathon. Williams carries four gel packs, and takes them at miles 10, 14, 18, and 22. “I’m trying to get about 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour,” says Williams. “That’s about the maximum the body can handle.”
14. Draft off someone. Hey, it works for Lance Armstrong and other Tour de France winners. The drafting effect isn’t as strong in running, but it’s still there. “I always tried to tuck in behind someone in my marathons, because it’s so much more efficient to follow,” says Sparks. “I’d often pick one of the first women. They’d usually run a strong, even pace.” Just be polite about it and don’t follow too closely, or better yet, agree to take turns leading so you’re working together with this person. Alternative: Find a marathon that offers pace groups, and join the peloton, just like Lance.
15. Don’t charge the hills. The goal in marathon running is to maximize your efficiency over 26.2 miles. That’s why drafting works. And it’s why running hard up the hills doesn’t work. “From an energy-output perspective, you gain more speed by putting your effort into the flats than the hills,” says Crowther. “When you’re on the hills, just relax. Don’t worry about those people who are passing you. You’ll get them back later.”
Over 40 years of marathon training and racing, I’ve
learned two things that I consider critically important
that bear repeating. The first: Don’t get as fit
as you can; get as healthy as you can. And second:
Run with confidence.
The first refers to many runners’ quest for the ultimate marathon training program. They believe they need to get in lots of miles, lots of long runs, and lots of tempo runs. It’s an intimidating prospect, and it has a negative side effect worth avoiding. All that training can temporarily reduce your immunity, and you might catch a cold just at the point where you should be tapering off and getting stronger. That’s why I advise many marathoners to do less training, not more, and to focus on their overall health as well as their perfect training program.
Second, the marathon is 50 percent physical and 90 percent mental. You have to do the training to succeed, but you also have to have confidence in yourself and your training if you are to run a smart race (with an even-pace strategy, or even negative splits). Without such confidence, the sheer immensity of the marathon can prove overwhelming. So, believe in yourself. If you’ve done 75 percent of the training, you’re 100 percent ready.