Stop putting it off any longer! The time is NOW!
Now is the time! For those of you running a spring marathon now is the time to stop putting off getting going and start doing your training. Before you know it you’re marathon will be upon you so get going!
What are the key things you should be thinking about right now?
1. Run regularly.
With the right training you teach your body to cope with the marathon distance. Regular running is the key to your success. No one will do it for you. Regular running means different things to different people. For a total novice this might begin with 2 or 3 times a week of jogging/walking interspersed with running lasting for 20 to 40mins. For a more experienced runner 5, 6 or more runs of an hour or more each week would be regular running.
2. Get a routine.
Being able to run regularly comes from developing a great routine. Identify times in your week when you can get out of the door and go for your run. Find the best times that fit with your family, work and other lifestyle commitments and, as much as possible, stick to them. This might be first thing in the morning, at lunchtime or after work. Missing a few runs here and there doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but a stop-start fragmented running routine certainly won’t see your fitness improve and your marathon goal achieved.
3. Be consistent.
A few weeks of running won’t make you a better marathon runner. Many consistent weeks put together will. Consistency and routine in your training mean you will lay the foundations for running longer and faster in the future.
Proper Bonkers.
I’ve been thinking about these things a lot more recently as it’s all about the Comrades Ultra Marathon (56miles of South Africa’s finest miles in May). Having only done 1 ultra marathon before, and vowing I’d never do another one immediately afterwards, my training really does now need to start in earnest. I need to run regularly, I need a routine and I’ve got to be consistent with it.
I recently did a little forward planning (dangerous I know) and quickly realized that I’m going to need to take some serious leaps in mileage to hit some of the self set confidence boosting targets that I need to bag before feeling super sure I can go the full distance at the end of May. These targets include being comfortably able to knock out 20miles without blinking, completing a standalone marathon, building up a longest run to 45miles, and putting a series of 2 day long runs together back to back.
When I look at this set of milestones they seem quite out of reach right now but I’m hoping (and previous experience tells me) that once you embark on the journey and begin to tick off your objectives the distances between your milestones seem a little closer together and easier to reach.
If your marathon this Spring seems a little out of reach right now, get your head down, get on with the task at hand, bank the miles and look up every now again to see just how much closer the finish line is.
It’s not as far as you think.
