I wish I’d known
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of top marathon places being doled out, and a whole host of first-time marathoners bricking it thinking “Oh gees, now I ACTUALLY have to run the London Marathon and that is LONG”. It was around this time last year that I found out I had a gold bond place to run Brighton Marathon and I was thinking the exact same thing.
I really let the mental side of the marathon get on top of me. The whole task seemed too huge for me to complete and I completely freaked out. I shyed away from my runs and often skipped or reduced my mid-length mid-week run for fear of burning my legs out. I completely changed the way I train when, realistically, I didn’t need to and suffered because of it. Having only done one I am far from an expert, but here’s a list of things I wish I’d known before I embarked on training for my first marathon, for all first time marathoners preparing to take on the 18 weeks of winter preparation.
(1) Don’t skip speed work
When I first started training I decided I would be too tired to speed train and that the sensible thing to do would be to skip speed training to ‘preserve my legs’ for my long runs. Idiot. Speed work makes you faster and fitter and will improve your running exponentially. I know this, but the marathon psyched me out and it was the first in a long line of silly things I did. Boost your training with one speed session (track, intervals or a tempo run) a week, just be sure to recover properly afterwards.
(2) Don’t skip strength training
Strength training does what it says on the tin - it makes you stronger. What do you need for a marathon? A strong body. Strong muscles will help you further and faster and protect you from picking up pesky injuries. If you’re new to strength training or just straight up don’t do it then I wouldn’t launch in to a full blown weights programme, but would definitely recommend adding in some body weight squats, walking lunges, plank and glute bridges a couple of times a week. If you’re a regular with the weights then I wouldn’t recommend going for your deadlift PB, but definitely maintain your routine at a manageable level to stay in peak condition.
(3) Don’t skip runs
Yes, you might be tired, but the only way to get better at running in by doing more running. I would skip runs on the premise that ‘I know I can run 3 miles, what’s the point?’. The point is, you don’t run to show you can do it, you run to get better at doing it. Consistent training is the number one way to progress, so dragging your butt out of bed early or out in the dark after a long day at work is always going to be worth it.
(4) Stretch
Yes, it’s a ballache to spend another 15 minutes stretching when you’ve spent 3 hours running and all you want to do is have a bath and eat toast. But you know what’s an even bigger ballache? Short, tight, angry muscles that cuss you out with every step you take and make you cry when you try and walk down stairs first thing in the morning. I let my calf muscles get in an awful state when I was training out of sheer laziness. As a minimum stretch your calf muscles, quads, hamstrings and hips after every run. I can also really recommend the Shawn Johnson stretching routine in the NTC app - try and do it once a week for an all over stretch. Even better, hit a yoga class.
(5) Don’t eat all the food
When I was training I would get hungry a lot. Nothing new. But, instead of being a sensible Soph and filling up on healthy foods to fuel my body, I somehow decided that I needed ALL the energy and ALL the carbs and decided to eat everything in sight, including things I would normally avoid as I know they’re not every day foods for me (cake, biscuits, bread, chocolate, sweets…). I was constantly panicking that I would run out of energy or not be fuelled and ended up making a lot of bad choices. Sometimes out of pure hunger blackout, sometimes because I felt panicked and overwhelmed, sometimes self-justified as ‘deserved’ because I was training so much.
DO NOT DO THIS. I gained weight, felt constantly sluggish and down and my running definitely suffered. Yes, when you’re training for a marathon you need extra food, but keep the food healthy and increase the portions or frequency of your meals. This time round I have upped myself to six smaller meals a day, increased my protein intake and cut down on refined sugars so that I can maintain even energy levels and not ride the haribo rollercoaster again.
(6) Don’t panic
Go and watch and marathon and you’ll see all sorts of people running. Skinny fast dudes in obscene shorts. Skinny fast ladies in compression socks. Old dudes. Fat businessmen. Housewives. Students. Cool people from Run Dem Crew! Pretty much all corners of society are covered in a marathon. And they’re all out there, doing it. Commit to your training and you will finish, there is no doubt about it. Don’t commit to your training and you’ll probably still finish, it’ll just be a bit messier. You got this. When I was training for Brighton I spent lots of time panicking and not enough time having faith in myself. Yes, it’s going to be hard, but you’re capable. Train your mind to believe in yourself, because that’s the biggest battle.
So, there we have it. Six things I’ll be avoiding this time around. What advice would you offer to someone tackling 26.2 for the first time?
What a great post - all totally relevant to me. I wish I’d known to do all the long runs. I didn’t. And it hurt past 17 miles.
Great list. It is normal to struggle with nutrition and I ALWAYS gain weight training for marathons! Long cardio sessions cause your body to release cortisol which is a stress hormone. This results in your body storing fat especially around your tummy as it is trying to protect itself. Continuous cardio can also put your body into a catabolic state which means it is breaking down muscle to use as fuel. As muscle burns more kcal that non-muscle tissue (ie.body fat) a loss of muscle tissue means that you are burning less energy at rest. This horrible mix leaves you constantly hungry, craving carbs and also storing fat! To avoid this make sure you eat enough protein (probably a lot more than you think, there is a general agreement that long distance runners have a higher protein requirement than body builders!), protein shakes are a great way to up this (just read labels for added nasties you dont want!). Stick with the strength training to keep muscle tissue up and build distance SLOWLY!
I would also add some plyometrics to your training once a week. Jumping onto boxes, single leg jumps, split jumps that kind of thing. If this doesn’t sound overly appealing just try hopping up a flight of stairs every now and then to keep your power up! Also make sure you include calf raises, the calfs take a battering!
Don’t neglect your core. You need a strong core to keep your body upright for that length of time and without strong abs and back muscles you could end up running with a funny twisting motion doing all sorts of crazy wiggling about (watch a marathon, you will see what i mean!) which is inefficient, will be wasting that precious energy you have been saving and could also leave you injured as other parts of the body will take the strain.
Finally, this one is not going to be popular but after long runs take a COLD BATH! Yep, that’s right, even in winter! Sitting in cold water for 10 minutes will reduce inflammation and leave your legs a lot fresher and you wont be walking round like a constipated duckling the day after your long run of the week! I run the bath so that it just covers my legs and hips. if it’s really cold I wear a fleece on my top half and have even been known to wear a beanie! I make myself a huge cup of hot tea, set the stop watch, read a magazine. After 30 seconds you don’t notice the cold anymore, honest. Try it!
Totally awesome post! I ran my first marathon in Nice last weekend, and whilst definitely not a pro I would only add: don’t ignore injuries and niggles; treat every long run as a dress rehearsal for the big day - it makes the day itself much less scary!; make sure you take in loads of vits and minerals to keep the immune system tip top. But most of all, ENJOY IT!
Great post! I have not done a marathon and it is my plan for next year if I can ever get over my injury. Going to definitely use these tips, thanks.
I would say don’t panic if you do miss a training run, and if you do, don’t do a double work out the next day to compensate. Just move on and it will be OK.
My second piece of advice is - prepare yourself mentally as well as physically. Find a way to manage the distance in bite sized chunks e.g 5×5 miles and then only a little more.
Zoe x
Londonandme.org
I love this post and hereby swear not to do ANY of the above things. Think I’ll get a handle on the food thing too as have a clean eating plan to follow and even if I don’t stick to it I’ve learned loads about nutrition over the past few months.
Thanks for sharing Soph :)
Great advice - I am just getting properly into a stretching routine after becoming really tight and stiff after runs (I’m blaming the cold weather) and oh my, the difference it makes it amazing! A little bit of self care goes a long way with avoiding injuries.