Introduction
Running a marathon has been on my bucket list for years. But with a 6km run on my apartment treadmill as the longest distance I’ve ever run, a 42km race on an unknown road course with thousands of other runners seemed like such a daunting task. Inspired by my father who ‘ran’ his first marathon at age 60 and supported by my friend and running coach (Julie Price, CEO of Shinobi Labs), I decided that now is as good a time as any to run my first marathon.
I’m happy to say that I just completed my first official half marathon and my training continues for my first full marathon. Having said that, I thought it would be a good time to stop and share my Top 5 Tips for other non-runners out there with a similar goal of completing a marathon.
Top 5 Tips for First-Time Marathoners
1) Have a Consistent Running Schedule: Consistency is the key to building a solid ‘running’ foundation so that your body slowly gets used to long distance running. Stick to a consistent training schedule which starts off very slowly with short distances and gradually adds distance in each subsequent week. I started training 10 weeks prior to the half marathon having nearly zero running time in the previous 12 months. The 1st week consisted of four 3km runs. Within only a few weeks, I broke my own distance record every Sunday, eventually reaching 20km ‘training’ runs by week 8.
2) Act Like a Boat, not a Car: Boats start off very slowly and change speed very slowly. When training, you should think about jogging, not running. After you pass your first or second kilometer, then slowly increase your speed. Unlike any other sporting competitions that I’ve trained for, marathon training is conducted at a much slower place than actual competition day in order to prevent injury and to prepare your body for a very long race day.
3) Find Your Inspiration: Whether it’s running on a nature trail, listening to music or audio books, or just being alone with your thoughts, find whatever inspires you to run. For me, I enjoy listening to audiobooks because I get lost in the voice of the author and my mind wanders to the point that I forget that I’m even running. On race day, fun and upbeat music is my inspiration of choice. Overall, the key is to have fun!
4) Get Support: Proper marathon training is a long process and the encouraging words from friends, family and colleagues can be the boost that you need to keep you inspired. After every one of my training runs, I exchanged notes online with my running coach and she helped keep me on track. She answered every question I had, provided suggestions to help me improve, and gave me encouraging words to keep me motivated.
5) Run Your Own Race: Don’t worry about how fast someone next to you is running and try not to pay close attention to your average pace. My preference is to run alone and with a heartrate monitor. This enables me to run consistently within my target heart rate range and to very clearly track my progress each week. On race day I started off slowly while hundreds of runners raced past me, but by the 10th kilometer I reached a very comfortable stride and began passing many of these same runners who ran out of fuel all too soon.