Creating Your Own Powerful Marathon Training Schedule

Imagine â€" running the marathon of your dreams. You can do it! That’s my message to you today. If you have the desire to run a marathon, then you will accomplish your goal. The first step towards completing the long run is to create a marathon training schedule. This is the key to increasing your stamina and distance over time with a minimum of injury. Also, remember to clear running in general and especially marathon training with your doctor before you begin. Now, let’s get started. The first thing that you must do is take an honest look at your current running level. How long have you been running? How far do you typically run in a week? Realize that you should be running 4-5 days a week consistently before training in earnest. You should be trying to run 4-5 miles each day so that you prepare yourself for the more intense weekly training increases that will begin once you start your Training for Marathon Plan. Once you’ve established running 4-5 days each week, then you can begin building your long runs and your mileage counts. You must gradually increase both of these to avoid injury and burnout. 10% increase each week is a doable and good target. As you create your schedule, you will want to include days of rest each week and to vary weeks. Your body needs time to recharge after long workouts so be kind to yourself in down times. Remember, too, that if you begin feeling pain or fatigue you should take short breaks from your training schedule. Sample Marathon Training Schedule: Day 1 â€" Longest day of the week for training. If you are in a week where you’re building mileage (remember to vary this every other week), then you will want to make this approximately 1/3 of your total mileage. Day 2 - Rest Day 3- Shorter training session â€" should match the training on day 5. This should be a fairly easy day. Day 4 â€" Make this training session a couple of miles longer than days 3 and 5. Day 5 â€" Shorter training session â€" should match the training on day 3. Again this should be an easy day. Day 6 â€" Rest to prepare for the next two days. Day 7 â€" Shortest training session for the week in terms of mileage. The majority of your mileage should be completed on the other four days of running. You can consistently keep this at 4-5 miles if you wish. You should try to work up to the speed you want to run during the marathon. Training for a marathon is not a simple procedure and it cannot be done in a short amount of time without serious injury. If you are starting from scratch without any running experience at all you might be looking at 1 to 1-1/2 years of training before the ‘big day . However, with that said, there is nothing like running in and finishing a marathon. When that big day comes, you will find that all your hard work will truly have been worth it. Best of luck in your marathon endeavors! Melissa Kelly loves all forms of exercise, especially long distance running. You can read more of her advice about marathons at her website, trainingformarathon.com You can also use the following link to read more about Training for Marathon information.