Training Conditions, Mileage Strategy + Recovery
How to successfully plan and train for your first marathon– and enjoy yourself while doing it
By Dan Glover
Veteran runner, triathlete, and coach Dan Glover’s series on running your first marathon continues!
The approach you take for acclimating your body to long runs, coupled with an effective recovery strategy, is of vital importance. But first let’s go over some aspects of marathon training that you may overlook at first.
Training conditions
Consider the terrain you will be running on in your marathon. If it’s a flat course, you really don’t need to add a lot of hills to your training. But if it is a moderate to very hilly race, you’re putting yourself in a compromising position if you do not incorporate hills into your training.
Weather can also be a factor in your training. Most marathons tend to be in the spring, when race conditions are not vastly different than the training conditions were.
If your marathon is in the summer and you do the bulk of your training in the winter, take advantage of any warmer days to try and get some running in. Make sure to hydrate properly and avoid running in the heat of the day.
Dress for the weather. Check out this handy guide for layering up on winter runs!
Also pay attention to weather concerns other than just temperature on race day. I remember a former coach of mine, Rick Cleary, who told us a story about an “out-and-back” marathon where they ran 13.1 miles out and turned around and came back. There was a strong wind at their backs on the way out, and many inexperienced runners went out much faster than they would have if they had not had the wind behind them. They hit the half-way mark, turned around and fell apart due to the pace on the way out. Lesson learned: be cautious.
Don’t forget to wear SPF, even when it’s cold or cloudy out!
Mileage Strategy
A huge component of training for a marathon is, of course, accumulating many, many miles of running, to acclimate your body to the demands of completing the race.
There are so many ways to go about this. For example, during my own marathon training with my friends, we got to the point where a 12 mile run felt short and easy compared to our sixteen and seventeen mile runs. I’ve also known people who have successfully completed a marathon without ever running more than 8 miles on any given day. However, most people will end up averaging between 50 and 80 miles a week at the peak of their training.
Do some research to figure out which approach will be best for your experience/fitness level, and how much time you have to dedicate to training.
A good general rule is to never increase your training mileage by more than ten percent over the previous week's. This article is a great primer for determining your mileage strategy.
It’s also good practice to always take at least one day a week off to rest your body, and to stagger your training so you have an easy day after a hard/long day.
Recovery
Speaking of rest, allowing your body to recover is vital to successfully training for a marathon.
Soreness is no fun, but a good recovery routine will help minimize it. Stretching out your calves, hamstrings, quads, back, and hips can reduce your level of soreness. It also improves your flexibility/ mobility, which helps reduce the likelihood of injury. A full stretch after a run is very important, and doesn’t need to take more than about five minutes.
If you have access to a pool or body of water, hopping in for a few minutes after a run can be extremely therapeutic. Even a bath would do, especially with the addition of epsom salts. Just a few minutes is sufficient, but if you're in the water, might as well stay awhile and enjoy it!
Nutrition is an incredibly important part of your training process- before a training run and, maybe even more so, after a workout. Make sure you’re properly fueling your body and staying hydrated.
Like most exercise, running actually causes damage to occur to your muscles that must be repaired afterward. Accelerate this process by replenishing the proper ratio of complex carbohydrates, proteins, and electrolytes within the proper window of time: ideally within one but up to two hours after your workout. Wait longer than two hours and you risk delaying your recovery time by up 48 hours.
The repair work to your muscles is also aided by getting the proper amount of sleep the night after a hard run. Eight hours is the minimum amount of sleep you should get, as that is the time the body zeroes in on your internal organs and repairs them.
About the Author
Dan Glover has been running for over 45 years. He’s completed three Boston Marathons, fifteen Sprint Triathlons, and two Half Ironman Triathlons. He has been Varsity Coach for Women’s Cross Country, Women’s Track and Field, and Men’s JV Hockey Coach at Nashoba Regional High School for fourteen years, as well as being its Guidance Counselor. Recently, he qualified for the 2023 USA Triathlon Nationals, to be held in Milwaukee, WI in the summer of 2023.
