How to Create a Marathon Training Plan That Works for You

Nov 3

Tip for How to Prep for a Marathon Safely

You want to run a marathon. Maybe you’re considering entering one of the major marathons across America. It’s a big undertaking. Huge. You can’t just turn up at the start line and expect to reach the finish line. Without preparation, those 26.2 miles could kill you.

Preparation is vital for successful marathon running.

When should you start your training? What type of training should you do?

In this article, we discuss how to create a marathon training plan that works for you.

Almost anyone can train to run a marathon

“A Sunday jog won’t suffice (as training for a marathon),” says Dr. Ryan Chow, our Head of Physical Therapy at Reload. “We must gradually push up how far the body can run. But the good thing is that almost anyone can go and train to run a marathon. That’s a major reason marathon running is so popular.”

However, here’s the thing that very few tell you. We’re all different, and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for you. We all have different mental and physical barriers to overcome, and so the approach to training and the program you follow to get you to where you want to be will be unique.

One thing is certain though. A Sunday morning job may be a good starting point. It may be what has fired your desire to run a marathon. Eventually, though, you will need to commit to spending more time and energy on extending your range.

One run becomes three.

A 30-minute run becomes a two-hour run.

You need to commit, and you need to develop a program that suits you.

How to prep for a marathon – timing is crucial

Google ‘marathon training program’ and you’ll find around 87 million pages to choose from. Most of these follow the same generic path: a 16-, 21-, or 24- week program.

How can someone who has never met you tell you how long it will take, or the exercise and running you’ll need to do, to prepare for a marathon?

We’ve worked with many different clients who want to train for a marathon. Athletes. Olympians. Pro-fit and pro sports. Injured and disabled people. Let’s be clear, there is no single go-to, all-encompassing, marathon training regime.

And for first-time marathoners, the disparity is even greater. A lot of the marathon training advice available on the web is based on experience from decades ago. The advice hasn’t been updated. Yet we know that we are less fit as a society than we were, say, 50 or 60 years ago. We have lower strength, and this means we’re less prepared to take on the challenge of running a marathon.

So, the first step-change we need to make is to flip how we think from running to get in shape to getting in shape to run.

So, when should you start to train for a marathon?

“If you don’t have any major injury history, and there is nothing holding you back, and you have enough time in your week to commit to running, then something like 20 to 24 weeks should be a good amount of time to safely prepare for a marathon,” Ryan says. “However, some people can do it in less, and some people will take longer.”

The lesson is that preparing for a marathon is very individualized within a broad time range.

What Is Load Management and Why Is It Important for Runners?

You’ve probably heard the term ‘load management’. It’s something you should care very much about. What we’re really talking about is what some might call ‘smart programming’.

“Most people will follow a general program. This doesn’t account for what that person is able to do,” Ryan explains. “If you start running, and your friends have started before you ─ they’re three months in and you want to catch up ─ you might ramp up your mileage. You might try to increase your distance from 6, to 12, to 15 in three weeks… that ramp is too quick.”

It’s the ramp that we call load management. Research in sports science has helped us measure and figure out what spikes in workload are safe, and what is too much. This means we know what to rule in and out.

“A lot of people micromanage someone’s mobility or aerobic capacity when it has nothing to do with the issue. They make a problem out of something that isn’t the problem ─ because they don’t understand the concept of having smarter programming.”

Also, we now understand the anatomy and biomechanics of running, the load and stress that is placed on our bodies, legs, muscles, joints, and tendons, and the importance of strength training for distance runners. So, all of this should be incorporated into your marathon training program.

The Importance of Personalization in a Smart Marathon Training Program

Traditional marathon training methods – and the ones that you’ll download from the internet and then attempt to follow – suggest rest breaks between runs. A day or two, or longer. But this doesn’t account for your lifestyle. It also prompts you to take too much total rest, which we know isn’t the best way to train your body.

A smart program requires an evaluation of your lifestyle and the demands that this puts upon you. Then, instead of total rest, the program should allow you to improve as many physical fitness qualities as possible, with as much work as possible.

It’s important to incorporate strength training between your running days, with rest days ahead of the days on which you will be running furthest. How many rest days you need depends upon your ability to recover. Again, this is a shift in mindset from the traditional marathon running regime. It takes confidence to know that you can do other forms of exercise when you aren’t running. This confidence comes from understanding your own body, and that recovery isn’t measured in ‘how many days’ because you can still work on other aspects such as strength and mobility on non-running days.

Personalization of a marathon training program is like a jigsaw. We need to identify all the pieces and then put them together to get the whole picture.

Personalization of marathon training with Reload

Let’s get back to basics here. Getting in shape to run.

You want to run a marathon, but are you able to? Is your body strong enough? How do we personalize your training program?

Running is a single-leg activity. The same motion is repeated in rapid succession, on alternate legs. Are your legs strong enough to sustain you through a marathon?

We check single-leg stability and strength, specifically in the soleus (calf muscle) where the highest load is exerted. We’ll also assess strength in the gastrocnemius and the quads. What we’re looking for is the ability of these key muscle groups to handle your body weight under stress.

There are several ways we can do this. For example, by observing you doing split squat holds, wall-sit raises, and double leg pogos. We can then move on to single-leg pogos, observing for pain and quality which tells us about your ability to be able to run.

We’ll also look at the distances you can run before feeling any pain and connect to positive changes. You may be able to run through the pain, and every mile after that may seem like a triumph. However, you’re only delivering short-lived wins. In the long term, your stubbornness will catch up with you.

So, what we work on is building your ability to run further. For example, we may help you to increase the amount of single-leg squats you can do. This scaling up should be accompanied by an improvement in the distance you can run without feeling pain.

It’s about identifying which are the most important muscles to you, and how we need to develop those to develop your capability to run distances.

Creating the right environment for successful marathon training

When you are training for any activity, especially one as challenging as the marathon, it’s critical to understand how you build strength.

Don’t get caught out by the notion that it is the exercise that builds your capability.

You don’t improve because of the workout, you improve because of the entire Stress, Recover, Adapt cycle.

Exercise (the stress) must be followed by rest. This is when your muscles reknit and recover. It’s this act that increases your strength, and then helps you adapt.

When you’re training, it’s also critical to understand your lifestyle, how it impacts your training, and your ability to rest and recover.

“The amount of rest is always dictated by how much exercise or stress someone can handle,” explains Joe Lipsky, PT at Reload. “If I keep stressing you out, and don’t give you enough time to recover, you won’t recover, adapt, and improve. So, this is a huge part of general physical preparedness.”

For example, we work with many people in New York. They can lead incredibly stressful lives. Previously, they’ve trained hard, but don’t give themselves enough time to recover. They’ve followed standard, instead of personalized advice. They’ve returned to training too early, and end up in what we call a degenerative state.

You see, even if the training is perfect, your lifestyle, your work, what you drink and eat, your sleeping patterns, and so on, affect your body’s ability to recover from that training. You cannot afford to overlook these things.

It’s vital to understand the whole situation, which is why we need to have a pulse on what your life is like – and why we continually assess your lifestyle during our relationship with you.

We check to see if you are adapting as we would expect. We track the stress we put on you, and ensure our load management is adjusted at the right pace. And that’s how we help you prepare safely for your next marathon, and every marathon after.

Are you planning to run a marathon? Before you begin your training regime – or if you have already started and experiencing pain – shouldn’t you benefit from a fitness assessment that gives you the knowledge you need to personalize your marathon training plan?

Reload Programming