Matthew Davies Helps You to Train for a Marathon

Introduction

My friend, Matthew Davies believes that training for a marathon is all about fulfilling a personal challenge. It not only helps you to be in your peak physical condition but also helps you to develop a strong mental fortitude and build more self-esteem.

Indeed, successfully completing a marathon can be one of the best feelings in the world. The cheering of the crowds will fill your soul with joy and satisfaction. It will help you to reach your goal and make you feel that all the hardships that you had to encounter on the way were really worth it.

However, it is not easy to run a marathon. If you are a novice, you need a proper training plan in order to build your strength, stamina, and muscles.

The Training

Given below are some tips that you can use to train for a marathon -

1. Focus on building your base mileage - In a typical marathon, you have to run 26.2 miles. If your body is not properly conditioned for running such a great distance, you can suffer from injuries.

Thus, as a beginner, it is more important for you to increase your weekly mileage, little by little, instead of trying to cover a long distance in a single run. In a single week, you should aim to run 3-5 times and slowly increase your weekly mileage to about 50 miles over a period of 16-20 weeks.

Typically, a marathon training plan can last between 12-20 weeks. The earlier you start, the better your body will be adjusted to the stress.

2. Practice the long run - You should also practice doing the long run every 7-10 days in order to get your body adjusted to running long distances. Every 7-14 days try to increase your running distance by 1 mile but make sure to scale the distance down by a few miles every 3 weeks.

This will make sure that you are not exerting too much stress on your body and also help you to recover from any injuries.

3. Do the speed work - In order to expand your aerobic capacity, you should also incorporate speed work in your routines. The best way to do that is to practice changing the tempo and intervals of your runs.
In an interval training, you need to run a set of short distance (1 mile) at a faster pace and then do recovery jogs in between the sets.

In a tempo run training, you practice running a large distance (4-10 miles) at a pace which you can sustain for the whole distance. This will allow your body to properly warm up or cool down and also teach your body and brain to build more endurance.

4. Take adequate rest and recover your body - Resting is extremely important in order to let your muscles recover from injuries and heal for your next running session. If you don’t take a day off and rest in between, your injuries can build up and make you unable to run. It can even cause mental burn out which definitely not a pleasant experience.

In fact, many athletes significantly lower their training intensity in the days leading up to the marathon day so that they can recover and be in their peak physical condition.

Conclusion

If you are like my friend, Matthew Davies and want to test the limits of your soul, running a marathon can be a great way to do it. Follow the tips given in this article and you will be in a condition to run your first marathon in no time.