Spring Marathon Training - 5 key tips

Each year, approaching Christmas, I receive several enquiries about how best to approach a spring marathon. These range from people running their first marathon (and just want to get around), to those who have a little more confidence and want to achieve a certain time. Since my advice for both them largely revolves around the same process, I’ve decided to just write it down. In fact, the advice below applies to preparation for most distance races.

Work out how many weeks you have until the race.

This seems obvious and you may already have done this, but we need to know how long you have. You are going to need to build your volume of running up over this time. You’ll want to do this carefully. If you don’t have much time, you likely won’t be able to build that volume that fast. To become robust for longer distance running, we aren’t just conditioning your muscles, but your connective tissues, ligaments and tendons. These take far longer to adapt. You can take a chance and rush it. You might be lucky. You might not.

Block out anything that will stop you training during that time (holidays/events).

When a marathon is months away, it seems like you have plenty of time. Throw in a wedding weekend here, a hen/stag-do there and a family gathering for good measure your precious training weekends soon disappear. Be realistic. If you think you can train then fine, but temper your expectations. The best laid plans and all that.

Add in any events you’ve already signed up to.

If you don’t have any, it might be a good idea to ask for advice on some sensible ones,. If planned well they can form the backbone of your preparations. If you have loads of events planned, events very close to any blocked out time, or events very close to other events then get some professional advice. If not planned well, a training race/event could potentially ruin the main event for any number of reasons.

Define a weekly schedule.

This is probably the most important thing to do. Look at your average training week. I say average training week. Not an optimistic estimate of what theoretically might be possible if you didn’t have a job or a social life. What do you actually get done, week in, week out. Start with this, and use the time to you have to sensibly build your volume as you move towards your event.

If you don’t have a weekly training schedule, you’ll need to build the habit. This is no small task.

For how best to tweak your schedule to make it as effective as possible, it's probably a good idea to get some specialist advice. Length of runs, rest days and gym work are all worth considering, but must be tailored to you and your ability.

Avoid common mistakes.

The priority should always be running consistently. Common mistakes people make are not having a good plan and not having the patience to stick to a plan. Put simply, you want to run as much as you can before your race without getting injured. The least risky way to do this is through a consistent and sustainable approach. Don’t get distracted by training fads and recovery gear. Work out where you’ve got to get to, and start where you’re at!