10 Pillars of Marathon Training
10 Pillars of Marathon Training
Especially for First-Timers
Deciding to run your first marathon is the first step towards realizing you might be a bit crazy. Why sign yourself up for pain? While I cannot answer that for you, I can certainly help you get to your destination of crossing that finish line.
These are 10 simple steps that most people overlook when going about their first training block.
Some points may make zero sense at the moment and click later, but my hope is to make this all applicable off of the bat. “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
My goal is to arm you with information, and have you go out and test for yourself.
1a. Sign Up
Chances are there *a lot* more races around you than you know/think. Local running clubs, charities, and communities are always putting races on and it’s a great way to dip your toe into the world of running. No, it won’t be the level of an NYC marathon in terms of volunteers, roads shut down, and massive amounts of money poured into it, but it will still be a great experience.
If you are US based, RunningInTheUSA (LINK) is a very good resource to find any-distance races in your area.
Plenty of filters, basically every race will be on here.
For European frens, Ahotu (LINK) is a solid resource to find races as well.
1b. Nutrition
I have never been a fan of strictly tracking *all* macros/micros, I still think it is good to “spot check” what you’re using for fuel every few weeks.
For example, I have always had what most consider a high protein diet—usually in the 200g range. Currently, I am in the 250g+. While this may not be ideal for you, the need for protein in training is massive. You will be putting an exorbitant amount of stress on your body it hasn’t seen in many years.
As a side, here is a link to Ox’s newsletter about muscle protein synthesis (LINK), and this subsequent newer article on a new protein ingestion study (LINK). Ah yes, a runner taking some advice from a bodybuilder. They are usually ahead of the curve, and masters of maintenance and recovery. A lot can be learned from studying them. The preservation of muscle for running is paramount!
Anyways, anecdotally, I can share that high protein is what most elite runners are moving to and *fast*. For myself (non-elite), I can tell you that my recovery windows have shrunk considerably with this increase. As always, go and test!
What high protein also does is allow you to become more fat-adapted by satiating the thirst for carbs pre/mid run. I am not advocating for zero or a low carb diet—quite the opposite actually—you’ll still be eating a lot of carbs. But we don’t want to be *too* carb heavy. The quicker you can become fat adapted, the more successful you will be in long-distance endurance. Plus the training you are hopefully doing will be zone 1 & 2, pure fat burning aerobic work!
My approximate daily macros are:
Protein: 250g
Fat: 80-120g
Carbs: 300-400g
**NOTE**: My carbs and fats fluctuate a ton based on training need and time of year, these are rough “spot-check” data points currently. When focusing on being more efficient burning fat (running slow) over long periods of time —> lower carbs.
2. Shoe Selection
This is where we get dicey, and the audience reading probably split on what exact shoes to wear.
BUT, I am an advocate for at least wearing 2 different shoes, and rotating them between runs.
This can simply be:
Example 1: 2 daily trainers, featuring two different heel-to-toe drops.
Example 2: 2 daily trainers. One that is max-cushion for slower paced recovery/easy miles.
Second option that is more firm, offering energy-return from the ground, allowing you to pick up the pace, work on form efficiency, and overall condition your legs in a way that a max-cushion cannot.
Example 3: 1 pure “speed day” trainer + 1 daily trainer. “Speed day” will be used for tempo miles, track workouts—general shorter & higher intensity efforts.
Example 4: Mix of example 1-3 + a “long run shoe”. Preferably one that mimics the shoe you will be wearing on race day (if it’s different than your daily trainer). Saucony Endorphin line does a great job of allowing you to do this, and complete a full shoe rotation build with this lineup.
Here are some of my favorite big-brand shoes:
3. Training Plan
I see it all too often. Most training plans found on the web are geared to your single peak-week long run (usually 2-3 weeks before race day). It’s basically an entire build-up to this one run, which acts as a pseudo “marathon” before actual race day.
It’s incredibly bad for someone to train this way. Basically running your peak long run as your marathon, 2 weeks before your actual race is the most common reason why I see runners bonk on race day.
For example, I simply googled (like most do) “marathon training plan”. This is what came up, a 12 week plan that *will* injury you.
Here is a screenshot of the last 4 weeks.
No worries, simply go out and run 21 miles 3 weeks prior to race day! Oh and forget recovery or resting your legs after this pseudo-marathon, you’re running 27 miles the next week!
Sadly most people will see the words “12-weeks” & “marathon plan” together and think magic pill. Unfortunately, this is far from reality.
DYOR on plans, ask around for advice (I’m always available via X DM), and train smart.
While I’m here, I do have to shill my plans:
4. Recovery
“Run until your sore” was the mantra since running as a hobby took off in the 70s. In the modern day, we have a lot more to work with. Data from wearable tech, being the main one primarily.
We are also at a point where we know how to properly apply our data back into our training as well—which is the newest revolution in running.
Data points to watch:
If your HRV is *consistently* lowered overnight.
RHR increasing intraday.
Sleeping HR is elevated overnight.
Heart rate spiking on normal paced runs.
I am in the camp that recovery should always be front-run. Rarely should you get to the point where you are in a fight with your training. If you are at this point, it’s either because you are purposely there—a late week zone 5 workout for example where rest is scheduled after—OR you messed up.
Training should feel normal. I always say a good spot check is you ran for 1-hour and you feel like it never happened. This is the sign of an in-shape athlete who is training smart.
5. Cross Train
Obviously there is low data currently to support the hypothesis that cross training helps runners mitigate injuries, but anecdotal evidence is certainly found. Possibly, the simple effects of stretching/lengthening the muscle during an exercise could be beneficial, if nothing else.
Again, more data is needed. But from what I have personally seen, runner’s glutes and cores tend to become extremely weak. Many play catch-up late into a training block, or during off-season if they’re lucky.
For starters, a few resistance bands, some glute-med targeted exercises along with lower core will take you a long way. Tweak what you find necessary from there based on need.
There are a whole host of injuries and possible exercises to accompany them—some trial and error will be needed here. When in doubt, do what you can in terms of exercises that *don’t* cause pain to perform, while simultaneously reducing running output. Most people overthink both areas.
First try reducing mileage while keeping weekly hours/time constant.
Then reduce weekly time.
Then look for some “break glass in case of emergency” fixes like a full-stop or PT.
6. Speed Days
An enormous amount of runners get their dedicated speed days wrong. There is an unwillingness to break your-self regulated governor (human instinct is to not push this hard).
Another issue is that new-runners don’t know exactly what to do, when, and how much. Most times, people actually don’t run enough to get the full benefits of the higher intensity zones. Ideally, this over the 5K range but below 10K, in one single session.
Many people think a few hill sprints will do the job—this is not the case. My favorite workouts by far are showing up to the track with a pre-planned workout to get to a specific amount of meters in zone 4+.
It’s really hard to over-do these. No one has ever finished an interval workout saying “those last reps were easy!”. If this happens to you, run harder. Make the reps deliberate.
I prefer to schedule nothing or something extremely light the following day, as the hit to your central nervous system is quite large.
7. Long Runs
The art of the long run is a hard one to master. One problem is trying to complete your long runs (2.5-3 hours) and have them be actual workouts.
The goal of marathon training is to make the recovery period post long runs as short as possible. Unfortunately, this takes time. We are trying to take you down from 7 days of recovery to <48 hours back to normal.
If you’re not in proper shape, your HRV will tank for a week or two after your first long effort, which can destroy the rest of your training. Unfortunately, most training schedules have you right back on the horse and running again after long efforts. (For new runners this is detrimental).
Running hard inside this recovery period stacks up and will only lead to pain on race day. Marathon training usually has a late “peak” where you complete two back to back weeks of high efforts and then taper for race day. If your body is not ready for this peak, your HRV will be shot on race day and you won’t perform.
The one solution to this is time. You need to widen your timeline to at least 12 months in my opinion. This allows you to build your VO2 max up and run some smaller races in the buildup (10K-Half). The end goal is to make the recovery time from these long runs take 24-48 hours, not 7 days. If you can do this, you WILL perform on race day.
If it’s you’re first marathon training, decouple from pace. See if you can move your body for 2.5-3 hours and how LONG it takes to recover.
8. Finding Race Pace
There’s many different formulas and processes to find your race pace. Unfortunately for first time runners, you really won’t know this until you get deep into your marathon training. Possibly up until the last long run.
Venturing into the unknown is scary. We won’t know how your body reacts to the added volume, pace, or training itself. Possibly you overtrain or under-recover and head into race day rundown. Throw all race-pace calculations out the window in this scenario!
That being said, a very famous table people use is the VDOT table.
The problem with this table is that it was made with the advanced to elite runner in mind and in creation of it. It was created by legendary running coach Jack Daniels in conjunction with one of his runners, James Gilbert—with Gilbert ending up running well over 100,000 documented miles in his life. A great runner in his own right.
For a great runner, a highly specific formula, tailored to a dialed-in athlete will work great. For the layman newbie runner…not so much.
Think of it as if you’re able to run a 28 minute 5K but only have been running for a few weeks at this point. We can’t even assume you’re able to run a half-marathon, never mind extrapolate out a full marathon distance.
There are many steps to take, and years to develop, before you will be able to compare PRs and extrapolate pace between races.
For now, always take about ~20 seconds per mile off of your peak long run as a good starting point.
9. Tapering
Tapering is *not* recovery. At least in the sense that if you incurred an overuse injury during peak training, this will not be the time where you heal and perform on race day.
Yes, you will “recover” (more like rejuvenate) to 100% in this timeframe in order to perform your best—barring no injury. If you are battling and injury through your peak weeks and are hoping for a magical 1.5-2 week fix, it is most likely too late.
This is a big reason why I advocate beginner-level runners to peak 4-weeks out from race day. So you have 3 more weeks of running + a no running taper week. The rest needed from your peak week to race day has to be spread out as far as possible, without losing fitness.
10. Racing
I am a negative split runner. Always have been. It’s a superpower as much as it’s an Achilles heel. I’ve left time on the course because of it. But I’ve also PR’d and kicked nicely on a few people from it. A true double edge sword.
I always recommend the negative split race for beginners because 1) I know it best & 2) it’s safe.
There are so many unknowns when it comes to your first or second race that it’s not worth blowing up over.
Example 1: You extrapolate some race pace and decide to run the entire marathon at this pace. This would be considered “steady pace”.
Example 2: You extrapolate that same race pace, but decide to average it—by starting out slower than race pace, and slowly running faster miles throughout the marathon. In this scenario, your last 10K will be the fastest portion of the race.
Your first 13 miles will also be slower than your second.
The benefits of example 1 is that you are never playing catchup. You have your race pace and as long as you hit your splits, you’re golden. Plus, if you’re feeling froggy, you can try a kick to beat your intended race pace goal.
The benefits of example 2 is that it gives you a backdoor. If you start fading before you hit race pace, you can simple stay at this lower pace and live to fight another day. This is the anti-bonk method, as you are conversing energy for the back half.
As always, goodluck!
-BTR