Marathon made.

[AllieKay]

Well, I'm not REALLY marathon made, but I'm working on getting there. I have this 'problem' where I often set ridiculous, meticulous goals for myself. My goal this time, is to run in the Boston Marathon. I know it's extremely difficult, but I'm giving myself 4 (or possibly more) years to prepare. Sure, it doesn't take that long to be able to run a marathon, but keep in mind you need to meet certain criteria and run in other marathons before you can take on the worlds most famous. My regime basically consists of running up and down hills. Fortunately for me, I live in south-east Pennsylvania, where hills are more common than speed signs.

I suppose my first challenge is that I hate running. I grew up around all forms of H2O. I'm a swimmer and a hockey player, so I'm more comfortable around water and ice. Besides, I've always had a certain malice towards gravity, and gravity plus asphalt makes the odds even worse. My strength is that I'm sturdy and vigorous, mostly in the sense that I'm relentless. If I set a goal, I keep my eyes on the horizon until I reach it. In other words, despite my animosity towards running, I'll deal with it and it will probably grow on me.

I haven't run in at least a year. But now, I run everyday. I know there's a lot of people who probably will call me stupid for that, but I didn't start from nothing, I am by no means out of shape. Playing hockey as competitively as I have been doing for the last four years has helped me at least have good cardio. I always stretch before leaving my house, then do lunges to the end of the street, then I hop on the trail that begins at the park across the street. Let me point out that the trail is approximately 19 miles long. I can run about 2 miles without stopping now, and about 5 miles per day. Once I get on the trail, I run two full miles, stop and stretch for about 10 minutes, then run another mile, stretch for 5 minutes, then run the other two and cool off in the river for a half hour. I then walk/lightly jog 5 miles home.

That's longer than I intended to make this post, but I didn't think I could just say 'I run 5 miles a day and haven't run in a year' without including at least a few details. Does anybody else have training regimes similar to this? Any suggestions, maybe? Because I know this probably is NOT the most effective way to approach this goal. All comments/critique are welcome, of course. :victory:

 

[JamesK]

Well good luck! I don't run marathons, but I do run 5K races every other week, 10K's once a month, and a few 10 milers a year. I ran my first half marathon a few months back. I run 4-5 days a week and run 5-10 miles each time depending on what I feel like doing. I love trail running. Most of my runs are on trails and dirt roads.

Just keep it up and I am sure you will do it.

 

[AllieKay]

Yeah, I signed up for a 5K next month, and I've gotten a few friends to go run it with me. I definitely feel like I'll be ready. When I started running, my legs were always extremely sore the next day, but I kept stretching a lot and still ran everyday. Now the tight feeling is just residual, I suppose. I also was looking at doing a half mile in October, but I'll see how I feel when I get there.

 

[FettSolo]

Hey Allie,

First off, good for you that you wish to run the Boston Marathon. No sarcasm intended there, either; it is a worthy goal. As a dedicated runner myself, my first big thing to say about training (whether marathon, or otherwise) is to NOT run everyday. It may not be a big issue right now due to your current mileage, but your legs need a proper rest. If you don't do that, you will run them into the ground (oh, a pun!). An ideal running week for marathon training should be something like:
Sunday: Easy run or cross-training
Monday: Cross-training
Tuesday: Track workout (no track, no problem! Still can be done)
Wednesday: Easy run
Thursday: Tempo run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Long run

Others certainly might disagree, but among many (myself included) this would be considered a good way to structure training. If you are looking for a good resource, I would suggest www.runnersworld.com.
Otherwise, I am happy to try and offer some more specific advice. Feel free to respond here, or PM me.

 

[MADiveGirl]

Hey Allie,

First off, good for you that you wish to run the Boston Marathon. No sarcasm intended there, either; it is a worthy goal. As a dedicated runner myself, my first big thing to say about training (whether marathon, or otherwise) is to NOT run everyday. It may not be a big issue right now due to your current mileage, but your legs need a proper rest. If you don't do that, you will run them into the ground (oh, a pun!). An ideal running week for marathon training should be something like:
Sunday: Easy run or cross-training
Monday: Cross-training
Tuesday: Track workout (no track, no problem! Still can be done)
Wednesday: Easy run
Thursday: Tempo run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Long run

Others certainly might disagree, but among many (myself included) this would be considered a good way to structure training. If you are looking for a good resource, I would suggest www.runnersworld.com.
Otherwise, I am happy to try and offer some more specific advice. Feel free to respond here, or PM me.

Ditto this advice. I'm a long time runner, including running Boston in '08. It's a worthwhile goal - definitely go for it! That said, it's gotten VERY VERY difficult to qualify, and then to actually get a number even if you do qualify, so don't discount the idea of running as a charity runner. This is what I did, for a charity that was VERY near to my heart (well, my daughters heart, specifically, as I ran for Children's Hospital Boston where she had open heart surgery to repair a congenital defect when she was 4 mos old), and it was an INCREDIBLE experience.

As FettSolo mentions, you should soon change up your routine to add other workouts, and I think even more importantly, to mix up the running you are doing. Doing the same thing every day is decent for general overall fitness, but soon you will have maxed out on this workout, and will get nowhere. You should start incorporating runs of different lengths and speeds into your schedule, and add in road running. Trails are fabulous and I LOVE my trail runs, but if training for a road race - you simply have to run on those conditions as well.

There are plenty of solid training plans for various distances out there - Runners World is a great web site full of plans as a starting point. Also, look around to see if you can find a running club in your area - it's a great way to meet people, find running partners and new running routes, learn about local races, etc.

Good luck!