This is the time of year that many people make the decision that they want to run a marathon or a half marathon. If you are one of those people that has made this decision, I would like to congratulate you on taking your first step. Maybe this will be your first big race, maybe it will be your second or third, either way, you made the decision that this is what you want to do. The decision to run a marathon or a half marathon is a great first step, however, it is also the easiest of the steps you need to complete to be prepared to actually run the race. I am going to detail out my 10 rules of the road that have always helped me in preparing for a big race.
1. Make the decision that you want to run that marathon or half marathon.
2. Find a race that you want to run (The Fargo Marathon or Half Marathon in May would be a great race to commit yourself too)
3. Sign up! Pay the money. Do it now before you change your mind! The biggest form of commitment is spending your hard earned money. The last thing you will want to do is quit after you have spent $40, $50, $60 or more dollars on a race. You can register for the Fargo Marathon or Half Marathon right HERE.
4. Tell everyone you know that you are going to run the XYZ race! By letting people know what your intentions are, you will be more apt to follow through with your plans. In addition, there may be other people who are either thinking about running a race or have already committed themselves so now you might have a new support group of friends rooting you on.
5. Find a training plan that suites you and your lifestyle. There are many different plans out there that are free of charge. Once you have found a training plan that you feel will be the best for you, put together a plan and start date. Most Marathon training plans are about 18 weeks in duration and half marathon training plans I have seen go from about 12 weeks to 18 weeks. When I first started running and training for my first marathon I used Hal Higdon's Novice I training plan. Just click HERE and it will bring you to his website that has all of his plans from Novice to Advanced.
6. If you are planning on running a spring race in April or May your official training does not need to being yet. Now is the time where you should be running to build up a nice base. If you are a novice runner you should be working towards building a base of between 20 and 25 miles per week. I know that this sounds like a lot of miles right now, and make no mistake about it, it is! You will however need to build to this gradually and by the time your training starts you will be right where you need to be.
7. Treat your training and running as a job. There are times when every runner dreads getting out of bed in the morning to run, much like our jobs at times. If you don't go to work, most of us don't get paid, if we don't get out and run and train like we need to, most of us won't be able to complete the race distance that we set out to achieve.
8. Log everything you do! Every mile you run should be logged. There are many resources on the web that have great running logs. I use the one on RunnersWorld.com however you can Google running logs and I am sure you will find one to your liking.
9. Incorporate strength training or cross training into your plan. Most training plans will tell you to do this anyways. Maybe it will be riding a bike, rowing, swimming or lifting weights. In addition to your cross training, you will also need to have your rest days. Rest days are just that, for resting! Your body will need this time to recover and repair. Rest days are so important, don't skip them!
10. Stay committed! Don't quit! You know that this is going to be hard and it is going to take some serious work to accomplish. You are going to have good days and bad days. Don't let the bad days bring you down to the point that you are ready to quit. Instead turn it around and tell yourself that you are not the only one going through this and that tomorrow is going to be a better day! Put yourself in the race and imagine the feeling of accomplishment as you cross the finish line with thousands of screaming fans cheering you on! You have accomplished something most people will never dream of doing!
Happy Running!
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