« PMS is so NOT fun | Main | The Best Appetite Suppressant Would Be Mandatory Calorie Counts On Menus »
3 Miles Down, 23.2 Miles To Go: Week 1 of Marathon Training
By Christina | August 2, 2009
Anyone of any fitness level or ability can technically run a marathon if you properly train for the race. It requires consistency, dedication, and discipline over a period of a minimum of 4 months to prepare your body sufficiently to cross the finish line.
We had our first official week of marathon training last week and it was humbling. Running a marathon is a little like starting college for the first time. How many people at orientation for college are actually present at graduation? Our initial team orientation meeting for the marathon had 10 very enthusiastic people committed to training together to run a marathon to raise money for breast cancer research. A week later for our “first run” we had 5 people who ran.
This is not necessarily indicative of attrition right at the get go because everybody had an excuse for why they couldn’t make the first run. But, unfortunately, running a marathon is also a little bit like starting a diet. Everyone always has the best of intentions. Intentions, though, are not enough to get you to cross the finish line. It will be interesting to see if week one was an anomaly, or the realities of running a marathon in a group. Hopefully, some friendly ribbing and encouragement is all that will be needed to motivate everyone to lace up their sneakers on a weekly basis.
The good news about training for a marathon is you are not expected to be able to run long distances initially. The training is intentionally progressive both in speed and distance. Even non-runners are not at a disadvantage at the beginning of training. The only requirement, however, to all be able to start on the same page with training is being able to run 30 minutes without stopping. Our first run together as a team was just that. Fortunately, we all were able to run for 30 minutes. Some of us were significantly faster than others, but together we all accomplished what we set out to accomplish. We were hot, sweaty, and glad the run was over until we realized that we only ran for about 3 miles. I guess the next reaction from the team came down to whether you are a glass empty or glass full kind of person.
Some of us thought 3 miles down, only 23.2 miles to go before January. Other ‘debbie downer’ types like myself thought more along the lines of ‘Who’s idea was this marathon thing again?!” I for one will be pondering that question next week when I’m running. See you there.
Topics: General |
August 8th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Christina, you’re going to keep asking yourself this question over and over again for sure: ‘Who’s idea was this marathon thing again?!’ lol.
Increasing your mileage progressively plays a huge role in the improvement of your distance week by week or you’ll end up tired, exhausted and worst of all, injured.