Marathon and Half-Marathon (2 page)
Read Marathon and Half-Marathon Online
Authors: Marnie Caron,Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia
Tags: #SPO035000, #book
The health benefits of running are far reaching. Aerobic exercise improves your:
• Heart rate
• Cardiovascular system
• Muscle tone
• Weight control
• Circulation
• Sleep patterns
What about walking?
Walkers are just like runners in their quest to improve health and fitness by setting their minds on the goal of completing a half marathon. Walkers are not excluded from participating in marathons, although time demands for completing the event can be off-putting. Walkers usually take at least 7 hours to complete 26.2 miles. Most marathon courses are only open for approximately 7 hours. Consequently, walkers do not receive adequate support in the final hours of the event, when they need it the most. Without aid stations, volunteers directing and managing traffic, road closures, and little or no finish-line celebration, walking a marathon route can be dangerous and less enjoyable. Not to mention that even the fittest individual would find 7-plus hours of continuous exercise incredibly demanding. In contrast, the half marathon is more approachable, taking about 4 hours or less to complete.
So who can do a half or full marathon?
Most people with proper training can successfully walk/run 13.1 or 26.2 miles. But first you might want to consider what your goals are and what they are likely to become in the future. Very few people in their first couple of years of running run a marathon without encountering some sort of injury. Second, before you start a training program for a half or full marathon, remember that it’s your health and your body we’re talking about. You want to be sure that you are physically and mentally up for the challenge. The following few chapters provide you with information that will help you in establishing your distance-running goals.
I’m still interested. What else do I need
to think about?
1. Can I make the commitment?
It takes a huge amount of time to prepare properly. In this book we suggest 26 weeks to prepare for either the full or half marathon, with three workout sessions per week, one of which may eventually require several hours to complete.
2. Will I have support?
This kind of commitment is without doubt a lifestyle change, and those people important in your life will be part of it and affected by it.
3. Do I have limiting health concerns?
If you have, or have had, any injuries or illnesses that may interfere with your program, you need to be realistic and honest with yourself now to avoid disappointment. Check with a sport medicine physician and explain your health care concerns before establishing your distance-running goals. It may be, for example, that you need a longer buildup to a half marathon than we recommend in the 26-week program, or possibly you should first work toward a 5- or 10-kilometer (3.1- or 6.2- mile) event.
RUNNER
PROFILE
Marty
Marty is a 45 -year-old, single career woman who loves every kind of sport. An athletic girl from an early age, her first passion was softball. She was perfect for the sport, strong and agile, with great hand-eye coordination. Marty played varsity softball for a division 1 school in California and later played for the United States’ National team. But after dislocating her shoulder and suffering ongoing wrist problems from years as a catcher, she decided to end her softball career. Initially, Marty kept busy with work and friends, but over the years she found herself increasingly withdrawn, choosing to spend most of her free time alone. She started to wonder if she was in more than just a funk. After sharing her concerns with a close friend, she realized that a key difference in her life was an almost complete lack of fitness. Besides the occasional walk, she was pretty sedentary, and since her softball days she hadn’t experienced that post-exercise high that she loved so much. Fitness had always been a huge part of her life, so it’s not surprising that she didn’t feel like herself without it.
Marty’s friend encouraged her to take up running. Marty agreed, and she was hooked almost instantly. Before long she found herself signing up for a half-marathon training clinic. She definitely wanted to do a full marathon one day, but given that she was new to running, she felt a slow and gradual approach was best. The clinic was close to Marty’s home and she really liked her assigned training group. Unfortunately, in her second month of training she caught a terrible cold that forced her to miss 2 weeks of training. When she returned, she found the pace of her training group to be too challenging. Initially, she was discouraged and questioned her desire to train and to run a half marathon. She liked running, but she wondered if she would be happier just scrapping the half-marathon goal and running on her own. Ultimately, she chose not to make a snap decision and instead opted to train with a slower group for a week, after which time she would make a decision about the marathon. After only a couple of training sessions with her new group, Marty was more committed than ever to her half-marathon goal. In her time away while ill, she had forgotten how much she loved the comradery of sharing a common goal and a passion for her newfound sport.
4. Am I prepared to take care of myself?
You are embarking on a very demanding exercise program, and you’ll need to ensure all aspects of your life stay on a healthy track; everything from nutrition to hydration and good sleeping patterns plays a part in a sound training program.
5. Am I mentally strong enough to physically make this happen?
The psychological barriers of the distance-running journey can be the greatest obstacles to overcome. But if you are up for the challenge, and persevere through the mental challenges of a 26-week walk/run program, you will be stronger, wiser, and know yourself a little bit better than before you started the journey.
The benefits of marathon running
• Improved health
• Increased energy
• Improved self-esteem
• Time with friends
• Quality time outdoors
• Stress relief
• Weight control
• Character building
“GO BIG OR GO HOME!” “THE MARATHON IS TO RUNNERS what Everest is to climbers!” These are just a couple of the images or comparisons that come to mind when deciding between the goal of a half or full marathon. The marathon is, without question, the granddaddy of running races. It is an achievement that bestows serious bragging rights over the water cooler at work. But you have to ask yourself if this single reason—permission to boast—is enough to motivate you through 26 weeks of relentless training. This is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Although blisters, chafing, and fatigue are all elements of half- and full-marathon training, the demands are significantly different.
A Safe and Effective Approach to Distance Running
From couch potato to 26.2 or 13.1 miles (42 or 21 kilometers) in 26 weeks. Sport medicine experts strongly suggest that people complete at least a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race and be running regularly for at least 6 to 12 months before considering a half marathon, and 12 months is the recommended time frame for a full-marathon goal. The body (muscles, bones, and ligaments) needs time to adapt to the stresses of running 26.2 miles. Many of you, however, probably have a friend, colleague, or family member who was a non-runner and who after only a few short months of training crossed the marathon or half-marathon finish line.
For many, 26 weeks seems a long time to prepare to complete a race. After all, running appears simple enough—and many approach it thinking success will come easily. Although the half- and full-marathon distances can seem daunting, beginning runners all too often become hurt or injured because they don’t allow themselves an adequate amount of time to prepare, or they overtrain by working out too frequently and too intensely.
Our panel of running experts recognizes the growing interest of beginning runners in completing a marathon or half marathon in as short a period as possible. Keeping this in mind, after consulting sport medicine practitioners and distance-running experts we created a road map for beginning runners that will take you from the couch to the finish line using the safest and most direct route possible. Our experts decided that a walk/run approach is the best way for beginning marathoners to train for and complete both the half-and full-marathon events. The training schedules in this book start off slowly to help build strength, stamina, and confidence. Your focus over the next 26 weeks will be to improve your overall health and fitness while remaining injury free.
If you’ve ever watched a half- or full-marathon race, I’m sure you’ve seen people hobble across the finish line looking as if the last mile was more of a death march than a euphoric experience. It is our firm belief that finishing a distance race is one thing but finishing with some degree of grace is another. Hence, the philosophy behind this book is to live to run another day. Our goal is to have you not only make it to the finish line but also, in the weeks and months following, continue to reap the rewards of an active lifestyle.
Choosing between the Half and Full Marathon
Time—and time again. This is a key element separating the demands of the full and the half marathon. It takes almost twice as long to complete and recover from a marathon as it does from the half marathon. The following questions should help you decide your best running goal at this time:
• How long have you been maintaining a regular running routine?
• How much time do you have to commit to your exercise program?
• Does the time you have available for your next exercise endeavor match the demands that characterize the half or full marathon?
• Have you been injury free for the past few months?
• Have you enjoyed your recent running program enough to continue to increase the distance and intensity?
• Are you mentally and physically prepared to train for significantly longer periods of time?
• Do you have the commitment of family support?
• Do you realize there will be a “tired” factor that will take its toll? You will probably need to be in bed earlier, and you will have less energy for other physical activities and less free time.
• Are you bored with running? Do you feel the need to try another athletic activity?
The half marathon
It is true that the marathon is a huge undertaking, but this is not to say that training for and completing a half marathon is an easy task. It isn’t. It is a significant achievement in and of itself.
In recent years the half marathon has become increasingly popular. According to Running USA, in 2002 over half a million runners completed a half marathon, which is over 200,000 more participants than in 1987. The number of half marathons has also drastically increased. Many of the large marathons are now adding a half marathon to attract participants. As Allan Steinfeld, president and
CEO
of the New York Road Runners Association, points out, “The distance really makes sense... For some runners the half is an end point, something they peak for, and for anyone training to run a marathon, it’s a perfect endurance test.”
Why a growing number of runners view the half marathon as the perfect distance
• It is less physically demanding than the marathon.
