Hello to all you would-be marathoners!  You are just weeks away from embarking on what I hope will be an enjoyable journey; training for, running in, and, hopefully, completing your first marathon!  Training will begin in earnest the week of January 22, 2018. This will be 18 weeks away from the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon which will be held on May 27, 2018.

For most of the runners I coach for marathons, I have found that 18 weeks of training provides adequate time to make the physiological adaptions necessary to complete the marathon distance. Of course, there are several other factors which need to be considered when calculating training time including: running age (how many years have you been running), running experience (what distances you have run and races you’ve completed), and injury history.

Injury history brings me to the point of this letter; training for the marathon is hard! – Duh! The training will challenge you in ways that you’ve never experienced – it will become a period of self-discovery, so it’s important to know what you’re getting into.

Here are a few things I recommend you do to be better prepared once training commences:

  1. Get some Prehab! By this I mean go see a physical therapist and tell them you are planning on running your first marathon and you want to have a gait analysis done. Even if you are currently injury-free, having an analysis done can help the PT identify potential problems with your gait which, if ignored, could lead to injury. The training volume and the repetition of thousands of foot-strikes can expose weaknesses in your running. A PT can prescribe exercises to strengthen those weak areas. Remember that marathon preparation is more than just running, it requires strength training, as well.
  2. Run! Seriously, if you haven’t begun to run a few days a week, then you need to get started. The mileage isn’t as important as just building up some consistency. But by the time January 22nd rolls around, it would be beneficial if you were running around 20-25 per week.
  3. Get a decent pair of running shoes! If your running shoes have around 300-500 miles on them, then it’s time they be retired. When you go to get another pair, be sure that the shoe fits you and not the other way around. Any new pair of shoes are going to feel great when you first try them on, but do they provide the right amount of comfort and support you and your feet need? Most reputable running stores have very knowledgeable salespeople who are trained in how to properly fit customers. Another suggestion is to by two pairs so that you can rotate them throughout the winter months. Plus, they will last longer than just running in one pair.
 

That’s all for now. I look forward to working with all of you in helping you achieve your running goals.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Coach Sam

Click here to learn more about Coach Sam

 

Side Note:

If you are local to Burlington, VT we recommend  Brian Loeffler at OnTrack for a PT screening.

SKIRACK has a full staff of running shoe experts.