Three Month Marathon Training Guide

However, before you consider running a marathon one of the most important things is to train, which can surprisingly be over looked. Like anything, you do not want to get burnt out after your first attempt by doing too much too soon, so here is a simple day by day training guide (courtesy of Luke Armstrong) to follow.

This is a simple guideline to inspire you with your training, for good results try to follow it closely, but it doesn’t need to be followed to the t. The reasons for this are that some days your heart rate may be up because your bodies fighting something, you are run down, or just need to take a couple of days to rest an injury. Throughout your training really try to listen to your body and like Arthur Lydiard (New Zealand’s Olympic running coach) said to increase by 10% per week. So before you follow it your not already running, slowly build up to it.

At this point, this is where your training peaks and for the next two weeks leading up to the marathon, ease off the milage and intensity a bit so your body is recovered and can fully utalise all the benefits of your training. Continuing running daily, but resting two days prior to the event.

So train, race and enjoy! Before I leave, here is some added training inspiration;

"Another way to sustain freshness and enthusiasm in our training is to have a sense of a clear, meaningful and fruitful goal. If we keep in mind this meaningful and fruitful goal, then enthusiasm and freshness will automatically dawn. If we value the goal, then the goal itself will give us enthusiasm and freshness. We are not aware of our goal's conscious eagerness to help us reach it. We think that the goal that is ahead of us is indifferent to us. If we can come to it, well and good. If we cannot come to it, the goal is not going to come to us. We feel that the goal is something stationary. But it is not like that. In the case of a spiritual seeker, the goal is always progressive and this progressive goal is more than eager to help us."

Sri Chinmoy, founder of - The Sri Chinmoy Marathon team

"If one can stick to the training for many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It's raining? That doesn't matter. I am tired? That's beside the point. It's simply that I just have to."

"There is a great advantage in training under unfavourable conditions."

Emil Zatopek (Czech Olympic running champion)