With spring right around the corner—hard to believe, eh?—the local race scene will percolate with events like the Alton (Ill.) Half-Marathon and the GO! St. Louis Marathon & Family Fitness Weekend.
In race lines throughout the metro area, many participants will be first-time marathoners and half-marathoners. Those folks are in the midst of training for an endurance event unlike anything they have experienced in their lives to date. The process of preparing and training for a long-distance race certainly offers its fair share of ups and downs.
Todd Neuberger, a surgeon with the SSM Vascular Institute at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, is an active marathon runner. Preparation for your first half- or full-marathon starts with a visit with your regular physician to receive medical clearance.
“Then a new runner should assess goals and then establish a plan that is realistic and achievable in order to have early success and provide motivation to achieve larger goals,” says Neuberger. “Realistic goals and consistent effort are the keys more than the program.”
Many training programs are available online (e.g., Hal’s Higdon’s Marathon Training Guide) and in publications like Runner’s World. The programs serve as guidelines, but runners should avoid overdoing it during the training process.
Just as important, proper footwear is necessary to achieve success. “There are different types of gait and foot types,” explains Neuberger. “New runners should have these things assessed at a good running store or by a sports medicine specialist.”
During the training process, common minor injuries include shin splints, which causes painful and throbbing pain. Minor ailments can usually be resolved with scaling back your program and considering anti-inflammatory medications, Neuberger says. Persistent or increasing pain will require a visit to your doctor.
An underrated aspect to training for a marathon or half-marathon is keeping a positive frame of mind. Some runs will go better than others and it is easy for newcomers to be discouraged. Finding a running partner for longer runs can add some fun to the training process.
“Develop a mental highlight reel,” says Neuberger. “Make an effort to create memories of memorable running moments like beautiful scenes and fun events and replay these in your mind during difficult moments or training runs. It really works.
“Also, have a mantra and recite it to yourself when you're discouraged.”
In advance of the big race, runners should enter a 5K or 10K to become accustomed the race-day atmosphere. “Any event gives you motivation,” Neuberger says. “Just be sure that if you are using smaller events to train for bigger events that the smaller events make sense in your training program.”
Additional sources:
webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/marathon-training-tips-for-beginners
