Blubber To Runner

8 Baby Steps to the Marathon for Beginners | Active.com.

This is a really great article, and isn’t just for marathons either… it’s really for any type of distance run that you personally would consider a ‘long distance’

I will say this though – I don’t do #3: ‘Think Time, Not Distance’… I do the exact opposite.  And I find it interesting they say to do time because every training plan I find talks about doing miles on training days, not time.  For me, as an example, I would do 3 miles no matter how long it took because you need to know what 3 miles feels like.  First time I did 12 miles it took over 4 hours… I ran 18 miles in that time just 6 months later.  But, when training, it was all about knowing what it feels like to do that many miles.  To each their own, I say… Lord knows I’m not gonna say it’s WRONG lol!

#6: ‘Recover Whenever You Feel Less Than 100 Percent’ is so ridiculously important… so many people hear all of this ‘push harder!’ type of motivation all over the place, but they don’t understand one CRUCIAL point of all of that:  There’s a difference between pushing and stupidity.  If you’re not healthy, then your body is telling you “I NEED SOME REST”… and you need to listen to it.  It was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn, but one of the best.

The last one that I love is #8: ‘Pre-Race Recon’.  It’s SO beneficial.  Most races will give you a course map on their website a few days/ weeks before the race.  Take a look at it – it’s an extremely useful tool – then take a ride out to where it is and run it.  Trust me… it helps!***

Anyway, just wanted to share this with you guys… I think it’s extremely valuable information for challenging races of ANY length.  I am all about preparing yourself to the best of your ability… hope this helps you do that same!

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(*** – It helps if you read the map right that is!  When running my 1st 10K, a few weeks before it my friends and I printed out the map and ran the course (Duke Island Park in Bridgewater for my NJ peeps)… and we ran the wrong course, but didn’t know that until the race.  Our navigator that day made an honest error but, a few miles into the race, when you think you’re turning left (to head back) and you turn right (to head even FARTHER away), its a little unnerving!)