When should you start training for your marathon? Well there’s no hard and fast answer to this that applies to everyone.
In the back of my mind, that first time I got on a treadmill nearly nine years ago I was training for a marathon. I didn’t know when or where it would be, and I couldn’t run more than a couple of minutes at a time, but the marathon was my ultimate goal.
It was two years before I’d run a marathon, and although all my running had been working towards that point, the actual concerted effort of building up my mileage towards race day was taken care of by a 16 week plan I’d found in an old book.
We’re all at different points in our running. Some will be just starting out, some will have signed up for their first marathon, others might be doing their second, third or 100th marathon next year. So the question of how long you need depends on that as much as it does on what your goal is.
One thing is true for everyone though: the longer you have to train, the more sensible you can be and the better result you can achieve. I was invited to a European marathon next weekend and as much as I was tempted I knew two weeks of training weren’t going to lead to a race I wanted.
If you’ve just off of an autumn marathon, take time to recover before jumping into another training cycle. I know you’ll be keen and eager to get going again, but don’t do too much too soon.
I shared the graphic below on Twitter and Facebook last week to help runners decide when to start training. I hope it’s helpful to you.
I’m hosting a one-day marathon workshop for first-timers in January. Come and spend the day talkingmarathons with me.
from Lazy Girl Running http://ift.tt/2gbqaky
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