GeishaGirl

Do any of you have experience with marathons? The Honolulu Marathon is coming up in December:

http://www.honolulumarathon.org/

Its supposed to be 26 miles at your own pace. My friend wants me to run it with him, but I'm not sure how prepared I'd have to be. How many months in advance would it take to be even remotely prepared? I do a couple miles a day of cardio a day but thats probably hard enough. Any tips? Obviously I'm not running to win, just seems like a cool thing to do. We might also get some sponsors and donate the money to a charity at the end .

BEETROOT

I'm running the NYC marathon Nov. 6. It will be my first.

Its not gonna be easy, I can tell you that. If you want to run it, I'd start training now.

But once you sign up and you are committed to it, it makes training for it a lot easier since you don't have the option of backing out.

Do you run now? If so, how far?

GeishaGirl

lol I run a SAD 2 miles a day Haven't really started a training plan though, thats just my routine. How do you build up toward something like that?

Minch00

I think you should do it, it'd be a huge self-esteem booster. I guess I would take 1-2 weeks for each mile and add a mile every new week. Soon you'll be up to running enough miles. So if you're at two now, go to three next week, four after that, etc.

Should make things good for you.

nokio

they hurt like SHIT!!!!

after running 8 miles at once i can barely move...

my friend who runs like crazy said you should run a lot daily if you want to keep your body accustomed. he also said last time he ran a marathon after 10 miles it stoped hurting and its just like cruise control, you really dont think about it

i dont know how true this is for everyone, but id go for it! run a little bit each day and eventually youll do it no problem, especially with your fancy shmancy ipod to keep you busy

NiteQwill

Start training now, and since you actually should be training up to a year in advance, I was say start training hardcore.

I ran my first marathon a few years ago. It hurt like hell, and the days afterwards hurt even worse. Since then, I've ran a few 20K and 25K races. This weekend, I'll be in a 10K race.

Key is PACE & BREATHING. I'm not a fast marathon runner, but my pace is consistent. I see guys take off a mile ahead of me... by 10 miles, I'm passing them because they are out of energy.

Also, invest in good shoes. And train WITH them. I have several Asics with custom soles, they are my favorite.

NiteQwill

To build up endurance: Run at an incline.

Build up speed: Do "indian runs" for several miles. That is, run at a constant pace for 1 minute, fix your eyes on an object to run towards, then sprint... slow down when you get to the object, but DONT STOP, keep doing that for several miles. A few weeks later, watch your time drop by XX seconds if not minutes.

Adam_Schwartz

Man, I do not see how people run daily, for 5+ miles a day at that. The thought of that alone hurts my knees.

virtualbong

Totally

You want to train in the pace that you're going to keep during the marathon. Since this is such a long run, any variance of the pace will really take a toll on how your body functions. So basically run your own race and don't get sucked in to how fast other people are running or you'll quickly deteriorate. I have not run a marathon before but I've run long distances and if I change my pace at any time during the run, I would definitely feel that my body doesn't like it and I usually grind to a halt.

I really hope I get motivated some day to run one. Maybe I'll run the Boston Marathon next year, but not as a registered runner, but a walk on.

fdl

Try a 10K (10 KM) first. To go from 2 miles a day to a marathon might be tough

CrockPot

nice geisha! ran my first marathon this past march, started training last december. build up your leg strength, increase your stamina by doing cardio...and, run! try to do at least 3 miles 2-4 days per week, and spend a saturday or sunday each week running progressively more. definitely do a few 15+ mile sets.

i'm running in the first ever Las Vegas Marathon Dec 4th of this year. can't wait!

GeishaGirl

Thanks for all the great advice guys! I'm giving it some thought, I have until around October to register. I'll be incorporating the tips you guys provided into the routine I eventually come up with

That sounds like a good plan Damn, a Las Vegas marathon sounds awesome, especially during winter time.


Yeah, thats why I was asking for tips. 2 miles was my routine prior to finding out about this marathon. I'm just wondering how much I have to up the game per day to even be remotely prepared. The hard enough thing was a typo, supposed to have been not enough but I noticed it after the 5 minute edit time

lizard

Try www.runnersworld.com click on "training" and then "Marathons". Running 26.2 is an incredible accomplishment and can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. I have completed four, and each has been hard but worth all the hard work.

wstevens

I've done a few. I'm doing San Francisco in July. I'm excited because it's a "small" marathon - less than 5,000 people. I've found big city marathons somewhat annoying, especially for the first 7-10 miles before the crowd stretches out.

Obviously, train wiith the shoes you plan to wear. The next biggest problem you'll have is your shirt. Since you'll be wearing a sports bra, you won't have the chaffed nipple problem. However, you can also start to chafe under your arms if your shirt is too baggy.

I didn't have a specific training plan the first time I ran one - I have run every weekday for 12 years and I do long runs on the weekends sometimes. I found the first one very, very difficult. The next one seemed a lot "shorter". It's kinda like when you drive someplace for the first time, it always seems like it's far away. But, after you've driven it a few times, the trip seems shorter.

I looked at the runner's world page that lizard posted and the "Ultimate Marathon Training Plan" looks consistent with other plans I've seen.

I think it's a great idea. Once you do it, you'll always be able to tell yourself that you ran a marathon. In fact, sometimes, when you come up against something difficult (not necessarily related to running), you might findl yourself saying, "I can do this - I ran a freakin marathon."

linto

I'm running the Chicago marathon in October...for those that have ran it, it's flat and the crowd support is amazing. Last week I peaked at 45 miles and I'm dropping weight like crazy. A key to not getting hurt is variation, ie, do 3 miles monday, 4 miles tuesday, rest wednesday, 5 miles thursday, rest friday, pace 6 miles on saturday, and do your longest run on sunday at a super slow speed, or some variation to that. You have to eat a lot of carbs, some say like 60% and 20% lean protein and practice drinking while you run. Like others that have posted earlier, good shoes that are properly fit to your gait and arch are key for injury prevention along with stretching. I hurt my IT band after not changing my shoes after 400 miles...big mistake because the foam and rubber takes a permanent set and there is no cushioning left. Here is a good link on that: stretching

A friend of mine ran the Honolulu...she finished in 4:30 and said it was tough due to the climate. Good Luck!

GeishaGirl

Thanks for the advice guys! Its funny you mention that wstevens, my friend who wants to run the marathon was telling me the same thing about applying finish a marathon to other things in life

I'm still seriously considering it and am considering just paying the entry fee so I have more of an incentive to run to Its something I want to do, but I don't want to go in there unprepared and/or not ready.

What happens if during the course of the marathon you can't finish it? Aside from the hurt pride factor, what happens? I know they block off the roads where the marathon is taking place, how do you get back to your car etc?

CrockPot

there should be shuttles every few miles.