Am I Ready for a Marathon?

Perhaps most of you who have hurdled the 10-km event now feels that the next goal to go for is the half-marathon or the marathon.

I do not have much details regarding the half-marathon for now, but for the marathon, it is recommended that you have a running history of at least a year with the frequency of three times a week. That is according to the Running for Fitness book. That makes me ineligible until August 2009. Though my husband thinks we should set our goal towards the half-marathon by middle of next year. This morning I ordered some books from Amazon.com which covers this topic but I will not get my hand on these precious treasures until December, when my sister-in law comes home from the US.

Anyway, for now, let me use the Complete Guide for Endurance Training as reference. According to this book, there are different periods for training: 1) Base training which is the preparatory building phase and the most essential foundation of the training which covers aound 8-12 weeks; 2) Speed training which is when you push your body to prepare it for the demands of the event which covers your next 4-8 weeks and finally, 3) Taper and Peaking which gradually reduces your training in 2-14 days.

So for the base training, the rule of thumb is to run slow for long distances. The goal is to build your endurance. You can start shedding unwanted weight at this stage. The speed training will initially deal more with training intensity rather than duration. So you decrease the length of time you run but you increase the speed. However, you should mix this with intervals of slow, long runs in order to maintain your endurance. Then towards the end of your speed training, you do the overtraining. This part is when you push your body to the limit but this should be done only during the third or second week before the competition. The most important part about the overtraining is that it should immediately be followed by the taper because it is during the taper when the adaptation occurs. Without the taper, the body will not be able to recover and this can lead to serious injuries or overtraining.

This kind of training can also be adapted for shorter races but this is more important for long races. A lot of people may get away with doing a 10-km without much training (that's me!) but the marathon is entirely a different thing altogether and should be planned carefully. That can mean looking at the Takbo.ph calendar and looking at the possible races for 2009 so that you can carefully lay out your training program.

How to warm up and warm down

I have this mistaken notion that warming up is only for those who will be running the marathon. That is defined as a long distance run of 26 miles, 385 yards, or 42.195 km. How greatly mistaken I am. On the contrary, warming up is actually geared more for those who will be running short distances than for the marathoners. Surprise!

You see, the purpose of warming up is to actually prepare your body for that sudden burst of energy. It increases your muscle temperature so it can do its function better , which is contraction and relaxation. It also increases blood flow so that blood can continue to bring oxygen to the different parts of your body especially where it is needed the most,....our muscles for running. Have you ever experienced muscle cramps? Well, it is not just due to lack of stretching, but mainly it is due to production of lactic acid, a toxic waste product of anaerobic metabolism. Sounds like a lot of hype?! I would not want to delve into biochemistry here. Let us keep this simple. You just have to know that lactic acid can cause you fatigue and muscle cramps.

If you are running less than half a marathon (21 km), then you SHOULD warm up 20-30 minutes before the race. Why? Because it will take time for your body to get well-oiled for that short run and the sudden burst of energy will cause the body to shift to anaerobic metabolism which will in turn lead to easy fatigue. How intense should be your warm up? Start with a slow jog and gradually increase pace just up to that intensity where you can still do the Talk Test. Then stretch for 5-10 minutes then continue with running at an easy pace until 5 minutes before the race starts.

For those who are doing longer runs, however, you do not need to do as much warm up because what you want to avoid is the depletion of your glycogen stores. Meaning you want to conserve as much energy as you can for that long hurdle. You may just want to do a light jog, nothing of great intensity, for a shorter duration.

What about warming down? I guess a lot of you out there are guilty of not doing a warm down. After approaching the finish line, you just want to be with your friends, drink your sports drink and exchange anecdotes. But a warm down is just as essential as a warm-up for those who ran distances less than the half-marathon. Again, another surprise!

The purpose of a warm down is to eliminate the toxic wastes from your body. So you need to keep moving in a slow pace (jog or brisk walk) for 10-15 minutes and allow the blood to wash off the metabolic wastes that were produced during your heavy exertion. This will help your body recover faster, otherwise, the sudden halt will also bring down your metabolic rate abruptly and this will cause the waste products to remain in your system. The warm down also prevents the dizziness from occuring because it will keep the blood from pooling into your legs which can make you wobbly. As for the marathoners, warming down may just consist of continuous movement for a while since only a few would still have that energy left to do a jog or a brisk walk.