I wrote this article for RunBlogRun at the beginning
of 2017 and I still believe it applies to 2018.
If you are beginning to develope a new hobby of
collecting marathon finishers' medals like me, then some of the lessons below,
learnt through experience and through sharing with other athletes, may be
valuable to you as you seek to meet your goals. You might also want to check my 17 Week Marathon Training Program that improved my marathon time by over 29 minutes!
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| On my way to winning the Sportinglife 10K |
1. It is not necessarily the distances of the long
runs you do that translate to running a good marathon, but the daily efforts
you put in your training:
In 2016, I witnessed a friend who never did a long
run of more than 30km the whole of the year and still managed to finish two
local competitive marathons in Kenya by finishing 2nd and 7th and running a
personal best time of 2:14:08.
The reason he could not do a longer run is because
there was no vehicle to give him drinking water in his training, and so he
decided to be doing two runs of 25km - 30km twice every week. He ran faster
than other athletes who at times did up to 50km long runs.
2. Starting out a race too fast often results in
running slower times in the end:
This is the one lesson that most runners often learn
it the hard way. 42km is a long way and when you start it hard you will
definitely find yourself hurting at 5km and wondering how and if you will ever
end the remaining 37km!
3. Finishing a marathon is a great achievement in itself:
Often, runners running a marathon would feel the
need to drop out of the race at some point in the middle of it. Some drop out,
then regret later why they never held on a little longer and finish the race.
There is a great feeling once one finishes a marathon regardless of the time
they run.
After all, there are many people across the world
who cannot even manage to finish a 2km race. In the future, when you will be
counting the number of marathons you ever finished, you will likely regret why
you failed to finish one in which you had the potential to do.
4. Training for a particular marathon should take
time; at least three months:
When it comes to the marathon, it is always good to
focus on one race at a time and build one's training slowly towards it. Giving
yourself a short time to put in everything from long runs, hill and speed
workouts can most likely result in illnesses and injuries.
Training should take about three stages where you
start with moderate runs to shed off some weight and get in a better shape
before stepping up the long runs and speed workouts.
5. The one person who should believe in you is
yourself:
Most of the running is actually mental. There are
runners who do very well in training, but when it comes to races the outcome at
times would not be what was expected of them.
Runners who believe in their potential often succeed
in their races while those who doubt themselves often come up with excuses as
to why they could not perform.
6. There is always room at the top:
There is always room for improvement. It is always
possible to train better and smarter than you ever did in the past. It is also
possible to run harder and faster than the last time.
And, when you reach the top, there are many agents
and race organizers looking out for fast athletes.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
