Beginner Marathon Tips
Looking at it from a different angle
I got asked what my tips for first time marathoners would be last week. I was stymied. There are potentially thousands of things I’d like to tell a first timer. However, I realize that telling them a thousand things is the wrong thing to do. We do a poor job of giving advice to new marathoners.
A poor soul made the mistake of asking the question on Facebook and was inundated by the fire hose treatment of all the things they need to consider. It’s overwhelming. It’s too much. It’s just not useful and it is potentially discouraging.
How can we approach it differently?
How can we give them the information they need when they need it?
As I thought about this I realized that much of the information and activity surrounding a marathon is time phased. This means you don’t need all the information on the first day. It should be possible for you to get the information in daily or weekly thematic chunks. Good coaches already do this by limiting the training plans they reveal to the coach-ee at any point in time.
In fact, one of the success factors of marathons is being able to focus on what you need to do today and not worry about the rest of it. In the ‘personal success’ world they call this “Chunking”, or breaking up information into usable parcels so people can make continuous improvement and not get overwhelmed, discouraged and give up.
If you’re a first time marathoner, what do you need to know on day one?
Day one – pick a race!
You first need to figure out what Day One means. Finding Day One is contingent on the race you’re going to run. Step one is to look on one of the popular running calendars for an event you are going to tackle. I use MarathonGuide.com to look for races. Click through the race reviews and avoid anything that sounds super difficult.
For a first timer, I would provision at least a 20 week lead time – so look for an event 5 or 6 months away. This will give you plenty of physical and emotional training space to get ready. Most good marathons are clustered in the Spring and in the fall – plan accordingly.
On a personal note my sister Jody announced she was going to run her first marathon this year. I called her and asked what event she was planning. I assumed it would be a marathon next fall and I’d go support her. She says “The Carmel Marathon March 17th!” It runs in the family.
I gave here my next piece of Day One marathon advice. Don’t worry about the marathon or getting to the finish line. Focus on one thing, getting to the starting line. The race will take care of itself. Get to the starting line.
At the end of Day One you’ve got your event chosen and you’ve registered. You have a goal to get to that starting line. That’s enough for today.
Day Two – Find a coach.
Day two is the day that you find a coach. You can train yourself but it’s worth the couple hundred bucks it’s going to cost you to get someone experienced to help you. There is so much you don’t know. Why burden yourself by blundering around in the dark. Get some help. Save yourself emotional pain and physical issues. Get a coach.
Go onto your favorite running social media group and ask for coaching recommendations for FIRST TIME MARATHONS. You need a coach that is good for first timers – you don’t need the person who trains Olympians.
End of Day two you have a race, a goal and a coach. That’s pretty good progress.
Day Three – get a plan.
Sit with your coach and come up with a personalized plan that fits your ability, your goals, your aspirations and your available time. Don’t overreach. The first marathon should be fun. It should be a transformational experience. You should plan to train harder than you have ever trained, but at the end of it all you sholud run without looking at your watch.
In the first couple weeks you’ll need to buy some basic equipment, some clothes and probably some shoes – but I wouldn’t buy new shoes until you’ve had your coach look at your stride. Don’t go overboard. Until you get to the long, long runs your really don’t need anything special.
End of Day three you’ve got a race, a goal, a coach and a plan – that’s awesome. You might even have a new pair of shorts. Super-duper.
Day Four – Tell the world…
Yup, go ahead and tell the world. You have a goal race, a coach and a plan so it’s safe to go public. Let all your friends know what you’re up to. Lock it in by bragging out to your social media. Start a blog if that sort of thing appeals to you. Join DailyMile or some other group on FaceBook because you are going to need the community support. Don’t worry, we love first timers. We get all misty when we think about the challenge and thrill of the first time.
You’ll also want to sit down with your family and review the plan. You’re going to be spending some hours away from home pounding the pavement and you need to set expectations appropriately. As your training ramps up you won’t have the energy to fight over who is going to take little Johnnie to flute practice – so start working on a framework for how it’s going to fit into your life.
Now it’s the end of the week and you’ve got a race, a coach, a goal, a plan and a bunch of people to support you, (including your family). The rest is details.
What about all the other days?
The rest of it I think you let come to you in good time as you progress through your training. The fueling and stretching and nutrition and how to tape your toenails and how to lube your private parts are all lessons that will come to you.
Looking out over the course of your training there will be other milestones that include moments of great learning. When you start hitting those long runs you’ll have a big chunk of new experiences and learning. As you confront situations and challenges you can fall back on your coach, your plan and your social support system to help.
After the long runs the next big chunk of stuff will come as the event approaches. You’ll have to learn about tapering and the logistics surrounding the event. You’ll get your travel plans and pick up your packet. This is an area you might want to do some pre-study on as the event looms, but, again there’s nothing here that your friends and your coach can’t set you straight with.
The event itself is yours. It is a glorious chaos of sleeplessness, nervousness, pain, exhaustion and exaltation. It will change you. We can give you advice and try to tell you what it will be like but anything we say will pale before the reality of what your first marathon is.
Here’s my race day advice for the first time marathoner.
Enjoy it. Enjoy the atmosphere. Enjoy the sweat, the pain and the blood. Dig right in and roll around in it. It’s your day. Exalt in it. You only get one first time.
Of all the thousands of nuggets of marathon advice I can give the only piece that mattesr is the advice to go ahead and start. Day One. Look out on the calendar and sign up for that event 5-6 months in the future. Then just strap yourself in and let your world be changed forever.