BACK TO HOW FAR AND HOW OFTEN

Improving Runners

 You may have already run one or more marathons, you may have run other races over shorter distances such as a half marathon, 10 miles or even 10km. Maybe in the past your strength has been in shorter distances, but you feel that a new challenge is needed. It may be that you feel you could improve on a previous time(s).

The logic referred to earlier for inexperienced runners is still valid, however, your experience and existing fitness level will possibly direct you to a suitable training group more certainly, and possibly inclusion in a faster group.

An important factor is to establish the following:

 

·        What time do you want to achieve

·         Where do you expect to run that time

·         How difficult is that course compared to previous experience

·         Where do you expect the improvements to come from

·         What is your commitment to training

·         Prioritise the most important issues: Your finishing time, the date for achieving it and the venue.

 Time:

 An experienced coach will review your current achievements over shorter distances and predict a marathon time (some web sites also offer this facility). This is just a reality check, not everyone has the same potential over longer distances. Your goal should be challenging but realistic.

 The Venue:

Often the attraction is to run a big event such as London, or a trip abroad to link in with a holiday. It could be a long term wish or re visiting a route that you want to compare like with like. Your view might be that a given course might be more suitable than another for you to achieve the time you are seeking.

 Identifying improvement potential:  

If you have run a marathon in the past, you may have identified areas that you could improve, for example:

 

·         It took me 5 minutes to get over the start line and I never made it up.

·         To begin with I was weaving through fun runners for the first 4 miles which was very narrow.

·         The course was a two lapper, I found it difficult to do the second lap after passing the finish area.

·         I missed some of the early water points and suffered in the latter stages

·         There was a long hill at 19 miles that caused me to walk most of it

·         Everything was on track until we hit a head wind at 20 miles

·         I started off too fast, my mile splits gradually got slower until I was barely jogging the last two miles.

 Already you are probably coming up with possible solutions to these opportunities. The next stage is to write down how much the potential gain will be in terms of minutes and seconds. Remember, if you do not quantify the improvements – how will you know whether you have been successful?

COMMITMENT