Marathon Training – Adding Mileage Safely

Elaine — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:50:09 +0000

One of the hardest things in marathon training is to add mileage to your training runs. Once you’ve established your base foundation mileage which is usually about 20 miles a week, you can proceed to start adding mileage to your training runs. The biggest mistake most runners try when marathon training is to add too much mileage or not add any. If you add too much mileage you uusually get injured, extremely tired and then quit. If you don’t add any mileage you will not be ready to run a full marathon comfortably. There is a special formula to help you plan out your training runs and to achieve your marathon goals.

First tip: No one becomes a marathon runner overnight. You have to build your mileage slowly to prevent injuries. Add no more than than 10% of your weekly mileage to one week. So if you run 20 miles a week, seek to run 2 more miles the next week. Five to six weeks later when you start to averaging 30 miles a week, add 3 miles to your weekly mileage. Do not run longer than 3 hours in any of your training runs.

Second tip: Every four to five weeks, scale back 2 – 3 miles to give your body a little break. That one week will give your body enough rest and you will come back and run stronger the following week.

If you analyze the Beginner NYC Marathon Training you will see that pattern evident in the marathon training program.

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Marathon Training – Adding Mileage Safely