Marathon You Can Do It

A friend of mine is planning to train for his first marathon and he just sent the following 12 step marathon training planning. I don’t know where he got it from but it has a feel of Jeff Galloway, a man who has evangelized on the merits of run walk method for running a marathon.

Step 1

Plan to exercise four days a week for 10 weeks.

Step 2

Begin each session with 10 to 15 minutes of stretching, and end each session with a 10-minute walk followed by more stretching.

Step 3

Take on week one. Walk 10 minutes. Jog 2 to 3 minutes. Walk 4 minutes. Repeat five times each session.

Step 4

Get into it with week two. Walk 10 minutes. Jog 3 minutes. Walk 3 minutes. Repeat five times each session.

Step 5

Settle into week three. Walk 5 to 10 minutes. Jog 5 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat four times each session.

Step 6

Keep it going into week four. Walk 5 minutes. Run 7 minutes. Walk 3 minutes. Repeat three times each session.

Step 7

Stay on a roll in week five. Walk 5 minutes. Run 8 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat three times each session.

Step 8

Pat yourself on the back for being halfway there as you enter week six. Walk 3 to 5 minutes. Run 9 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat three times each session.

Step 9

Recognize your growing stamina in week seven. Walk 3 to 5 minutes. Run 9 minutes. Walk 1 minute. Repeat three times each session.

Step 10

Feel good about yourself as you confront week eight. Walk 3 to 5 minutes. Run 13 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat twice each session.

Step 11

Visualize the end of your first goal as you begin week nine. Walk 3 minutes. Run 14 minutes. Walk 1 minute. Do this twice each session.

Step 12

Congratulate yourself for your accomplishment in week 10. Walk 3 minutes. Run 30 minutes without stopping.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 15 Minutes, 30 Minutes, Accomplishment, Exercise, First Marathon, Jeff Galloway, Jog, Marathon Training Plan, Merits, Running A Marathon, Running Marathon, Stamina, Step 1, Step 2, Step 6, Step 8, Three Times

In timeout magazine American Long distance runner Ryan Hall was asked on how he approaches hills

What’s your strategy for those Boston hills–and downhills?

My strategy for the hills in Boston are to run the same effort level whether I am going up, down or flat, which means I will obviously slow down going up the hills and fly down the back of them. I think that energy management is one of the keys to running a good marathon. The better I can keep it locked in at the right effort level, despite the terrain, the better I will run.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Hills, Effort Level, Energy Management, Fly, Long Distance Runner, Right Effort, Running Marathon, Ryan Hall, Timeout Magazine

The California International Marathon in Sacramento happened yesterday and as usual the wonderful spectators were on the side to take some amazing race photos.

From a loving mom following her two sons running the Sacramento Marathon comes this race image.

From a local news outlet I found this sacramento runners images

After 8+ hours of running this how dirty a marathon route gets!

For more california marathon pictures check this slideshow

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amazing Photos, Amazing Race, California International Marathon, California Photos, Local News, Loving Mom, Marathon Photos, Marathon Pictures, Marathon Route, News Outlet, Photos Images, Photos Pictures, Race Image, Race Photos, Runners, Running Marathon, Sacramento California, Sacramento Marathon, Slideshow, Spectators

If you are age 50+ and you think you should start running as a new hobby, this story of 80 year old runner Bob Dolphin should inspire you.

Bob has finished 456 marathon, a total that includes 44 ultramarathons ranging from 31 to 101 miles.

Bob ran his first marathon in 1981 at a prime age of 51. An age when most naysayers would consider too old to think of running a marathon.

In an article in Seattle times Bob sums his love for the 26 miles, “I like the difficulty, the competition in my age class, the sociality among runners, the satisfaction I feel when I complete a race. That’s when I feel most of my runner’s high — when I can sit down and rest and don’t have to count down the miles anymore.”

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Bob Dolphin, Boston Marathon, Columbia Mo, Dolphin, First Marathon, June 14, Location Time, Milestone, Milestones, Mo 3, Naysayers, Oct 11, Ore 3, Running A Marathon, Running Marathon, Seattle Marathon, Seattle Times, Sociality, Ultramarathons, West Seattle

“I want to beat Oprah!” That is the goal of many runners. Oprah Winfrey finished 1994 Marine Corps marathon in a time of 4 hrs,  29 mins, 15 Secs.

If Frank Shorter inspired the first (1970s) running boom across US, Oprah Winfrey inspired the second, by running the Marine Corps Marathon. If Oprah could run a marathon, shame on anyone who couldn’t.

How Oprah ruined the Marathon.

While race directors across US were happy to welcome the new generation of runners or is it marathon walkers, the hard core runners were not happy. Edward Mccleland writing for salon.com thinks :-

America’s competitive spirit has been wrecked by feel-good amateurs like Oprah whose only goal is to stagger across the finish line.

I totally agree with him! The marathon is a race, the goal should be to finish it and to finish as fast as you can.

Read the fantastic salon article here

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1970s, Amateurs, Boom, Finish Line, Frank Shorter, Hard Core, Marathon Time, Marathon Walkers, Marine Corps Marathon, Marine Marathon, New Generation, Oprah Winfrey, Race Directors, Runners, Running Marathon, Salon Article, Secs, Shame, Spirit, Time Marine

Runners planning to run a race should pay attention to their nutrition during the last week before planning to run a 5k , 10K , half marathon or a full marathon.

Nutrition last week before the big race

Increase your daily intake of carbohydrate, particularly whole grains, fruits and vegetables, during training. An increase in daily protein intake is also recommended, with the balance coming from dietary fat.

Carbohydrate is the major fuel used during training, and both carbohydrate and protein may help facilitate muscle recovery.

Practice fluid and carbohydrate intake, both as water and sports drinks, during training so that you are comfortable with the procedure during the marathon. Know the sport drink that will be used in your marathon, and train with it. You may also wish to experiment with carbohydrate gels (some contain caffeine; see comment below on Running a faster marathon); if the marathon provides gels at points on the course, try to experiment with the specific brand.

P.S. Remember to take plenty of sleep during the week so that, even if you don’t sleep on the eve of the race, it won’t matter.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Carbohydrate Intake, Daily Protein Intake, Eve, Fruits And Vegetables, half marathon, marathon runners, Muscle Recovery, Nutrition, Running Marathon, sleep, Sport Drink, Sports Drinks, Train, Whole Grains Fruits And Vegetables

Different runners have different goals as to why they run a marathon. One popular reason is lose weight.

Fitness and dietary experts say marathons increasingly are the exercise equivalent of crash diets, with similarly disappointing results. There’s no evidence that running a marathon leads to lasting weight loss, marathon researchers say. And it’s unknown how often such runs initiate a lifetime of steady exercise. Indeed, in a long-term fitness sense, marathons are really sprints; the true marathon is the exercise program that lasts for decades, fitness experts say.

For you to lose weight from marathon running you have to make a life time commitment. Promise to keep running for the rest of your life because if you engage in marathon running you may see instant result but if you stop you shall region all the pounds you have lost.

Eric Zorn, a popular Chicago Tribune columnist, chronicled with passion and humor his training for the 1998 Chicago Marathon. Along the way he convinced scores of other novices to follow suit. But after three successful marathons, Mr. Zorn gave it up, and he eventually regained the 40 pounds he’d lost.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: chicago marathon, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune Columnist, Crash Diets, Decades, Exercise Program, Fitness Experts, Life Time Commitment, Lifetime, Marathon Running, Marathons, Novices, Rest Of Your Life, Runners, Running A Marathon, Running Marathon, Running To Lose Weight, Steady Exercise, Term Fitness, Weight Loss

2009 Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon. I finished in a time of 2:57:29, one minute slower than 2008…..a rather disappointing race.

Pre Race

I travelled from Embu to Nairobi on Saturday. When I arrived in the city I realised I had forgotten my racing short back home and I had to buy a new short. Luckily I had arrived early and I had time to go shopping and buy a new Reebok short.

A friend of mine was working at the marathon secretariat and he invited me to the offices. The lifts at the building were not working and I was forced to walk up nine floors.(what a waste of my energy)

Instead of staying in a hotel I stayed at the home of my childhood friend Alex who lives a walking distance from Nyayo Stadium, the start and finish area of the marathon. Alex and his girlfriend Miriam were running the half marathon.

The Race

The first kilometres were fast. I had trained to run at a pace of 4 minutes a Kilometre. I had hoped to see a 5K mark and calculate whether I was within my pace but I never saw any markings of distance. In the runners guide it was indicated there would be markings every 5K but this was lacking on the course.  SHAME ON THE ORGANISERS! Without markings I just followed the fast moving crowd and made my own mental estimates.

As usual my breathing was hard at the start but I knew things would get better and easier the longer I kept running. After 1 hour of running my breathing never got easier, I guese I was running faster than my planned pace. After 1 hour 15 minutes we hooked up with the half marathon crowd and the course now got more crowded. I found myself weaving from side to side trying to overtake the half marathon runners.

I got back at Nyayo stadium at 1 hour 35 minutes, at this point the half marathon runners headed towards the finish line while the full marathon runners were supposed to repeat the circuit. After parting with the half marathon crowd, I looked ahead of me and shocked to see an almost empty road, it was clear many of full marathon runners had decided to drop out of the race at that point. The idea of repeating the circuit was too bitter to swallow for many runners!

Doing the second circuit was hard because I was running alone. It is at this point when it started raining and I remember at one time I thought………this sucks am done with marathons!……… Although my legs were feeling fine my chest was having a harder time. Make no mistake, I wanted to go faster…I would look at my watch and say ok legs, lets speeeeedup! and I would think I was going faster, but then I would check the watch a little while later and, nope, no faster!

After 2 hours and 10 minutes of running I got at the final turning point and I was now on the home stretch. At this point I could feel the smell of fresh bread from a bakery on the route. The smell of bread induced a feeling of hunger. I started having this imagination of eat a post race meat pie. I guese I was getting delusional!

As the clock hit 2.40, the finish line was out of sight and it was clear my goal of 2.45 finish was way way out of reach. My target now was to atleast match my PB.At this point I met up with Miriam, my friend’s Girlfriend. The half marathon was proving too hard for her to handle. As I overtook her she tried to run after me begging me to wait for her……….I just couldn’t…nothing personal!

Luckily for me a determined young lady who had an elite badge on her chest caught up with me at this point. I chased her tooth and nail. Although it was physically hard on me she kept me on my toes. She was my white knight, she pulled me to the end. We crossed the finish line together at 2 hours 57 minutes 26 seconds. Uh! what a relief. At least I stayed under 3 hours.

After The race

My recovery has astonished me. Two days after the race and am feeling like I can run another marathon next weekend.

With the 2009 Marathon gone I can’t wait for next year. 2010 I will have another opportunity to get a crack at it. 2.45 is my target.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 15 Minutes, Childhood Friend, Crowd, Embu, Finish Line, Friend Alex, Girlfriend, half marathon, Kilometre, Kilometres, Marathon Results, marathon runners, Miriam, Nairobi, Organisers, Reebok, Running Marathon, Secretariat, Shopping, Stanchart Marathon, Standard Chartered, Walking Distance

All good things must come to an end.

After 5 months of marathon training, I have brought down the curtain on my training and now am looking forward to Sunday? race.

In the last two weeks I have run three 10Ks, the first one was a slow recovery run, followed by a Sunday run which I finished in 43 minutes then yesterday  morning I ran a final 10K run in 40 minutes flat. I feel lucky my legs are in great shape, no injury! I believe I have done enough to run a sub 2.45 marathon.

The only scare was a cold I suffered during the weekend. I made a mistake of going for an afternoon swim and I paid the price. I used alternative medicine to treat the cold before it got worse. A daily diet of soup mixed with hot pepper fixed the cold in 5 days.

With three days to go my plan now is to stay hydrated, eat plenty of carbohydrates, rest and most importantly stay physically fit.

To stay physically fit I will do two speed works on Thursday and Saturday morning. This will be in form of 1K runs around a track. I will also do daily stretching and massaging to maintain muscle flexibility.

I can only wish myself good luck. To everyone who is running 2009 Nairobi Marathon, GOOD LUCK!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 5 Months, Alternative Medicine, Carbohydrates, Curtain, Diet Soup, Good Luck, Great Shape, Hot Pepper, Legs, Marathon Training, Medicine, Mistake, Muscle Flexibility, Nairobi, Running Marathon, Saturday Morning, Scare, Yesterday Morning

Marine Corps Marathon is a must sought marathon by runners. Marine Corps is popularly known as “the peoples marathon”. The traditional Marine Corps Marathon course is 26.2 miles and a 10K race also allows runners of all ages to join in a shorter 6.2 mile event.

Training & Running Tips for Marine Corps marathon

1. Train hard but remember to take a rest.

2. If a day or two of training is missed due to injury or illness or other reason, don’t try to cram two days of training into one. Lost days are simply days.

3. Train at your projected marathon pace.

4. Try to train at the time of the day the race starts and in the predicted weather condition as much as possible.

5. Do the long runs.

6. Remember to stretch

7. Do speed works round a track, it just makes your legs feel better.

8. Listen to your body, If you feel tired take a rest, if you feel pain go easy, if the pain is too much stop running.

9. Remember to stay hydrated.

10. Remember to have fun.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 10k Race, Amp, Legs, Lost Days, Marathon Course, Marathon Pace, marathon runners, Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Marine Corps Marathon, Marine Marathon, Running Marathon, Running Tips, Running Training, Time Of The Day, Train, Training Running, Weather Condition