Archive for the ‘Marathon’ Category

Can Elite Marathon Runner Listen To Music When Running In Marathons?

Just wondering if anybody know if elite marathon runners can listen to ipods and other music devices when running in big city marathons like London. It is just that you never see anybody do it. I personally can’t run without my Ipod.

What Is The Best Way To Train For A Marathon In Less Than 60 Days?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can best prepare for a marathon in 60 days?
I know it’s possible and I’m comfortable preparing for a half marathon in two weeks from no training. Any fitness guru’s out there that can steer me in the right direction?

Marathon Training Plan – What is the Most Important Feature?

Marathon training plans come in all shapes and sizes. They are made to suit different time commitments, different runner goals, and different levels of experience. However, no matter who made the plan, or who it is for, there is always one element that stands out to me as the most important.

The most important part of any plan is more important than how far you run and more important than how fast. It is more important than how many weeks you train for and how you test your performance.

Not everyone will agree with this, but I strongly believe that the most important thing that every excellent marathon training plan will specify is the exact quantity and timing of recovery. I believe that the most important part of any training plan is this recovery component.

Some runners see recovery as the opposite of training. They believe that it is simply a gap between productive training sessions. In reality, the training effect is only possible because of recovery. It is only when we rest that we are able to make the gains that we have worked so hard to achieve.

Now this could be called ?Classic training concept number one?. We all know this, but hear me out.

Effective training involves over-performing the level that your body is used to. This shocks your body and makes it realize that it will have to rebuild itself stronger next time. It starts this process straight away, but it is only able to get right into the rebuilding phase properly when the training (and subsequent stress) has stopped. Recovery can take the form of a rest from all activity, or a return to less stressful daily life, or even carefully planned active recovery. Which ever form it takes, adequate time and opportunity for recovery is essential for us to receive the training effect that we are working so hard for. If it wasn?t for adequate recovery we would be continually breaking our bodies down without giving them chance to re-build. This is often called over-training and can lead to injury, low motivation, illness and often premature running retirement.

An excellent marathon training plan will specify exactly when, in a week, you should run hard sessions, easy sessions and no sessions. The best programs will even give guidance on separating the sessions by specified hours. For example you can see the difference it would make if you do Monday?s hard session first thing in the morning or last thing at night. The difference could be up to maybe 16 hours of recovery leading into Tuesday?s early morning run. If you run at 6:00am on Monday and then 6:00am on Tuesday, your body gets maybe 24 hours (less run time) to recover. If you run at 10:00pm on Monday, and 6:00am on Tuesday, your body has only about 8 hours (less run time) and then it is back into the work, perhaps only half recovered.

So it is not just the quantity of recovery that is important it is the timing of recovery that really makes a difference. I firmly believe that if we are to get the most possible benefit from all of our training then we have to ensure that we recover as well as we possibly can. This can take the form of:

1) Fine tuning our sessions in a day
2) Sensible location of sessions in our week
3) Using an optimal balance of hard and easy weeks and hard and easy training phases
4) Treating ourselves to end of season recovery and perhaps even a mid-season break if we have the courage.

Now, all this talk of rest and recovery is making me feel tired so I am going to lie down and put my feet up. I have a session planned for 5:00 pm today and I want to make sure that I am over yesterdays 6:00 am session before I pile it on again. That will have given my body 35 hours (less run time) of active recovery, sleep and easy daily life to get over yesterday. Some would call this extravagant, and this is extreme even for me, but I know that my body will be 100% recovered before today?s session. This means I have made the most of yesterdays work, I am ready to train hard today, and I have significantly reduced my risk of injury.

Tom O’Leary is an Australian author and runner who currently, runs, writes and lives in Japan. His main event is the marathon but he also runs and writes about other distances. He prescribes a carefully balanced mix of work, rest and play as the only way to achieve goals in running. If you would like to read other running related articles, please visit his blog. http://www.runningmonkeys.com

Marathon runners still stranded – Guardian Unlimited

Marathon runners still stranded – Guardian Unlimited
More than a thousand marathon runners stranded by floods in the Lake District remain unaccounted for, police said. Police and local mountain rescue teams are still trying to locate many of the 2,500 competitors in the Original Mountain Marathon. The

Original Mountain Marathon runners rescued from freezing gale – News.com.au
Gales 700 marathon runners, some suffering hypothermia, have been rescued after being trapped by Arctic winds and flooding in northern England. 700 runners compete in marathon Arctic gale ends race, sparks rescue Several suffer hypothermia

How Do I Weight Train And Marathon Train When I Have A Very High Metabolism?

How do i weight train and marathon train when i have a very high metabolism? I cant put on weight when i do endurance running but wish to achieve a high standard in both. I lift weights then burn off muscle when running, even when taking creatine. Any ideas?

Strip Away The BS – Let’s Run A Marathon

One thing I learned about from sports is that a lot of people talked a lot of smack before the events. They would always tell you how great they were and try to psyche you out. It never worked with me, it actually did the opposite. It fired me up and got my adrenaline to flow like water. I noticed that the marathon level at the starting point there was the same type of talk, but it was a little more low-key.

Now in life when someone tries to tell me how great they are or brag about all the things that they’ve done all I want to do is get them back out at the start of a marathon and strip away all the BS and tell them let’s go. Because in a marathon it’s all about performance and nothing else; Talk is just talk but if you can run the run then it’s okay to talk the talk.

Next time you hear someone bragging up a storm with an unearned ego driven personality, ask yourself could this person run a marathon. How far would they get? What excuses would they make?

  • I had shin splints.
  • My ankle hurts.
  • I have blisters.
  • I ate the wrong food last night.
  • I pulled a calf muscle.
  • I can’t run in these shoes.

In fact over my lifetime in athletic footraces, I have heard more excuses from more people who I had previously respected until then; that I could fill an entire book, hey maybe I just might one day, no BS. What I’m saying here is how tough for you? Let’s strip away the BS and run a marathon.

I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple, to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

“Lance Winslow” – If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington.

I Am Training For A Marathon And Need To Have A Radical Hysterectomy. How Long Will Recovery Take?

My third biopsy is Tuesday to see if lymph nodes will be taken out as well. I am training for a marathon, and am worried my training will be majorly effected. I know the surgery is most important, but I am hoping to start running as soon as 3 weeks after surgery. I can ask Dr., but can’t wait to find out. Anyone have advise for quicker recovery?

How Much Money Do You Need To Raise To Run A Marathon?

Hi, I watched the London Marathon yesterday and I have decided that I would really like to do a marathon next year. Does anyone know how much money you need to raise to run a marathon? Is it thousands of pounds? Or is there no limit at all?

I Am Training For A Marathon And Need To Have A Radical Hysterectomy. How Long Will Recovery Take?

My third biopsy is Tuesday to see if lymph nodes will be taken out as well. I am training for a marathon, and am worried my training will be majorly effected. I know the surgery is most important, but I am hoping to start running as soon as 3 weeks after surgery. I can ask Dr., but can’t wait to find out. Anyone have advise for quicker recovery?

How Long Do You Need To Train For A Marathon?

I want to do one in 4 months. I don’t have the best running base, my longest run has been 8 miles. I got the idea this morning to do a marathon, and I picked this one in 4 months.Any thoughts?