One of my life’s goals

One of my life’s goal is to run at least one marathon–a 26.2 mile run.  To that end, I’ve been reading about various information on how to do it.  One inspirational book I recently read was “50 50” by Dean Karnazes.  Dean is an endurance runner.  He set out to run a marathon everyday for 50 days; he achieved it!

This tells you what the human body can do if the mind is set to do it.

In his book he lays out a training plan for would be marathon runners who has never done one before.  I summarize it for you here:

Week Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 Rest walk 20 min Rest walk 20 min Rest walk 20 min walk 20 min
2 Rest 10X: walk 1 min, run 1
min
optional: walk 20 min 10X: walk 1 min, run 1
min
Rest 10X: walk 1 min, run 1
min
10X: walk 1 min, run 1
min
3 Rest 7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min optional: walk 20 min 7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min optional: walk 20 min 7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min 7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min
4 Rest 5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min optional: 10X: walk 1
min, run 1 min
5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min optional: 10X: walk 1
min, run 1 min
5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min 5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min
5 Rest 4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min optional: 10X: walk 1
min, run 1 min
4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min optional: 10X: walk 1
min, run 1 min
4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min 4X: walk 1 min, run 5 min
6 Rest run 2 miles optional: 7X: walk 1
min, run 2 min
run 2 miles run 2 miles Rest run 3 miles
7 Rest run 3 miles optional: run 2 miles run 2 miles run 3 miles optional: run 2 miles run 4 miles
8 Rest run 3 miles optional: run 3 miles run 3 miles run 3 miles optional: run 3 miles run 5 miles
9 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 3 miles run 4 miles run 3 miles optional: run 3 miles run 6 miles
10 Rest run 3 miles optional: run 3 miles run 3 miles run 3 miles Rest run 8 miles
11 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 4 miles run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 9 miles
12 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 4 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 8 miles
13 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 5 miles run 5 miles optioanl: run 4 miles run 10 miles
14 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 5 miles run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 11 miles
15 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 4 miles run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 9 miles
16 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 12 miles
17 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 4 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 13 miles
18 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 14 miles
19 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 5 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run  9 miles
20 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 15 miles
21 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 16 miles
22 Rest run 4 miles optional: run 4 miles run 5 miles run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 10 miles
23 Rest run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 18 miles
24 Rest run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 8 miles run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 20 miles
25 Rest run 5 miles optional: run 4 miles run 6 miles run 6 miles optional: run 4 miles run 12 miles
26 Rest run 7 miles optional: run 4 miles run 5 miles run 4 miles Rest MARATHON:  run
26.2 miles

Critical points to remember:

  • Make sure you are hydrated every 6 miles
  • Watch what you eat before a run
  • Get good shoes; any minor annoyance can become serious when extended for many miles; you can get blisters or irritate a knee or hip

To track your progress, think about signing up for an account on active.com.  There you can get a free account to help manage your training.  You can even map out running routes around the neighborhood.

Another site where you can track your progress is at nikerunning.nike.com.  There is you use a Nike + enabled shoe and a sensor, you can easily track your distance, calorie usage, time, and pace.  Information is logged on their site where they provide you with fancy looking graphs to see how you are doing.  And if you’ve gained around 1 year of experience, you can use their training plan there to achieve better marathon races.

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