What to Look For in A Good Marathon Training Plan

In order to succeed in Marathon running you must have a reliable and effective marathon training plan or program. Most beginner marathon runners overlook this important piece of the puzzle and they end up failing. No matter what your goals of running are, a good marathon training plan will go along in guaranteeing success in your running pursuits. Therefore before you settle for a training program whether it is full or half-marathon training plan, you must consider the following important requirements.

The Marathon Training Plan must meet your running training goals

This should be obvious to you when you first see the program. If you are a beginner or you are new to marathon running, your goal may be to make a good debut in your first marathon event. However, for a more experienced runner the goal may be to improve on performance like slicing off some minutes off a PR. Before you waste your time and get frustrated with your marathon running, analyze your marathon training plan or program. Make sure it is capable of meeting your running training goals and objectives.

A good Marathon Training Plan should be customizable

Gone are the days where one marathon training plan fitted all runners. We are all unique and as an experience running coach, I have seen this first hand. Some runners benefit more from a shorter program than others. So depending on your running potentials, you will choose a marathon training plan or program that can easily be customized to suit your situation. A marathon training plan that cannot be customized will not help you maximize your running potentials

Have built-in shorter competitions for benchmarks

If you are new to marathon or any distance running for that matter, this may not make much sense to you, but if you have been competing for a while, you know the importance of racing in the middle of training period. If you don’t compete or do some time trials, you will never really know if your marathon training plan is working. These small competitions shouldn’t be a big deal, but rather for measuring your readiness. You can run some 10 or 15Ks road races after several weeks of training. These will give you an idea of where you are and what you need to change or work on in training assuming that you are following an effective marathon training plan.

A good Marathon Training Plan must have several training options

A good marathon training plan or program should have options in terms of what you can do in case your body does not respond to a given workout. For example, if you were planning to do a speed session and it turns out to be a bad day for you, you should be able to do something else that will give you similar benefit. Your marathon training plan or program should have several options. It can be as easy as doing a tempo run instead of mile repeats.

Have enough built-in recovery breaks in your Marathon Training Plan

There is nothing as bad as overtraining. Unfortunately it happens quite often in marathon training. Let me make one point clear here, there is a difference between overtraining and overreaching. These two terms confuses many runners and coaches alike. Overreaching is a good element of training as long as you don’t overdo it, then it will turn into overtraining. Whereas overreaching can easily be managed with well planned recovery breaks in a marathon training plan, overtraining cannot, it is long term. To save yourself from being forced out of training by fatigue caused by overtraining, design or find a good marathon training plan or program.

Your Marathon Training Plan must be all-inclusive

What this means is a reliable marathon training plan or program should not only tell you what to do as far as running (endurance) is concerned, but also include what you need to do as far as strength and power are concerned. Remember, you need more than just endurance to run a good marathon race. You will need to do some drills, core work, weight or strength training workouts and even supplementary training options.

An effective Marathon Training plan Pays attention to Periodization

Periodization simply means dividing your training into blocks where you emphasize one or more aspects of your training. For example the first block in your marathon training plan may emphasize endurance, so you will be running several easy long miles per week for a number of weeks. Each block usually runs for few weeks to months depending on the marathon training plan or program you are using. This variation in training should be reflected in day to day plan, just like in long term plan.

An effective Marathon Training Plan should have built-in injury rehab plan

Nobody wants to get injured while training, but I will be fooling you if I told that you can avoid all running injuries associated with marathon training. The best you can do as a runner is to be proactive and prevent them as much as you can. Improving your fitness is one effective way to cut down the number of injuries assuming you are doing everything else right according to your marathon training plan. However, when they happen during your training, a good marathon training plan should include a plan “B” which is basically a rehab program. For example, if you have Achilles problem, you may be able to work out in a pool and be just fine.

Recommendation of nutrition and supplements for different stages in training

You can have the greatest marathon training plan or program, but if other aspects of your training are not taken care of, you may still fail. Nutrition is one key aspect of training that you must always pay attention to. This also includes recommended supplements needed during and after training. During different stages or phases of marathon training, you will be required to eat food with certain nutritional value, for example during tapering period.
A good marathon training plan should be able to specify these crucial nutrition details and recommended foods and supplements for each period of training. There are times where loading on carbs is critical while other times you may need more protein.

Use signup for a free member account at runners training center and train like a pro

So before you begin your marathon running pursuit, find or develop a good marathon training plan that pays attention to the factors above. There is no point of wasting your time training only to find out later that you are following an unreliable marathon training plan.