There are several kinds of Marathon training plans or programs available online today especially for beginner marathon runners.  This means that you can either be successful or unsuccessful in your marathon or half-marathon running based on the type of marathon training plan you choose. Though this challenge may not be as bad for elite runners since they have more experienced coaches, beginners may not be as lucky. So how can you determine if your marathon training program is effective or just another waste of time?

Here are some tips to help you rate your Marathon Program and make the necessary changes:

A good Marathon Training Plan should accommodate your goals:

Though most marathon programs are designed differently, a good plan will accommodate the goals of the person the program was designed for. For example a marathon training plan intended for beginners will not be effective for more experienced runners and the vice versa. Many beginners get frustrated and quit few days into their marathon training by following marathon training plans that do not meet their current reasonable goals. It is okay to overachieve, but you must be careful not to follow someone else goals.

A Good Marathon Program should neither be too hard nor too easy for you:

This should not be mistaken with periodization within a program which is necessary for recovery and adaptation. Remember you can only make progress in your marathon training if your body can recover and adapt to training as quickly as possible. If your program is too easy, you won’t make any reasonable progress since you are not stressing your body hard enough to produce the necessary physiological change. However, if your marathon training plan is too hard, you may get frustrated and quit due to possible injuries, lack of motivation or overtraining.

An effective Marathon Plan includes benchmarks:

There is nothing wrong with training continuously until your important marathon race day. However, there is no point of following a bad marathon training plan for three months only to find out during the race that it was not effective. Rather than waiting until it is too late, do some time trials or run some road races after every four to five weeks of training. This should be included in your program if it is well designed.

Choose a Marathon Training Plan with good recommendations:

Your coach can help you when it comes to recommending a good marathon program. However, if you are a beginner and you have no coach to guide you, find a program with good testimonials. Don’t waste your time following a training plan just because it looks good on the paper, read what other users have to say. You can easily tell the difference between a good marathon training plan or program and a bad one. Here is an example of a marathon training plan for beginners with good testimonials… Click Here to read the testimonial

Tagged with: • • •

Filed under: Marathon Training Plan

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!