Marathon Training Tips and Effects

You may have notice by now that there are several marathon training tips all over the internet, that is if you have been running marathon for sometime. Like most of the other endurance sports, marathon training has three distinctive training effects. Depending on the marathon training tips or plan you choose to follow, you may experience one of the three at any given time. During training a person can under-train, train enough, or over-train.  Under-training is too little training and over-training is too much training. However, optimal training is the desired amount of training that produce the best performance. Unless your marathon training plan is well designed, it is easy to find yourself on one of the extreme ends. It is important to pay attention to the marathon training tips you are using, not all tips work for everyone. I have to point out that over-training is different from overreaching. Whereas over-training has undesirable effects, overreaching when used properly in your marathon training can enhance your performance.

Over-training Vs Overreaching in relations to Marathon Training Tips

First it important to know that over-training work against marathon training goals no matter what your goals are. Over-training is caused by doing too much training beyond your current fitness level over an extended period of time. I have seen some marathon training tips misleading people to over-train. This will only result in accumulated fatigue which does not go away despite recovery breaks. You performances are seriously affected as well.

In relation to marathon training tips, overreaching is increasing the volume of your workouts as part of the program, but only for a short period of time. For example you may be required by your marathon training plan or program to increase your mileage constantly for three weeks and then cut back to a smaller volume by the fourth week. In this case the fourth week will be light week also known as recovery week. In this example, the temporary increase in volume is to potentiate what the program will require you to do later on in training. In other words potentiation is simply getting your body ready for more challenging workouts later. By the way, this is one of the leading marathon training tips or secrets. When you increase your mileage, you are increasing your endurance. With better endurance you will be able to perform better speed sessions when time comes.

Research shows that most running related injuries in marathon are directly or indirectly related to over-training. And as I mentioned earlier, over-training is a result of poorly designed training program. So whereas marathon training tips or programs will not get rid of all running injuries, good marathon training plans have been known to prevent over-training. There is really no point of training hard for several weeks or months preparing for a marathon event only to be sent packing by an injury related to overuse.

Marathon Training Tips include Identifying your Optimum Training Zone

It is always better to be on the borderline between under-training and optimal training that to over-train. With under-training, you have room for improvement, but for over-training, you really have no choice but to stop training completely. Depending on the amount of damage, you may be forced to sit out for several months or even more than one year in extreme cases. Therefore it is better to do less of quality training than too much and never achieve your goals. Once again, be cautious of the marathon training tips you follow. If you have a good marathon training program, just stick to it, doing other things on the side can be costly in the long run. I have seen some of the elite athletes that I have coached in the past come to a halt for not following a simple training program. They followed other marathon training tips that were not effective and paid the price. When your program tells you to do light weight for strength training, you should do just that; not adding a couple more reps or pounds to what is on the program. There is a reason for everything in a training program, hopefully it is a reliable one; otherwise it doesn’t make any differences if your program is bad to begin with or if mix a good program with bad marathon training tips that are everywhere now. I know I am not your coach, but never waste your energy and valuable time on a bad marathon training program, it is self-torture!

Stay away from Marathon Training Tips That are not Helpful

So when you train, listen to what your coach is telling you to do, but if you don’t have a coach on site, follow your training program to the later and you will save yourself from over-training and injuries that goes with it. Make sure you are using sound marathon training tips that are effective to supplement your program. Don’t get tempted to overload yourself beyond your fitness level. Overreaching is great, but be careful not to crossover to over-training side, there is a very thin line separating the two of them. This problem is more common with beginner marathon runners. Be wise and find a good marathon training plan to follow as a guide, it is all worth it. Use only those marathon training tips that will help you.