{"id":21502,"date":"2015-08-08T08:55:15","date_gmt":"2015-08-08T12:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=21502"},"modified":"2021-05-19T10:25:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T14:25:38","slug":"running-marathon-training-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/running-marathon-training-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Simple Running Tweaks That Took an Hour Off My Marathon Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Marathon
Photo: bobjagendorf<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In high school, I could barely run the timed mile test, walking most of it.<\/p>\n

Five years ago, I ran my first marathon<\/a> after losing 50 pounds<\/a>. I finished in 4:59, and I was happy just to have finished. But I knew I had more in me.<\/p>\n

RELATE:<\/strong> 15 Fun, Fast and Beginner-Friendly Marathons<\/a><\/p>\n

Two years ago, I ran my fourth marathon<\/a> in 3:56. I took more than an hour off my time in three years, without devoting my entire life to running. I work a full-time job, volunteer and have an active social life, but I never felt like I was giving anything up for running. If anything, it added to the quality of my life.<\/p>\n

I trained hard to get there, but there are also a few important tweaks I made that helped. Of course, the marathon<\/a> is a special beast, and anything can happen on race day. But most coaches agree that training smarter physically and mentally can get you to the starting line stronger and ready to tackle 26.2. Here are five strategies that can be effective across the board, along with insights from Bart Yasso<\/a>, Chief Running Officer of Runner\u2019s World.<\/p>\n

1. Add Speedwork<\/h3>\n

When I started training for my first marathon, I was still pretty new to running. I\u2019d been at it for about a year, and the thought of intentionally running faster <\/i>sounded terrifying. I just wanted to finish. During subsequent training cycles, I learned that speedwork<\/a> (pushing harder in the middle of a workout at a specific speed for a specific amount of time) would change everything. That\u2019s right, running faster… helps you get faster. Crazy, right? Speedwork works best when you\u2019re running hard at a distance relative to your race distance, so tempo runs<\/a> or mile repeats<\/a> are best for marathoners. \u201cI always felt like I was getting a little bit of speed but lots of endurance from mile repeats,\u201d says Yasso.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> A Runner’s Guide to Speedwork<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Log Race Pace Miles<\/h3>\n

How are you going to run your goal pace for hours on end if you don\u2019t know what it feels like to run at that pace? Speedwork paces and goal race paces should be fairly different. Your speedwork pace is typically your pace for a 10K or a half-marathon, or, a pace you can hold for roughly one to two hours. Your race pace is something that you\u2019re trying to hold for three-plus hours, unless you\u2019re an elite athlete.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 50 Best Half-Marathons in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

I practiced at my goal pace for mid-distance runs and at the end of long runs, so that I knew what it felt like to hold it for a sustained amount of time, and what it felt like to hold it on tired legs. On race day, while I checked my watch<\/a> obsessively, I easily could have told you if I were running faster or slower than my goal pace by how I felt the cadence in my legs. By running race pace miles, says Yasso, \u201cI always felt that innate sense of rhythm that I can carry this pace on race day.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Up Your Days and Your Mileage<\/h3>\n

The first time around, I ran between two and three times per week, supplementing that with other forms of cardio at the gym and lifting<\/a> with a trainer. I finished that marathon at an 11:25 pace, hitting the wall colossally at mile 18. I knew if I wanted to get faster, though, that I would need to run more. I used to be terrified of running two days in a row, but in order to reach my goal, I typically ran five days per week, and I maxed out my mileage at 47 miles one week. I got to run on tired legs quite often, which was a huge mental boost at mile 22 of the marathon, when my legs felt like someone had strapped massive sandbags to them.<\/p>\n

Though there are many variables to determining weekly mileage, says Yasso, the key is to listen to your body and not overtrain.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Why the 10 Percent Rule Doesn’t Always Work<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable<\/h3>\n

Running is hard<\/a>. Running fast(er) is even harder. Miles 21 to 24 of the New York City Marathon were incredibly uncomfortable. Of course they were. I\u2019d just run 20 miles! I reminded myself it was supposed to be uncomfortable and not to walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to advance in our sport,\u201d says Yasso, \u201cis to go to the uncomfortable zone. Embrace the pain, and you will be rewarded at the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Never Set Limits<\/h3>\n

I took off 40 minutes between marathons 1 and 2. If I had believed that was impossible, I wouldn\u2019t have had the guts to go for that time and make gutsier goals from there. But I thought about what I could<\/i> do and shot high. I missed the mark the first time I tried, but if I hadn\u2019t set such an audacious goal, it wouldn\u2019t have lit the fire in my belly to chase, and achieve, the 3:56 time.<\/p>\n

What strategies have helped you become a faster runner? Share them below! <\/i><\/p>\n

Originally posted November 2013. Updated August 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hit a plateau with your running progress? Get five simple tweaks to improve your marathon time \u2014 plus expert tips from Bart Yasso. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":21518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6],"tags":[288,111,108,341,357],"class_list":["post-21502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-cardio","tag-marathon","tag-running","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}