Marathon Training Tips for Beginners

About 5,000 first-time full-course marathon runners will participate in the 2006 Seoul International Marathon and Dong-A Marathon that will be held on March 12.

Dong-A Ilbo will post a training schedule for beginners designed by national marathon hero Hwan Young-jo every week until the race.

Hwang is a big name in Korean marathon circles. He ran in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon and won a gold medal with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes 9 seconds. Hwang is currently teaching a masters-level marathon class.

There are about two months left to train for the marathon. There is a clear difference between running for fun and running a race. Thorough preparation is necessary in order to finish. One should remember to enjoy the race rather than try to set a record. Exceeding one’s own pace trying to catch up with others could cause injury or an early exit from the race.

Master level marathoners should follow a weekly regimen of “four days training, three days rest.” For beginners, rest is also a part of training. Running everyday is not the best way to train for a marathon. The body needs to rest sufficiently in order to give maximum effort. Realistically, master runners usually work for living and cannot run every day. Beginners should take at least three days of rest a week.

A good amount of stretching before and after exercising is always important. Stretching before exercising makes the body use less force to move its parts and prevents injury. Stretching after exercising lessens fatigue and helps the body recover faster. Stretching every now and then apart from exercise time is good for the body.

A typical “Four-days training, three-days rest” weekly regimen can be scheduled as follows:

Monday, Thursday, and Saturday: rest.

Tuesday: running (80 minutes)

Wednesday: jogging (30 minutes) and five to seven 2,000m interval runs (2,000m fast run, 400m slow jog). If interval running is too painful for you, timed-running is a good substitute.

Friday: timed running (100 minutes)

Sunday: timed running (150 minutes) or street running (30km)

Do not forget to stretch at least 10 minutes before and after the run. Follow these steps weekly to develop your body into an efficient running machine.