Diary of a Marathon Runner – 103 Days to Race Day

I am training for the Rotterdam marathon. That race, held in the Netherlands, is scheduled for April 11, or 103 days from today. I’ll take you on that journey with me, providing inspiration and practical advice along the way.

I have run marathons before. This will be my twelfth, not including the five marathon distances I ran as part of an Ironman triathlon. Almost anyone can finish a marathon (always check with your GP before beginning any exercise program). The better you prepare, the better you will do.

While my training for the Rotterdam Marathon began specifically two months ago, in November 2009, I have been constantly training as a runner and formerly a triathlete for much longer. In the last four years I have run seven marathons, with the slowest being 3 hours 15 minutes and the fastest being 3 hours 7 minutes.

My goal for every marathon is to run faster than before, in other words, I’m looking to set a personal best time (PB). While my quest to get faster is a big part of my motivation to keep training consistently five days a week, for about 50 weeks out of the year, it’s not the only reason I run. I run because running makes me feel good, mentally and physically.

Marathon training is hard, but it’s not as hard as you think. You need patience and about 10 hours a week. I would also recommend an experienced trainer, who can provide you with a training program: one that will challenge you but also keep you healthy by focusing the volume and difficulty of the training on your experience.

The running coach who writes my training programs has done so since June 2005. I rarely see him. He is based in Australia, where I lived, and I reside in Canada. We communicate by email. When I told him that he wanted to run the Rotterdam marathon, he created a daily training schedule for me and emailed it to me as a spreadsheet. Every day I open that spreadsheet and do what he tells me.

I don’t need to think about my training, I just need to do what my coach asks me to do. I trust my coach and his knowledge. That is very important and the reason why he has been my coach for so long. Since he started training me I have not been injured, for which I am very grateful. An injury caused by running too much in too little time can take a long time to heal and can prevent you from doing any type of training.

My training session today consists of an easy run of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Running easy means my pace needs to be comfortable: the easiest way to tell if I’m running easy is to be able to chat if I’m running with someone else.

Today’s tip: set yourself a career goal.

If you have been thinking about starting to run, then find a local group and/or trainer to do it.

If you’re already running, find a run you’d like to do in the spring and start planning your training for that, ideally with a professional trainer or reputable running group.

If you’re already a runner who thinks you might be ready for a marathon or has run a marathon before, choose one that gives you at least six months to prepare. So you want to check the race calendars for the months of June, July or August to find a marathon that appeals to you.