Long distance marathon running requires that you maintain good running form throughout the entire 26 miles. Good running form is about balancing all the key elements together. These are :
1) Foot pull height
2) Speed
3) Cadence and
4) Lean
All of these elements must be in balance to produce good running form which will make running less injury prone and more fluid.
Watch this video below to learn more.
Hope your marathon training is making good progress.
1) Foot pull height
2) Speed
3) Cadence and
4) Lean
All of these elements must be in balance to produce good running form which will make running less injury prone and more fluid.
Watch this video below to learn more.
Hope your marathon training is making good progress.
Here's an interesting story on how to complete a marathon:
Running a marathon a walk in the park? Well, maybe just a little
Completing a marathon has been a goal of mine for the longest time. So, on Sunday at 7 a.m., I'll be among the first-timers lined up for the Philadelphia Marathon, which I'll start at a slow pace - roughly a 10-minute mile - to set the tempo for what I'm estimating will be a five-hour trek. I'll be mad-hyped to cover those 26.2 miles, so I'll struggle against the impulse to run faster. Then, three minutes into the run, I'll slow to a walk. Not a slow run. A walk.
Mind you, I won't have broken a sweat. Nor will I be out of breath. I run 10-milers all the time without a break. I won't even be ready for water. But I will be walking.
Then I'll run another three minutes, walk a minute, and repeat for 26.2 miles.
Don't sneer. If you're a half-serious recreational runner with a marathon on your bucket list, my run-walk-run strategy may be your best hope.
OK, it's not my strategy. It's a method pioneered three decades ago by Olympian Jeff Galloway and taught in his book, the recently revised "Marathon: You Can Do It!" (Shelter Publications, 2010). Legions of runners swear by it, saying it helps them avoid injury and improve their finish times.
Take Tim O'Donnell, of Strafford, Pa., who organizes Galloway training groups locally. O'Donnell, then 55, tried the method during the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon, and was amazed when he finished a full hour before he expected to, at 4:23. "I literally passed thousands of people," he recalled. "It was kind of scary."
You, in a marathon
O'Donnell says people with even minimal running experience can be ready to participate in next year's Philadelphia Marathon - and finish it - provided they're comfortable with the notion of not running every step.
"If they can cover 3 miles, that's where we start. It doesn't make any difference how fast," O'Donnell explained. "They come out and our first run is three miles. Then, I give them their schedule."
His trainees then run-walk-run (or just run) for a half-hour twice a week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and log a weekly "long run," typically on the weekends.
Week 2: Add 1 mile
The second week out, beginners will do a 4-mile-long run, gradually adding mileage until roughly a month before the marathon, by which point they're closing in on the full 26.2 miles.
"The last [major] run for a newcomer is 24 to 26 miles about 20 days before the marathon," he says. Then they taper to shorter distances to rest up for the big race.
On marathon day, a runner like me who's aiming for a pace of 10 minutes a mile would follow a run-walk ratio of 3 minutes to 1 minute. Someone hoping for a pace of 9 minutes a mile would run for 4 minutes then take a 1-minute walk break before resuming running.
The downside: Disdain
I'm not going to lie to you: Purists feel that the run-walk-run method is cheating.
To them, the only honorable way to complete a marathon is to run all the way. Being honest with myself, I know that I'm definitely going to have to put my ego in check to take those early walk breaks.
I'll say this too, although I'm not proud of it: In certain half marathons, I've been the annoyed runner stuck behind a pack of chatty walkers.
On the other hand, Galloway sent these words of encouragement on Tuesday by email from Greece, where he attended last weekend's Athens Classic Marathon:
"There is a clipping in a museum in Athens, written by a reporter who followed the original marathoners in the 1896 Olympics. According to his account, every one of the original finishers walked significant portions of the race. The Olympic organizers awarded medals to three of these walk-break takers.
"The single determinant of being recognized as a marathoner is to cross the finish line," Galloway continued. "My mission is to help anyone who wants to receive this empowerment - because it can change the quality of life for the better."
I've been experimenting on my own with the Galloway method, straight from the book, since Labor Day. And if I write this with the zeal of a convert, it's because I've been able to complete back-to-back 20-mile training runs with energy to spare. Before then, I'd be so wiped out by my long runs that I'd collapse in bed for hours.
Come tomorrow, I'll be lining up at 7 a.m. for my full 26.2-mile dose of empowerment and a bucket list that's shorter by one long-imagined goal.
Mind you, I won't have broken a sweat. Nor will I be out of breath. I run 10-milers all the time without a break. I won't even be ready for water. But I will be walking.
Then I'll run another three minutes, walk a minute, and repeat for 26.2 miles.
Don't sneer. If you're a half-serious recreational runner with a marathon on your bucket list, my run-walk-run strategy may be your best hope.
OK, it's not my strategy. It's a method pioneered three decades ago by Olympian Jeff Galloway and taught in his book, the recently revised "Marathon: You Can Do It!" (Shelter Publications, 2010). Legions of runners swear by it, saying it helps them avoid injury and improve their finish times.
Take Tim O'Donnell, of Strafford, Pa., who organizes Galloway training groups locally. O'Donnell, then 55, tried the method during the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon, and was amazed when he finished a full hour before he expected to, at 4:23. "I literally passed thousands of people," he recalled. "It was kind of scary."
You, in a marathon
O'Donnell says people with even minimal running experience can be ready to participate in next year's Philadelphia Marathon - and finish it - provided they're comfortable with the notion of not running every step.
"If they can cover 3 miles, that's where we start. It doesn't make any difference how fast," O'Donnell explained. "They come out and our first run is three miles. Then, I give them their schedule."
His trainees then run-walk-run (or just run) for a half-hour twice a week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and log a weekly "long run," typically on the weekends.
Week 2: Add 1 mile
The second week out, beginners will do a 4-mile-long run, gradually adding mileage until roughly a month before the marathon, by which point they're closing in on the full 26.2 miles.
"The last [major] run for a newcomer is 24 to 26 miles about 20 days before the marathon," he says. Then they taper to shorter distances to rest up for the big race.
On marathon day, a runner like me who's aiming for a pace of 10 minutes a mile would follow a run-walk ratio of 3 minutes to 1 minute. Someone hoping for a pace of 9 minutes a mile would run for 4 minutes then take a 1-minute walk break before resuming running.
The downside: Disdain
I'm not going to lie to you: Purists feel that the run-walk-run method is cheating.
To them, the only honorable way to complete a marathon is to run all the way. Being honest with myself, I know that I'm definitely going to have to put my ego in check to take those early walk breaks.
I'll say this too, although I'm not proud of it: In certain half marathons, I've been the annoyed runner stuck behind a pack of chatty walkers.
On the other hand, Galloway sent these words of encouragement on Tuesday by email from Greece, where he attended last weekend's Athens Classic Marathon:
"There is a clipping in a museum in Athens, written by a reporter who followed the original marathoners in the 1896 Olympics. According to his account, every one of the original finishers walked significant portions of the race. The Olympic organizers awarded medals to three of these walk-break takers.
"The single determinant of being recognized as a marathoner is to cross the finish line," Galloway continued. "My mission is to help anyone who wants to receive this empowerment - because it can change the quality of life for the better."
I've been experimenting on my own with the Galloway method, straight from the book, since Labor Day. And if I write this with the zeal of a convert, it's because I've been able to complete back-to-back 20-mile training runs with energy to spare. Before then, I'd be so wiped out by my long runs that I'd collapse in bed for hours.
Come tomorrow, I'll be lining up at 7 a.m. for my full 26.2-mile dose of empowerment and a bucket list that's shorter by one long-imagined goal.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sportsweek/134149118.html#ixzz1eX2FBnJP
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else
No comments:
Post a Comment