Whatever you do just realize that marathons are, for most people, bad for your body. I ran my first (and last!) marathon last year and ended up not being able to go on light runs for over 6 months. This isn't an uncommon story.
There are a bunch of training plans you can find online and they all share one thing in common: start out easy and work your distance up, then back off a month before the run. Make it to 16 or even 18 miles as your longest training run, give yourself at least a couple weeks to recover from it before running an actual marathon.
Identify your pace! There's a ton of rules of thumb out there based on half marathon times. I looked at my finishing time in a half marathon 2 weeks before the full, then used that to determine the percentile I was in and how it corresponded to the full marathon results. Saw that it wasn't crazy to do a sub 4 hour, so I set my pace accordingly. I used both a running watch, and in general kept with the pace flagger.
Final word of wisdom: don't do what I do and train in only 5 weeks! It's way harder on your body that way, even if you are in good cradio shape (I bike alot). Your muscles need to build up to stabilize your knees.
You're not wrong. In context here, I was in a running club, regularly racing half-marathons-usually running a longer distance than that at least once a week, as one of 4 training sessions, and I'd run a marathon before. But training for my second marathon, I developed a niggle in my left hip.
I tried to cut back on training but still do the marathon, as it wasn't far off; but on the day, 6 miles in, I tore my right calf (most likely because I had unbalanced my stride from the first injury).
A torn calf takes weeks to recover from, but after I recovered from that I found I was still hirpling from the injury on the left. That was over a year ago, and while I don't limp any more, I still can't walk distances without pain, despite physio.
The moral here being - don't attempt to run one carrying an injury.
Marathons are bad for your body if you train for 5 weeks! That's ludicrous! I trained for 6 months and (despite being built like a computer programmer) was jogging again straight away (with a day of rest, of course). My time was 3 hours 45 - so not too slow. But man, a LOT of training before hand!
The training required to run a marathon is way past the sweet spot of (exercise benefits - side effects). A one-off marathon is not necessarily a big deal. However, running 2500 miles a year is not good.
They are bad regardless. They are just less bad if you train more than 5 weeks :) I hit 3:55 taking it easy and never hit the wall, though my legs felt like wooden poles. The 5 week training plan wasn't optimal, but I went into it as a bike rider who rode 100-150 miles a week and didn't bat an eye at a 100 mile ride. So, cardio was there, leg muscles were partway there etc. Just didn't quite have enough muscle built up to support the knees.
I have literally known 2 people who have died while running a marathon (one 30ish, the other in his mid 40s). It's stupidly abusive on your body, but if you do want to run one, make sure you get your heart fully checked out by a doctor.
Yup! I watched a 50 year old fit guy drop dead in the first 10 miles of a 100 mile ride. He was gone before he even hit the ground. It's pretty common in hard endurance sports to hear about heart failure, though I think the benefits outweigh the risks in the long term. This is assuming you are training a normal/sane amount, getting plenty of rest, listening to your body etc etc. Work hard play hard doesn't last forever.
I disagree. I used to run cross country competitively, and had been running off and on until I discovered cycling. It is universally accepted in the running community to be injured at any given point. It's almost like a badge of honor. Yes, 5 weeks is dumb and contributes to it and I should have swapped around my statements, but I stand by the fact that your chance of injury, regardless of how well trained you are, is high.
I didn't use online tools. They feel like the opposite of why I run. I like to feel free and untethered, feeling just the wind. About once a year I try running with an mp3 player and they ruin my experience. I run in minimal shoes now (Vivo Barefoots, which I recommend) and will consider moving to total barefoot when I run my next.
I just run. If I'm not running my best time, so what? I don't expect to win. I expect to push myself, to practice discipline, to enjoy myself. I know how not to get injured. If my time could be a few minutes better because I'm too busy running the way I want instead of running optimally, I sleep just fine.
I think the best thing you can do is run with a group, especially if you can find one training for the same marathon.
It'll keep you a lot more motivated than running by yourself, and it's a lot more fun. Plus if you're a techie, it's a good way to get outside and meet people.
FWIW, the 2013 Chicago Marathon and the 2013 NYC marathon are pretty close together for a first-time marathoner. I would suggest just doing one or the other.
If you get really into marathons, there's a very interesting subculture of people who do them all the time - for instance, the Marathon Maniacs - http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/
I think the percentage of marathoners who qualify as a "marathon maniac" is quite small. To become a member of Marathon Maniacs at even the lowest level you have to document running (a) 2 marathons within 16 day timeframe or (b) 3 marathons within 90 day timeframe. (http://marathonmaniacs.com/criteria.html ) This is certainly doable, but I think percentage of marathoners who have done this is small. Such short intervals between marathons are not generally a good idea for people who aim for getting best possible times -- too stressful for body -- more for people who just like to participate in the events.
Running with a group while training for the marathon could be the best approach. Before I started training for my first marathon I had never run more than 3 or 4 miles. Just being in a group forces you to show up for the those long runs on weekends. Plus, I have met some amazing people and made great friends during the training. I trained with this group back then: http://sf.team-asha.org/ (a charity that funds education in India)
Since my first marathon I have trained alone for a number of them. But, I have consistently trained well and timed well when I trained with a group.
In terms of what organizations to choose: if you are looking for charity based training groups there are a tonne.
If anyone is in Chicago and planning to train I would recommend checking out CARA(Chicago Area Runner's association). They have an excellent marathon training program.
I had a great experience joining Team in Training for my first marathon. It's a great group of people with diverse athletic abilities, so it was easy to find someone at my pace.
The catch (if you want to call it that) is that it's a fundraising group for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so you're obligated to raise some money (or make a sizable donation yourself).
I second the doing it as part of a group advice. And similarly pick just one marathon and train for that. You'll want a couple months recovery after your first marathon before trying another.
I was a first-time marathoner in 2012 and I found Hal Higdon's site very useful. http://www.halhigdon.com/
FWIW, training for a marathon isn't too complicated. Start at least 18 weeks beforehand. Run about 10-11 miles during the week and do one long run on the weekend, building up to 20 miles two weeks before your race.
I did 4 marathons, 200lb guy with 5hr finish times. 3 Marine Corps and 1 Big Sur. I enjoyed each and every race, except my first. but I would take that painful race again anytime.
Tip for back-to-back marathons: Based on my experience, two back-to-back is a killer. I would NEVER enjoy NYC after running chicago, if chicago is going to be your first. Again.. this is my experience and I would never do it. But some people are driven and they are able to do it.
For Training: HalHigdon is best and simple.. The way I do every time is, take 18 wk plan, and stretch it to 36 weeks.. that way, each week is repeated twice.
As you have lot of time (you might think ;), make sure you include Weight Training and Speed Training. Helps a lot.
SF marathon in 2003 -- for just finishing in a decent time, the long runs are key. I think I used the online run "diary" at coolrunnings.com, printed out a random training schedule, counted backwards from the marathon date, and started at "week 8" or whatever the current date fell on. I do not recommend that training strategy.
Edit: I've been playing with the "zombies, run!" iphone app and it's been fun for short runs, but (as I'm sure you know) it's going to get tedious quickly for training for a marathon. Audiobooks are wonderful, though. Especially stuff that's light, escapist, and fun but somewhat embarrassing: I listened to most of the Harry Potter books, for example. If you're disciplined enough to only listen to the books when you're running, it can be a surprisingly strong motivator.
Second Edit: (now I'm nostalgic) I also don't recommend a 2 mile warm up jog to the start of the race (I lived on Fell at the time).
I have fall in love with Strava - minimal iOS running app (http://app.strava.com/mobile). I am not affiliated with them in any way.
I can also second Hal Higdon's site above.
A lot of people in a recent half marathon I ran were using the half marathon as a staging ground for their full marathon. By running a half marathon/5k/10k you can get a feel for what running an actual race feels like, which is invaluable.
Surely the GPS is an OS thing, so that apps just request latitude and longitude (etc) and the OS/GPS chip does all the relevant computations leaving no room for different apps to have different accuracies.(Other than different smoothing algorithms layered.)
4 marathons here. Three were Ironman marathons and one just-a-marathon (Philly 2007, 3:48).
I followed a similar program for the standalone as I did for the Ironman marathons: one hard run (hills, tempo, fartlek, etc), one long run, and 2-3 easy-ish runs. Each run will get longer as you progress until you're at the point of doing 15-17 miles as your long, 8-10 as your hard workout, and the rest being as short as 3 and as long as 6 miles.
I personally never ran more than 2 hours (~15-17 miles) at a time when marathon training. Others, like my wife, would run three hours as their long run. For me, the recovery and wasted days after a three hour run weren't worth it. I'd rather run 2 hours then another hour the next day than run three hours and not be able to run again for two days.
And since you're still a ways out, weight train now to avoid injury later. You don't need to do massive weights and you can avoid bulk using higher rep sets but getting some lunges, squats, and dead lifts in now could save you from injury during your key training period.
Did my first one last November. It definitely takes a toll on your body. As for training, invest in a high quality foam roller and get "The Stick". Learn to enjoy the pain you inflict on yourself with these devices. They will help, and it hurts less the more you do it. Don't try to run through pain, well, most pain. That's your body telling you something is not right! Could be a muscle imbalance that can be fixed by stretching and some simple exercises. Find a good massage therapist and let them introduce you to a new world of pain. A good one can read your muscles like a book and tell you that your ankle pain is actually being caused by an unhappy muscle in your butt. Remember, the foot bone is connected to the leg bone, leg bone is connected to the hip bone. If something is wrong in one of those spots, it will propagate to other areas.
Probably the most important thing, don't be concerned about time. Just learn to enjoy running, and the faster times will come.
Not a full marathon yet, but I'm training for it: Maratón de Santiago on the 7th of April. I ran the 10K on 2011 and the 21K (half-maraton) last year, so this was the natural progression.
I agree with another poster, it is not a great idea to do both the Chicago and the NYC marathon in the same year, especially if it's your first.
Training programs are really dependent on your previous experience. If you're starting as a non-runner (or a once-a-week runner) then your training plan would be much different than someone who is running 5 times a week. Also important to take into account if you're doing it just to do it or doing it to do well.
I used a plan that was based on a Pfitzinger plan. It was helpful (I got a Boston Qualifier on my first marathon), but you need to be quite disciplined. It is high mileage and takes commitment to running 6-7 days a week.
Really the best training program is just to get out and run. Push yourself for long distance over a flat terrain. I did my elevation training on an elliptical. Long distance built the stamina, and the elliptical built the strength. I did the Flying Pig marathon last year for my first marathon. The combo of long running with elliptical cross training really did the trick for me. Everyone is different though.
That's hardly good advice for a novice though. I agree somewhat for that a lot of people, they just need to get out the door and run, but there are too many people out there that think they need to run as much as possible. And that's how injuries happen. I know way too many people that have gone and done too much too soon on little training because they're not following good, practiced advice.
I agree that "just get out and run" isn't really helpful for training for a marathon. It helps to have a plan and to follow one of the many training plans. For example, you can do 25 mile weeks by running 4 miles a day 7 days a week or by running 3 or 4 days a week with purposefully different workouts (e.g, long run, tempo run, recovery run, etc.) The purposeful workouts are going to give far more bang for your buck.
Also, one long run per week -- building up to 20 miles or so a month before marathon -- is the mainstay of most good marathon training plans. It's foolish to run a marathon without having prepared with some "long runs". And you'd be surprised at how slowly you can run the long runs in order for them to be beneficial. In fact, pushing yourself too hard on them is more likely to do harm than good.
It also helps to look over the various training plans to find out what works, specifically regarding training mileage and training speed. You don't need to do much if any "speed work" for a marathon, certainly not if you're not planning to do at least sub 3:30 or so.
Finally, people should be aware that based on your training runs and a practice 5k,10k, or half-marathon, you should be able to gauge your likely performance in a marathon quite well. This is of paramount importance, because you have to know what you're capable of and pace yourself properly in a marathon. Many first-timers (and many who who have run multiple marathons) run the first 13 miles of marathon way too fast, which is partly understandable because the proper pace feels quite slow and easy in first half of the race. But it has bad consequences. There is a saying that "For each 10 seconds per mile faster than your goal pace during first half of marathon means you'll be running 60 seconds per mile slower than goal pace in second half." Or hit the wall and not finish at all. Even pacing is the key.
I've run one. I hit the "wall" at the 25Km (out of 42) mark - which was really weird, because I was doing 21Km runs 4 or 5 times a week leading up to it - and they were no problem!
Once I got passed it was fine, up to the 39Km mark when I decided to walk for a bit. BAD DECISION! I walked for a few hundred meters, then went to start jogging again. No way. My body refused to start up! I had to do a weird shuffle-my-shoulders-in-a-circular-motion to get up a rhythm and work up back to a jog.
Got a banana at the finish line. Best thing I ever tasted.
One marathon in an Ironman (3:48). Tried for a BQ this year, but was injured and pulled out 10 miles in.
I under-trained the run (three runs over 15 miles, but raced a few half ironmans in training) and did a lot of long bikes on an indoor trainer (3-4 hrs) with short runs after. When I got to the run, I felt fine and just paced myself. Most ironmans have aid stations every mile, so the last 10k, I walked the aid stations.
I've never run a marathon. BUT I've run plenty of ultras. Even stage races (back to back to back ultras).
Everyone is different. I don't like hearing people saying that running is bad for your body cause I did "x". It might be bad for "your" body but not everyone else. Also it might be bad for your body cause you ran with poor mechanics. There's so many factors...
I'm inclined to say that running is not bad for your body, but bad running is.
The only online tool I've used is Smart Coach [1] so I can't compare it to others, but it has worked well for me thus far. I'm still building to a full marathon with half marathons, but they have programs for half or full. Goal for the next one is to break 1:30. After that I'm going to start training for a full marathon.
I have a pretty good cardio, so when I started running I felt like I had no limits. Lesson learned: beware of the shin splints. Seems like the solution is to use your forefoot instead of the heels.
There are a bunch of training plans you can find online and they all share one thing in common: start out easy and work your distance up, then back off a month before the run. Make it to 16 or even 18 miles as your longest training run, give yourself at least a couple weeks to recover from it before running an actual marathon.
Identify your pace! There's a ton of rules of thumb out there based on half marathon times. I looked at my finishing time in a half marathon 2 weeks before the full, then used that to determine the percentile I was in and how it corresponded to the full marathon results. Saw that it wasn't crazy to do a sub 4 hour, so I set my pace accordingly. I used both a running watch, and in general kept with the pace flagger.
Final word of wisdom: don't do what I do and train in only 5 weeks! It's way harder on your body that way, even if you are in good cradio shape (I bike alot). Your muscles need to build up to stabilize your knees.