Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Guide

Bally8

So after 2 years of intermittent jogging spells I have decided to aim for a marthon in 2009. I have downloaded Hal Higdon's novice training guide and think its the most suitable for where I am at right now. I just have one silly kind of question. What kind of warm up and cool down should I be doing? He says for example if the run says 3 miles than you should measure 1.5 miles, run it, turn and run home. But should I not walk a bit first and then at the end?

What I do these days is go out easy in the beginning for my run and then walk a few minutes at the end before stretching. Should I keep doing that or what should I do?

Sorry if this is not the place to post

Peckham

Good decision to decide to do a marathon - you won't regret it! :rolleyes: Now all you have to do is tell everyone you know that you are doing a marathon so you can't back out of it!!

There is a lot of debate as to whether stretching before a run is of any benefit, so most runners just go straight out and start off gentle as you describe. It can be useful to stop after a mile or so and stretch then, but that's boring! What you describe in terms of cool down/stretching sounds fine, however you may not need to do the walk part (but it won't harm).

Might be worth investing a few quid in one of the marathon training books to give you all the background you need. Seeing as you're following Higdon, you could get his book (Marathon: Ultimate Training and Racing Guide), or Pfitzinger (Advanced Marathoning - don't let the title put you off though), or for a lot of in-depth knowledge try the Lore of Running by Noakes.

Enjoy it and a good luck!

Running Bing

I dont think stretching is necessary before a gentle run. As for the warm up, I usually start of a bit slower and just ease into it....again I dont think any sort of formal warm up or walking is necessary.

I would definitely be doing warm ups and stretches before any speed sessions but the Higdon programme has none.


A good strecth after my run usually does the job for me.

--amadeus--

I'd second the suggestion on the HH book, I got it when I was starting out and I personally found it helped to know why I was being asked to run a particular session, why the long runs had to be so slow, etc.

As for teh stretching / warm up / warm down.... I think every runner talks the good talk about it but I'm not sure how many of us actually do it! My training tim eis usually limited and by the time I've added in time to change and shower you'll find that the training gets quite time intesnive, so the "extras" (like stretching) tend to get dropped in favour of running time. It certainly doesn't hurt to stretch and if you are in the habit it would be wise to carry it on (unlike me, I only stretch when I feel a niggle )

I don't know your background but do be careful to make sure you stretch properly - streching in the wrong way can do more harm than good. Don't "bounce" when you stretch and be careful not to overstretch, particulalry warm muscles. A lot of people are switching to "dynamic" stretchs now to minimise injury risk, examples here, maybe worth looking at?

Bally8

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll definately get the HH book. I will also need to tell everyone Im planning to do a marathon as I will have to get help with babysitting. I've already driven my OH to distraction talking about it- poor man, the next year will be hell for him. I think I'll aim for Dublin next year. I had thought about Connemara but I would say its too soon for me. Or maybe I will do Cork. I'll have to put serious thought into it soon and just decide on which one. I also plan to do HH spring training so all in all I will put in 7 months training before the race.

Just one more question- I will probably have to do about 2 runs per week on the treadmill. Is this ok?

Krusty_Clown

Here are Higdon's recommended stretching and strength training sections. Not sure how it stacks up to other recommended marathon stretching suggestions.