Running is popular and there are many who have running a marathon on their bucket list. But how do you make sure you are well prepared? What is the ideal way to prepare for a marathon? Of course, there are different preparation methods but we will highlight one in the upcoming 'Road to Marathon'.
Road to Marathon!
Jermain Breidel, Patta Running coach and Running trainer at Vondelgym will be participating in the Berlin Marathon and we are following him in his preparations. He has his sights set on a time under 3 hours. But how does he make sure he is totally ready on September 16, and how does he train for this marathon? We will be following him in the near future and he will tell you all about it.
- Jermain Breidel
- 43 years old
- Patta Running Coach
- Vondelgym Running Coach
Measuring moments
First of all, I think it's important to build in measuring moments and know where I stand. Conditionally but also in terms of distance capacity. From here I start setting up a training plan focused on the specific distance and goal I want to achieve. In my case the Berlin Marathon but also for shorter distances this is an excellent starting point.
Training schedule
For example, two weeks ago I ran the Leiden half marathon. This was very tough with 28 degrees and headwinds. Still, it took me 1 hour and 28 minutes. There is a lot of room for improvement if I want to reach my goal for Berlin. I found out that I still have a lot of work to do. In order to improve this, I have drawn up the following schedule for myself for the coming month in which I combine endurance running with interval and strength training.
Please noteThis schedule is not for beginners. Do you want to know how you can increase your running distance and frequency without injuries look here.
- Monday: interval training
- Tuesday: slow endurance run, 20km at a pace of 5:10 minutes/km
- Wednesday: endurance run, 20km at a pace of 4:40 minutes/km
- Thursday: interval training
- Friday: endurance run, 20km at a pace of 4:40 minutes/km
- Saturday: strength training + endurance run 20km at a pace of 5:10 minutes/km
- Sunday: rest day
At the end of this training month, I will run another race to build up race rhythm and know how I am doing at that time. The following month I will adjust my schedule and run more kilometers during one endurance run a week building up to 36km. I will also replace one interval training with a tempo run. Towards the marathon there will be an upward trend in distance, power and speed.
Interval training
My favorite interval training is to run one kilometer in as little time as possible. I do 8 x 1 km at a speed of about 17 km per hour. I rest 2 minutes between each km.
Endurance Run
To keep distance in the legs, I run 20km 4 times a week at a pace ranging from 4:40 minutes/km to 5:10 minutes/km. I apply the 80/20 principle which means I only maximize 20% of the training time and finish the rest of the workouts slowly for injury prevention. After maintaining this schedule for a month I will start increasing the distance of one endurance run a week.
Strength training
For support, I do strength exercises once a week. Mainly hip thrusters, deadlifts, kick bar and a lot of core exercises. I do few repetitions with as much weight as possible because I want to get stronger but not grow big muscles.
Recovery
For my recovery, I do a lot of stretches after running and pay close attention to my nutrition. The better you eat the faster you recover and are ready for the next session. Recently I also started using protein shakes to make sure that my muscles get enough protein and that my muscle mass does not disappear because of all the training. I use Ekopura shakes because this way I know for sure that the proteins I consume do not contain any chemical or unhealthy additives. The results so far are very good, I recover noticeably faster.
In the coming period we will track Jermain's progress and further explain the different components of his training.
Also read:
- ROAD TO MARATHON! SETBACK, INTERVAL AND FARTLEK
- THE 10 PERCENT RULE IN RUNNING
