Training Basics
Preparing for a Marathon depends on three main factors: your current shape, your goal you want to reach and the time you are willing to spend to reach your goal. Whatever your shape is, training for several weeks is essential. Even experienced runners should realize, this race is going to be different. If you are running Marathon the very first time, your goal could be to make it to the finish line. Repeaters might aim at better results than the last time.
How does a Marathon Training look like?
Depending on the above mentioned factors, runners are following a training schedule over several weeks. Your running level is increased from week to week, while speed, intensity and duration of your workouts change.
The actual training is performed in different heart frequency zones. So the first thing you need to determine is your so called maximum heart frequency (HFmax), your maximum heart beats per minute.
An easy approach to calculate HFmax is the following rule-of-thumb:
HFmax = 220 - Your age in years
According to this rule, a 30-year-old’s HFmax would be 190bpm. A much more accurate way to calculate HFmax is to use heart rate monitors and to keep track of your heart frequency while trying to run as fast as you can until intensity cannot be increased anymore.