5 Hard Truths of Marathon Training

Marathon training is hard and it's best to be prepared. This is a coach's perspective on the most common difficulties and how to get through them.

[johnhutton]

I ran my first marathon at 64 years old. I wasn’t concerned with time or anything, didn’t have a watch or a fancy plan. I looked at a couple plans online and kinda followed them in principle. I did great, 4:30 plus something, but I talked to people and stuff. One thing I read was to smile, physically smile, and to have fun. I did and I loved it. I’m 70 now and I’m gonna run another one in about a week and a couple days, planning to get Boston qualifying time. I’m doing about the same, except I’ve learned to fuel, (honey), and I’m resting lots more. I used to run everyday, 10 miles, I mix it up now, cross training, swimming and biking. I’ve done a couple half Ironman distances. For me, I need to remember why I’m doing this, because I enjoy it. Gotta have fun, I don’t have to make some time, nobody cares. Smile and have fun.

[copperdan]

Ive noticed the way my runs feel from day to day change. Yesterday I did 6 miles easy paced and i felt blah. Today I did 16 with some marathon paces in it and I felt awesome. So like Jane says don't worry if you have bad runs. Just keep running.

[alan]

Running my first marathon 6 months from now, 10 days before my 60th birthday. I find your advice and coaching wonderful and extremely helpful.
Thank you!!

[MrShanebizzle]

I related to so many of those, Jane! Except the wanting to quit one. But number one especially. I am LOVING running now since we started working together 8 and a half months ago. I am just fascinated with all the internal changes and the rarely addressed mental aspect of running. I consider you a big part of my personal success, as I do NOT want to miss a run or blow any part of my training. It’s good to have that accountability. What is neat is I am always evolving so what once may have seemed important may just fade and other things may come into focus better. You learn so much about yourself and the desire to do better is always there. Plus you can tell all your friends “I just ripped out a 13 mile easy run this morning” and they give you the stink face as if you’re nuts. It only becomes easier and you can adjust your goals as you progress. It’s such a wonderful sport!!

[joanneh]

Thank you for the motivation and wisdom! I definitely don’t feel like quitting but I can relate to much of what you said. Since this is my first marathon, I will be happy to just finish but I am glad to know I would do better the more I do this.

[nicholasswisher]

Great advice! I've done a lot of marathons and when I first started years ago my progress was so fast the first 3-4 months. It felt amazing. It then progressed, like you said, slowly, but for me progress was really slow. Improvement came at a snail's pace, even with weekly VO2 Max, HIIT and 80/20 training. It took nearly 3 years of consistent running to finally and consistently hit a great mileage pace. I've seen so many runners quit when they give themselves unrealistic marathon expectations. The progress-takes-time point you made is so, so important.

[indigobrown]

So incredibly useful and comforting just what I needed to hear and answered a lot of questions thanks so much!

[gmnavarra]

Great video! I’m currently training to run my first marathon in January. I’m a quarter of the way through my training plan and I know that things will get tougher physically and mentally over the next few months. Fortunately my only goal is to finish the race so not having the added pressure of reaching a time goal will help me with the process. 😁

[kingtrumpet]

if it was easy, everyone would do it. Love your vids Coach Jane, thank you for always being up front with all of us, and often telling us the hard truths about running. Have an awesomeness week.

[mratran]

I love your list! One of my Hard Truths is no Plan can prepare you for the suffering towards the end of a Marathon. Just remember the grit it took you to finish those hard workouts so you can learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

[davidhunter]

These are fantastic vids. Watching heaps before Melbourne Marathon on October 2 and trying to break 4 hours for the first time at my 5th go

[driya]

Great list, just subscribed to your channel.
I'm deep into a 4mo plan for a mid October marathon (it'll be my first, and almost coincide with my 41st birthday). Already missed 10 days of training this month because of Covid, but have mostly caught up, I think. We'll see!

[ManuelMartinez-wjcb]

I ran my first full marathon back in 2019. I used a six month program. I had a good group of people that I trained with. They are all marathon runners. I am glad I did it.

[georgettegarside]

This was very informative. Grappling with the hard truths on an internal level is way harder than the external measurements and goals. I have subscribed to this channel. Thank you! 🙏

[Rainbowtearsmile]

Thank you! Amazing tips and very helpful. 😍

[runscottyrun]

Great video, Jane!🤓 All great and very true points! Patience is definitely a very key thing for me in marathon training. Having the long term patience to keep building towards the race with each day of the training block, realizing there will be good days and bad days and just trying to stay present and not get too far ahead of myself. Then to have the patience during the marathon to stay within myself, trust my training and realize that no matter what I have done, there is going to be pain, going to be struggle. But then, this is part of the beauty of why I do marathons, as you mentioned, if only 1/2 of a % of the world's population has done a marathon, it is a special achievement to push one's body and mind through the preparation and completion of 26.2 miles! Thanks for the excellent video and I hope your training is going well! Cheers, Scott

[lhuce]

I'm getting ready to run my first marathon at the end of this year, and I really appreciate this video!

[bramilan]

When I saw the "you've been warned", I thought you were going to talk about the bad The Warning (this is their slogan!), but of course, I stayed for the running stuff which is why I'm here.
Still really fun to see this phrase! 😃

[sharonb]

Sage advice, especially about setting realistic goals based on prior results.

[dallas]

This was extremely helpful information. Running my first marathon in November and I’m adding this to my Marathon training playlist