Grete Waitz
, nine-time champion of the New York City Marathon, former World Marathon Champion and the first woman to break the barrier of 2 hours and 30 minutes in the event, offers her tips for succeeding at a marathon.
Instructions
1. Take a couple of years to build a running base before undertaking a marathon. Begin training with shorter races.
2. Keep to your program. Don't throw out your training in search of that "magic" marathon program. Your marathon training can be fundamentally the same as training for shorter distances except that the distance is longer.
3. Intersperse rest and recovery after hard training runs.
4. Practice drinking and/or eating during the training runs.
5. Take the race one mile at a time, being flexible enough to adapt to weather, course conditions and your biorhythms on race day.
6. Use relaxation techniques, especially in tough patches. The last half-hour of the marathon is always difficult. Tell yourself often to relax specific parts of your body - neck, shoulders, arms, etc. Then repeat some words such as "steady, push" to keep up the pace.
7. Drop out if you have to. Sticking with an effort is commendable but not if it's dangerous to your health or safety.
8. Begin recovery measures as soon as the race is over. Keep moving, get warm and drink water. Get a massage, if possible, a few days after severe leg soreness has abated.
Tags: Grete Waitz, training runs