- Training support with a charity
- Running a marathon – you can do it!
- Running a marathon – the essential guide
Running a marathon - the essential guide continued...
What should I eat and drink?
Correct nutrition and hydration is an essential part of your marathon preparation and the race itself. Without the correct fuel (and enough of it!), you will be unable to complete the longer runs – so paying close attention to your diet is key. To get you thinking as a runner, you need to be consuming plenty of ‘slow release’ carbohydrate to provide energy, and food so choices such as pasta are ideal. Also, don’t neglect your fluid intake, because your requirements will increase both for storing fuel in your muscles and because you will lose more through sweating.
How much training do I need to do?
Up to a point, the more training that you are able to complete, the better. However, you should always remember that the most important component of any training plan is rest – and so a correct training plan will balance building up your marathon-specific fitness with sufficient recovery time. Use the table below to help you gauge how much time you need to commit per week, depending on what marathon finishing time you’re aiming for. Your training plan should comprise a careful blend of long runs, recovery sessions and faster-paced training as you build up your marathon-specific endurance, so that you will eventually be able to run for several hours.
| Training time per week | Marathon finishing time |
| 5-6 hours | 5-6 hours |
| 7½ hours | 4-5 hours |
| 10 hours | 4 hours |
Note that as a marathon is an unpredictable event, the above target finishing times are just a general guide.
How long will the race take me?
Of course, your race may be faster or slower depending upon the weather conditions on the day, and whether or not you pick up any strains or get stitch and so on (hopefully you won’t!). It’s also important to remember that you will actually be out on the road for longer than your target time – for example, it can take up to 20 minutes simply to make it to the start line of the Flora London Marathon! However, as the Flora London Marathon has a computerised timing system, the race organisers will be able to record your personal race time from when you cross the start line to when you cross the finish line – so you don’t need to worry about not getting the right finishing time.
