On Monday, tens of thousands of runners will take part in a ritual undertaken by only the bravest of athletes in the top echelons of the fitness world. As the city shuts down to celebrate, the 110th running of the Boston marathon will stretch a grueling 26.2 miles through Boston and its suburbs.
This week's edition of Inside Fitness will discuss the marathon, an event in which I am participating for the first (and probably only) time in my life. Before we get into this year's marathon, it's important to understand how the marathon as we know it today came into existence.
The name itself comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier who, according to legend, ran from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. The fable tells us that Pheidippides covered a distance of 26.2 miles in order to share this information and died shortly after proclaiming the news.
Despite the fact that many modern historians dispute the accuracy of this legend, the marathon lives on. There is certainly something to be said for the fact that the first person to complete such a run did not survive it. The marathon is simply not a distance that the human body was built to run. With proper training, nutrition and lifestyle, however, it is possible to minimize the damage and complete the race.
Let's look at each step in turn. As the length of the race itself is almost overwhelming at first glance, training is the most important aspect to its successful completion. The first step to training is to build up a base consisting of heavy mileage run at a slow, steady pace.
As you get comfortable running short distances (three to five miles), slowly start to stretch out your runs, increasing mileage by small increments weekly. It's important not to increase the distance too quickly in order to prevent injury and overtraining. As you get comfortable with longer distances, some interval training is helpful so that you can maintain your ability to pick up the pace when necessary.
The importance of flexibility is one of the most valuable things to keep in mind while training. Remember to stretch out properly before and after your runs. This will help you deal with the constant pounding that your body will take during the race.
With a race of this magnitude, what you get out of your body will depend on what you put into it. Nutrition is key, and it's important to consume adequate quantities of calories, especially carbohydrates, during training. In addition to giving your body adequate energy to complete the training runs, the carbohydrates help to slowly increase your muscle glycogen levels, which are basically stores of energy.
These increased stores will be useful during the actual race, when you are completely draining your muscles of energy. The week before the race is the time to begin "carbo-loading," or increasing your carbohydrate consumption in order to store as much glycogen in your muscles as possible for race day.
The final factor in preparing is lifestyle. It is important to minimize stress and choices that can have a negative impact on training and fitness level, such as alcohol consumption and adequate sleep. Don't let your training to go waste by not taking care of your body in the weeks leading up to the big run.
Now that we have looked at some of the fitness aspects about the marathon, I'd like to encourage everyone to come out and support the people who are running the marathon. It's an incredibly fun event to watch and the entire city will be there, so come out and cheer loudly for the bright yellow jerseys of the Tufts runners.
