A 16 week Marathon Training Schedule is a very exciting and hard task for any runner regardless of skill level. Completing this training regimen takes discipline, knowledge, and organizational skills. Creating a training schedule varies from runner to runner depending on time commitments and experience. This article is going to give you some pointers on how to develop a marathon training schedule for 16 weeks ranging from dietary needs to a variety of exercises.
Diet is often not planned into a training schedule, and proper food is very important when it comes to planning high endurance races. The body needs a certain amount of calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein to function at optimal levels for day to day tasks, and these nutrient levels need to go up when training.
Depending on whether your goal is to lose weight or maintain weight during the marathon training, keeping track of your food intake is important in order to stay on track of the goal and make sure your body has the proper nutrients for sustaining energy and repairing muscles.
Calorie and nutrient intake is going to vary from person to person, so you should utilize an online or smartphone tool such as My Fitness Pal.
A 16 week marathon training schedule is a great time frame for someone trying their first marathon. It is also great for experienced runners wanting to improve their time. The following scenario typifies a training schedule. The workouts during the weekdays are going to be a mixture of low mile runs and weight training. Saturday is going to be the long run day.
For the weekday runs, the miles are going to start off in the low numbers such as 3-5 for the first 5 weeks of training. Monday and Thursday are the days you run 3 miles, while the Wednesday run is a little higher. The Wednesday runs for weeks 1-3 are going to be 4 miles, and weeks 4-5 are going to be 5 miles.
It is best to start off slow, so your muscle can acclimate to the rigor of the workout. Add one more mile to this pattern within a 5-week block; for example, Monday and Thursday’s runs are going to be 4 miles between week 6-10.
Saturday runs are the long run days, and this is the day that mileage increases each week. Week 1 is going to start off with 5 miles. Then, increase the mileage each week by 1 mile. By week 5, increase it by 2 miles. From here, you can increase the mileage by 1-2 miles each week until week 14. You should decrease your mileage back down to 9 miles.
Weight training is often looked over when it comes to marathon training. Weight training is what keeps muscles strong and resistant to injury, especially during something rigorous as a 16-week marathon training schedule. It is recommended to train upper and lower body as well as the core. It is important to train the upper body because your arms are what propels your leg movement.
You should only do lightweight sets of more than 12 repetitions. Heavier weight and lower repetitions can add bulk to your body. It is recommended to incorporate weight training on Tuesday, Friday, or a day during the low mile runs, but never have back to back weight training workouts.
Week 16, the week before the race, is resting week. It is recommended to only run 3 miles on Monday and Thursday, so your muscles can heal and replenish its energy before a 26.2-mile race.
As already mentioned, this is an overview of the 16 week marathon training schedule. Besides your weekly runs, you should always be mindful of your dietary needs and weight training. The training schedule mentioned throughout this article is a suggested overview, and there are a lot more schedules that can be found online. You should feel free to do an online search to look at other 16 week training schedules to see which one suits you.
Read more:12 week Marathon Training Schedule
