How to Prepare for a Marathon

Marathon is becoming one of the most popular sports in America; according to the 2007 USA Marathon Report, there were more than 403,000 runners who made it to the finish line.

When it comes to running a marathon, you just don’t do it on impulse. It takes a lot of preparation like training, equipment and other important aspects of the sport. Now, I am going to show you how you can thoroughly prepare for a marathon.

Your equipment
You’d need the right set of marathon apparel and running gear to keep you comfortable throughout the entire race while keeping you safe from injuries.

- Running shoes: You need running shoes that have soft soles (branded shoes call it as an air sole or gel sole) to help keep your feet comfortable during the run. It’s also very important to note that running with brand new shoes is not a good idea because it will cause blisters and it may hinder you from finishing the race.
- Personalized running shirts: Running shirts are made of material that won’t absorb sweat like nylon; avoid shirts that are made from cotton. Coolmax clothes are also ideal running shirts when it comes to marathon.

Training and practicing
Months before the actual marathon, your body needs to be in peak physical and mental condition; which means you need to step your training and practice runs to another level if you want to finish a marathon.
- Weight lifting: On your non-running days, it’s ideal to go to the gym and lift some weights. This will help build muscle endurance as well as keep you in great condition.
- Practice runs: For practice runs, it’s ideal to wear your customized running shirts and running shoes; think of it as a dress rehearsal. This will help boost your confidence as well as your enthusiasm in finishing the race.
- Diet: Runners tend to burn a lot of calories during the race; which is why some people tend to go on a high calorie diet which allows them to store healthy carbohydrates. Once your healthy carbohydrates are depleted, your body will burn fats for energy; this doesn’t entail you to go on a high fat diet. Food like wheat bread, pasta and rice are great sources of healthy carbohydrates while fish, beef and chicken are ideal sources of protein to help keep your muscles healthy.

Other important preparations
- Visit the doctor: Weeks before running the marathon, you should check with your doctor and determine if you’re in excellent condition to run. Prevention is better than cure; having yourself checked out by the doctor is very important because he or she might be able to detect physical ailments like torn or strained muscles, ankles and so on.
- Proper sleep: You need to get adequate amounts of sleep the night before the marathon. This basically means that you can’t stay up late at night if you want to survive or even finish the race.

With the right amount of preparation, you can make it to the finish line.