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Run-up To The Marathon
Category: Running & Marathons
Aug 1, 2006
Just as the heat and humidity peak, it's time to think about going outside and running. And running and running.
If you've always wanted to run in the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon and ½ Marathon, it's almost time to start training. The race is 24 weeks away - on Jan. 14, in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe - and most training programs run about 20 weeks. Several Valley programs kick off this Saturday or next.
The Rock 'n' Roll races draw large numbers of first-timers, and coaches will give them one goal: Finish the race. That means sticking with the training, which can be hard in the next few weeks, when it's hot; and hard in October, when the miles start to add up; and hard in December, when it's dark and cold.
Coaches and finishers agree that there are several crucial factors that will keep you going through the training and all the way to the finish line of the race:
• Examine your motives.
Jacob Havenar, an Arizona State University doctoral student, studied people who stick with marathon training programs. His work was presented in June at a conference of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Havenar found that the runners, all first-timers, who dropped out of the programs were most likely to list "lose weight" as a primary goal for signing up. Of 106 men and women who joined a program, 31 finished the training and the race.
Richard Stark, founder and head coach of the Running Arizona training program, says that he is not surprised.
"People who don't stick with it for more than a month are those looking for a quick fix - 'I need to get in shape,' " he says. Many people, especially women, don't lose a lot of weight when they start training.
Stark, in his fourth season of training runners, also is wary of people who feel that they "have to" finish a marathon:
"If they say, 'My mom or dad ran by this age, and I have to, too,' the reason they might drop out is they get injured. They don't lack motivation, they just push too hard."
Every runner is different, and Stark has to pinpoint what drives each runner.
"I can get a sense early on if I'm going to see them again or not," he says. "I have to figure out a way to get them coming back."
• Get over 'the hump.'
A few people who sign up for training groups never make it to the first session.
"I wonder sometimes if I shouldn't have online registration," Stark says.
But most people who start reach a turning point about a month into training. That's when the weight-conscious drop out because of a lack of progress. Other issues also arise.
"People get what they think are injuries but is really an ache or pain," says Stark, who helps determine whether an ache is really an injury. "Everyone gets shin splints when they're starting out."
Time also is a big factor. Training hours increase in the fall, and reality often hits after a few weeks.
Sue Wright, head coach for the Valley's Team in Training, says, "They have so much going on in their lives that they cannot commit. However, we find that the majority will sign up again in the future."
"Life gets in the way, and you can't always make every session," says Shelia Brott-Loewe, 43, of Mesa, who walked the half-marathon in January.
Another distraction also arises, she says: "By the end of September, the weather starts getting nice, and the weeks just fly by!"