Running a Marathon for the First Time - 24 Helpful Tips
Running a marathon for the first time can be nerve wrecking. It's a really long distance and one you've never done before. So much can go wrong while preparing for the race or during race day. Whether you're considering the idea of running or your race is coming up soon, the tips below will guide you through your first marathon successfully.
Before the Race:
1. Give Yourself Enough Time to Train
First and foremost, make sure you give yourself enough time to train for the race. Once you’ve set the goal of running a marathon, it's tempting to want to complete this goal ASAP. Running a marathon is a very strenuous task. You need to give your mind and body ample time to prepare for the race even if you’ve been running for a while.
Most people will need at least 4-6 months to train for a full marathon. Keep this time frame in mind whether you decide to hire a running coach to put a plan together for you, find a training plan online or decide to put your own plan together.
It’s better to slowly increase your mileage over time. If you try to jump into long runs too quickly, you’re setting yourself up for injury. So feel free to take more time to train and let your body adjust to the mileage.
2. Taper a Few Weeks Before the Race
About 2-3 weeks before the race, you’ll want to begin a taper phase. This means that you’ll lower your overall and daily mileage. For some people the taper phase is the hardest phase of training to follow. You’ll be tempted to get some extra mileage in to make sure you’re as prepared as possible for the race. Or you’ll be afraid that cutting your mileage for weeks before the race will decrease your fitness.
The taper phase is an integral part of training. It allows your body to keep the adaptations from the training you’ve already done, but be fresh enough to complete the marathon. So fight the urge to get a last minute hard workout in and relax instead.
3. Carbo-load Properly—If You Choose to
It’s not necessary to carbo-load for a race but it can be beneficial. Your body can hold about 2,000 calories in your glycogen stores. Depending on how much you’re still running during the taper phase before the race, you may want to increase the amount of carbohydrates you eat to keep your glycogen stores topped off.
When the phrase “carbo-loading” comes up, most people envision plates piled high with pasta the night before a race. However, to properly carbo-load, you should slowly increase your carbohydrate intake for a few days to a week before race day. This way, you can steadily keep your glycogen stores topped off without causing any GI stress.
If you choose not to carbo-load before a race, it’s still a good idea to eat a dinner the night before that’s mostly carbs.
4. Eat a Healthy Breakfast Before the Race
If you’re able to wake up early enough to have breakfast before the race, make sure this meal also has a higher ratio of carbs. For a larger meal, you’ll want to eat 3 hours before the race. If your meal is smaller, you can eat an hour or 2 before the race.
If on race morning solid food doesn’t generally agree with your stomach, you can have juice or a sports drink before the race. Just make sure you’re also taking in enough calories during the race to fuel your body.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure it’s a method and food choice that you’ve tried before when you did your long training runs.
5. Give Yourself Enough Time to Travel
If your race isn’t local, plan to arrive at the race location the day before the race. This way you won’t have to worry about traffic if you planned to drive in the morning of. You’ll also have more time to sleep before the race and one less thing to worry about. If you arrive the day before, you’ll also have the chance to pick up your race packet and bib the night before.
6. Invite Some Friends or Family to Meet You at the Finish Line
If you have any friends or family in the area or who are willing to travel, invite them to meet you at the race. Knowing someone is there rooting for you will motivate you to finish at times when you feel like dropping out.
7. Lay Out Your Race Gear the Night Before
Don’t let yourself wait until the morning of the race to get your gear together. Anything you can do ahead of time to make race day easier—do it! This means laying out all your race gear including: shoes, clothes, hydration pack, food/gels, race bib and anything else you may be taking with you to the race. Have it all laid out so you don’t have to search for it in the morning.
8. Review Your Course Map
A few days before (and even the night before) the race it’s beneficial to review the course map. Even if you’re running a road race that’s bound to have plenty of course markings it’s your responsibility as a runner to know where you’re going.
Sometimes course markings get moved, sometimes you’ll get distracted and miss a turn. No matter what, you need to know where you’re going. If you do happen to miss a turn you’ll want to know where you are and where to go to get back on course. If you’re bringing a hydration pack or belt you can even fold a paper copy of the map and take it with you just in case.
9. Double Check Race Info
It never hurts to double check all of the race information including:
• the start/finish locations
• shuttle/bus information (if you have to take a bus to the starting line)
• parking location
• your race start time
• aid station/finish line cut off times (if applicable)
It only takes a few minutes to review everything and will help ease pre-race anxiety.
10. Do a Light Warm-Up
Spend at least a few minutes warming up for the race. If you have a specific warm-up you normally do for long runs, stick to that. You can spend a few minutes jogging, do some dynamic stretches (save the static stretching for after the race).
If you’re running in a big city marathon with a staggered corral start and you happen to be in the back, you can lightly jump in place to stay warmed up until it’s your time to start. If you’re towards the back, you may be waiting an extra 10-15 minutes before it’s your turn to go and you’ll want to be ready to run once it’s your turn.
11. Go to the Bathroom
Even if you feel like you don’t have to go or the lines to the porta-potties seem too long, you should still go to the bathroom before the race. It could help you avoid an unneeded stop during the race. There’s nothing worse than feeling the urge to go in the middle of the race and realizing you’re a long way off from the next porta-potty.
If you’re running a trail race, this could be the last time you have access to a porta-potty. If you feel uncomfortable pulling off the trail to do your business, now’s the time to go.
12. Don’t Let Your Nerves Get the Best of You:
Pre-race jitters are completely normal especially for your first marathon. Don’t let your anxiety get the best of you! Relax, take some deep breaths, focus on your warm-up. By now, you’ve done everything you need to do to prepare for the event.
Sure, some unexpected things may happen during the race—injury, not hydrating or fueling properly, inclement weather, etc. There’s no need to worry about this before the race. It will only stress you out and deplete your energy. Instead focus on the things you can control and realize you only have to deal with those negative situations IF you encounter them.
Until they do happen, just stay positive and enjoy the race experience. Usually once you cross the start line and begin to run, you’re anxiety/jitters will start to go away.
During the Race:
13. Don’t Take Off Ahead of the Crowd
Unless you’re planning to be one of the top finishers of the race, there’s no reason to take off ahead of everyone else. It’s tempting to want to pull away from the crowd to have your own space to run. However, once you pass one group of people, you’ll just run right into another group you’ll feel like you’ll have to pass.
Instead of trying to pass everyone to have your space, spend a few minutes to find a comfortable pace and let the crowd re-adjust around you. For larger races, it may take a few miles for the crowd to thin out a bit. It will feel better to just be patient and let the crowd settle around you, than pushing yourself too fast to find your own space.
14. Go By Effort and Not Pace
This tip is especially important in the 2nd half of the marathon. Instead of focusing on pace, you’ll want to focus on effort instead. Around the 2nd half of the race you’ll start to feel more fatigued and it’ll take more effort to keep up with the same pace you were holding in the beginning of the race. Make sure you stick to an effort that feels sustainable to hold for 26.2 miles even if it means you’re going a little slower towards the end of the race.
Don’t try to run the first half as fast as possible to balance out a slower anticipated pace for the 2nd half. That will just set you up for failure and you’ll feel too tired and burnt out to keep a steady effort for the remainder of the race.
15. It’s Ok to Take Walking Breaks
Taking a walking break during a marathon is completely normal. Running 26.2 miles is very hard on the body. If you’re running a race on pavement, your joints are absorbing a lot of force. Taking a walking break will help alleviate that stress, will help you recover faster and may even help you run faster overall.
You can choose to walk when you get close to an aid station, need to eat or slurp a gel or you can follow a walk-run plan to complete the marathon. Jeff Galloway’s book on the Run Walk Run Method is a great read if you want to implement this strategy in your training and on race day.
16. Make Sure to Eat and Drink Regularly
During your long training runs you should experiment with what foods to eat, how much water or sports drink to drink and how often to take in food and hydration. By race day, you should have an idea of what to eat and drink and how often. Make sure you stick to the strategy that worked best during your long runs.
During the excitement of the race environment, eating and drinking can easily fall to the wayside. If needed, set some alarms or timers on your watch or phone to remind you to eat and drink at certain intervals during the race. Or if you’re running a race with aid stations every few miles, make sure to stop and take in any fluids and food you may need to keep going and avoid bonking.
17. Nothing New on Race Day
Never try or do anything new on race day! No new shoes (unless you’ve taken the time to break them in for a few miles before the race), no new clothes, no new foods and no new running strategy. You don’t want to upset your stomach with new foods, you don’t want to deal with blisters from new gear and you don’t want to wear yourself out by trying to race with a negative split when it’s something you haven’t tested before on your long runs. Stick to what has worked for you on your training runs.
18. Enjoy the Experience
Enjoy the scenery, take out your earbuds to listen to spectators cheering you on, talk to the other runners around you and thank the volunteers. Think of race day as a celebration of all of the hard work you’ve put into your training! Yes, marathons are a brutal physical feat. But there are also so many wonderful things around you on race day to experience. So keep your eyes and ears open and enjoy the sights and sounds around you!
19. Don’t Beat Yourself Up If You’re Not Meeting Your Goal Pace
Sometimes race day doesn’t always go as planned or we just have a bad day. Don't get discouraged if you're not on pace to reach your goal time. You did your best during your training and on race day. Just finishing a marathon is an incredible feat no matter what your finishing time is. Enjoy the race anyways and use it as motivation for training for the next one—you can always try again!
20. Push Through the Exhaustion and Pain
It's completely normal to feel pain and exhaustion during a marathon. You're putting your body through a lot! Sore muscles and achy feet and joints will try to convince you to quit. You can't give in to the temptation to quit! The pain is only temporary, it will pass!
When dealing with exhaustion, try consuming a gel with caffeine to boost your energy. Usually fatigue can be fixed with food or water.
No matter how horrible you feel, keep pushing forward! The rewarding feeling of finishing will outweigh the pain and exhaustion. It's a lot harder to get over the feeling of disappointment that comes from quitting the race.
21. Take Lots of Pictures
Take lots of pictures before, during and after the race—especially if you signed up for a scenic race. You'll love looking back at them and reliving experience!
After the Race:
22. Walk Around a Bit
Once you've crossed the finish line and collected your finisher's medal, walk around the finishing area for at least a few minutes. You don't want to go from running for hours to sitting down right away. Walking after the race will help you cool down and prevent you from getting too sore.
23. Do Some Light Stretching
Take a few minutes after walking to do some light stretching. This will also prevent soreness. You can spend more time stretching and foam rolling later on in the day. But just doing some light stretches right after the race will be beneficial too.
24. Celebrate!
Hold your medal up high! You earned it! Don't be in such a hurry to get home or to the hotel. Enjoy the post-race food and entertainment. Or take yourself out to a nice meal later in the day. Now it's time to treat yourself and soak in your accomplishment!