When I started running, I was pretty oblivious to many things. When I started, I thought... "all you need is to put on a pair of shoes and run" but I was wrong. I encountered numerous injuries that taught me to become more humble about my body and how to train it. I am not a certified trainer or anything in anyway - yet I made a goal to run 100 races before I turn 25 to raise awareness for health and liver disease. In the next little while, I am going to be sharing information about running in events, tips and discounts. However, I am going to begin my roulette of event information with how I trained for the marathon / half - marathon.
*Disclaimer - Since this is health related, note that I am not an expert and you should get advice from an expert if that is what you seek. This is information on how I trained for the marathon.
*Disclaimer - Since this is health related, note that I am not an expert and you should get advice from an expert if that is what you seek. This is information on how I trained for the marathon.
HOW TO TRAIN FOR IT:
As with starting any exercise regimen, please consult your doctor before proceeding. There are inherent risks to marathon and distance running. The two big things about running is (in my opinion): Injury Prevention and safety). This section is about training for a marathon and half-marathon (it's the nutshell edition, depending on time, I might publish a video about each section or a more detailed blog post about it) as each section do require a bit of discussion on each topic. However, here is a brief nutshell of some of the topics related to running.
A) Books to read:
If you are tight on a budget (I was very tight when I started), the most I had was the library... I found some very good books:
A) Books to read:
If you are tight on a budget (I was very tight when I started), the most I had was the library... I found some very good books:
- Hal Higdon's Ultimate Marathon Training Guide - This book is a classic for marathon training. It includes training plans as well as diet plans. It does not go in-depth on physiology, but it does cover the basics.
- Dr. Jordan Metzl's Running Strong - I love this book because it's super colourful and does a brief overview of anatomy and physiology. The core focus of this book is really to help you run injury free. There's a fair bit and emphasis on strength training in this book, but I find that this is very good.
- The Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training - This book is similar to Hal Higdon's Ultimate Marathon Training Guide, it gives you a good training guideline on what your mileages should look like.
I will do a posting later about the specific training plans I used to train for a marathon / half-marathon, but in a nutshell they do follow an algorithm where you build up with no more than 10% mileage increase a week and then you would do long runs followed by a taper period where you decrease dramatically in mileage.
B) Shoes:
It is a deception that all you need is a pair of shoes. It is slightly more complicated than that. The reason being is that the way our feet moves are different between different individuals. Without getting into too much detail on the anatomy, the movement of your feet when you are moving is called a gait cycle. In gait cycles of some people, pronation (there's two types, under or over can occur). In general, people can either: underpronate, overpronate or neutral). In general, it is beneficial for you to know what type of foot you are. The type of foot you are will help determine what type of shoe you need. Conversely, for the 3 types of feet are 3 types of shoes that are made for that.
Personally, I have flat feet (and I pronate and when I started, I ran in a pair of discount Nike free-runs I got at the outlet. Free runs are more of a neutral shoe (if you pronate, you need more support so I kept getting shin-splits and stress fractures without knowing why and how I ended up with them). It wasn't until I spoke with people that also run that made me realize it was the problem with my shoes. Here are some good reads/ tips:
C) Clothes and socks.
It always makes me cringe to watch people wear cotton and run. I used to be a cotton wearer myself, until I realized that the fabric itself - even though it is great for doing leisurely things, is actually pretty horrendous for endurance sports. The reason is that cotton soaks up sweat and moisture, but it does not release them easily. This causes friction for chafing and also just having moist sweat stuck to your skin for a prolonged period of time is gross and not good for the skin anyway. Mind you, this does not mean you should go out there and search for super expensive workout clothes.
As a general rule of thumb, avoid cotton and go for either a blend or some sort of polyester. You can get a decent workout clothes for really cheap (I would say $10- $30 is sufficient). I'll do more of a blogpost on this later as we can get super particular on this topic.
D) Nutrition:
Nutrition is VERY IMPORTANT in the grand scheme of running. In a nutshell, your cardio level occurs in zones (and it's different for everyone). The zones determine what type of respiration you are doing and what kind of nutrients are being used. For example, if you are at zone 5, your body will be exercising at maximum and searching for the fastest form of energy (simple sugars). Marathon and Half-Marathong running is about being economical on nutrient usage, and fat burn (zone 3/4) is way more economical as fat cells contain more energy but it's much harder to burn than carbs. Knowing this will help you determine your fat burn and calorie needs. There are books written just on this topic. However, if we had to break down the importance of nutrition, here are some key things I learned:
E) Education pays off in the long run
I've always been a science and medicine nerd. Always be open to learning more things. There are always new discoveries in sport science that helps us further understand our bodies better. An example is Nike's Breaking 2:00. Those shoes that were worn (and all running shoes in general) actually have teams of engineers working with medical professionals in designing more efficient shoes. The nutrition of the athlete also has dietitians and more medical professionals in helping determine what to eat so that our bodies can operate better. All of this is still an ongoing research, and the only best way to know how to do things better is by learning. You will be surprised at how many people are closed minded (including me sometimes - haha).
F) Cutting the bullsh*t: There's a lot of people who buy tons and tons of products to assist them with running. This can go from supplements (that are just super high in sugar) to super fancy workout clothes. For example, I've seen people buy tons of gel packs and then eats a ton of them when their runs aren't even that long. These gels contain so much sugar and calories that taking them constantly while the body has no need for that much sugar just piles up as unhealthy weight and money spent. Everything should be relative and I'm not saying products, supplements and gel packs are bad, but just use common sense when
*I'll post more about this later
Well that is all for now, I will be posting more later! For more information, sign up for my newsletter at: https://www.mikehsiao.net/mh100news
Have comments or other information? Please feel free to comment below.
It is a deception that all you need is a pair of shoes. It is slightly more complicated than that. The reason being is that the way our feet moves are different between different individuals. Without getting into too much detail on the anatomy, the movement of your feet when you are moving is called a gait cycle. In gait cycles of some people, pronation (there's two types, under or over can occur). In general, people can either: underpronate, overpronate or neutral). In general, it is beneficial for you to know what type of foot you are. The type of foot you are will help determine what type of shoe you need. Conversely, for the 3 types of feet are 3 types of shoes that are made for that.
Personally, I have flat feet (and I pronate and when I started, I ran in a pair of discount Nike free-runs I got at the outlet. Free runs are more of a neutral shoe (if you pronate, you need more support so I kept getting shin-splits and stress fractures without knowing why and how I ended up with them). It wasn't until I spoke with people that also run that made me realize it was the problem with my shoes. Here are some good reads/ tips:
- Visit a running store (specific running stores have people who can help assess your foot type and make a recommendation on what shoe would fit you. After you determine the type of shoe that is for you, your options on what shoes you can get and your price range can be determined. *note - do not buy shoes that are too old (shoes generally have a special adhesive these days, and the adhesive usually oxidizes with time meaning that the impact
- Some people need orthotics, this is often more pricier (but can be covered by some insurance if you have them.
- Some sites to check out:
- https://www.runningshoesguru.com/2009/03/3-types-of-running-shoes-for-3-types-of-feet/
- More information can be found here: https://www.runnersworld.com/pronation
C) Clothes and socks.
It always makes me cringe to watch people wear cotton and run. I used to be a cotton wearer myself, until I realized that the fabric itself - even though it is great for doing leisurely things, is actually pretty horrendous for endurance sports. The reason is that cotton soaks up sweat and moisture, but it does not release them easily. This causes friction for chafing and also just having moist sweat stuck to your skin for a prolonged period of time is gross and not good for the skin anyway. Mind you, this does not mean you should go out there and search for super expensive workout clothes.
As a general rule of thumb, avoid cotton and go for either a blend or some sort of polyester. You can get a decent workout clothes for really cheap (I would say $10- $30 is sufficient). I'll do more of a blogpost on this later as we can get super particular on this topic.
D) Nutrition:
Nutrition is VERY IMPORTANT in the grand scheme of running. In a nutshell, your cardio level occurs in zones (and it's different for everyone). The zones determine what type of respiration you are doing and what kind of nutrients are being used. For example, if you are at zone 5, your body will be exercising at maximum and searching for the fastest form of energy (simple sugars). Marathon and Half-Marathong running is about being economical on nutrient usage, and fat burn (zone 3/4) is way more economical as fat cells contain more energy but it's much harder to burn than carbs. Knowing this will help you determine your fat burn and calorie needs. There are books written just on this topic. However, if we had to break down the importance of nutrition, here are some key things I learned:
- If you eat more than you burn, you will get fat no matter how much you exercise. I know some runners who eat a crazy amount of food (I know I'm a hippocrite as this is a food blog, but some people eat way more than I do) and the rationale for them is that because they run alot, they can eat alot... that is no where near true.
- What you eat is super important! Getting those protein, vitamin and carbs in at a balance is important. Depending on your cardio zone, what you burn is different. The general rule of thumb and rationale I have is that getting those proteins and vitamins in helps repair the body after a workout.
 |
| Cardio Zones (created by the YWCA of Saskatchewan). I chose this because it looks nice and it illustrates my point. |
E) Education pays off in the long run
I've always been a science and medicine nerd. Always be open to learning more things. There are always new discoveries in sport science that helps us further understand our bodies better. An example is Nike's Breaking 2:00. Those shoes that were worn (and all running shoes in general) actually have teams of engineers working with medical professionals in designing more efficient shoes. The nutrition of the athlete also has dietitians and more medical professionals in helping determine what to eat so that our bodies can operate better. All of this is still an ongoing research, and the only best way to know how to do things better is by learning. You will be surprised at how many people are closed minded (including me sometimes - haha).
F) Cutting the bullsh*t: There's a lot of people who buy tons and tons of products to assist them with running. This can go from supplements (that are just super high in sugar) to super fancy workout clothes. For example, I've seen people buy tons of gel packs and then eats a ton of them when their runs aren't even that long. These gels contain so much sugar and calories that taking them constantly while the body has no need for that much sugar just piles up as unhealthy weight and money spent. Everything should be relative and I'm not saying products, supplements and gel packs are bad, but just use common sense when
*I'll post more about this later
Well that is all for now, I will be posting more later! For more information, sign up for my newsletter at: https://www.mikehsiao.net/mh100news
Have comments or other information? Please feel free to comment below.
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