Runtime

Marathon training.  It’s all about the theory, the mileage, the exercise, building the stamina, building your core, right trainers, right trainer, reading the books, prep, decent nutrition, proper graft and getting ready for the big day.  That’s the day of reckoning when all your friends will be straight on to www.that-marathon-my-mate-is-running-in.com after two in the afternoon to see if your time is any way respectable or worse still, better than their personal best.

With all that pressure on, if you are running say 40-50 miles a week at your highest training point, then you’ll be out roadside on your Jack Jones for a whopping 450 minutes or seven and a half hours a week, just running.  That’s after banging out a working week too and if you’re a regular Boot Camper, it rather makes for a fulsome week on planet You. Not easy friend – you’ll be in bed by nine every night at that rate and your weekend social life isn’t looking too hot either.

Which is why, with all that time spent running and with nothing else to keep your mind ticking over, there is one thing that you don’t hear much about when training for a marathon, well, two things.

1. What is a decent music player to go running with?
2. How do I manage that much mileage?

To the first problem, lately, I’ve found the iPod Shuffle which is the 3rd generation version, though checking Apple’s website, it appears that there’s a 4th generation edition already out.

So how does it go?  Well, not too shabby actually.  It’s carved out of aluminium and weighs around 50g so you definitely won’t know you have it on you.  It clips on to your pocket tightly and has never come off and, with the headphones just the right length, it makes wearing it quite a comfy setup.

To get music onto it, you just connect it to your computer and use i-Tunes to throw your music at it.  I use Linux and it works absolutely fine with Banshee Media Player and gtkpod iPod Manager as it is seen through the USB port.  Nice!!

So what to play? Well, on my last marathon, I used a combination of stuff from European Techno to the The Hoosiers (“Worried about Ray”). I quite like running to electronic music probably because, like me, it goes on an on, even in the boring bits of the marathon!

All things considered, do make sure you have your playlist fully sorted out before you run – 10 minutes before the marathon starts is not the time to try re-ordering your playlist!

Doing the mileage

As for running that kind of weekly distance, a running club in your locality is a must, such as our friends at the Victoria Park Harriers, or the Serpentine Club, though of course there are others.

Clubs organise regular weekly runs, coached training sessions and also offer a nearly limitless supply of nice people who also want to go running. You could end up with a load of new friends who will happily go out running with you and won’t shy away from a 15 mile run if offered.

Moreover, there will always be somebody worse than you, the same as you and better than you, so you always have challenges to meet and standards to keep. That keeps you sharp and committed.

I think I would have done a lot better in my marathon preparations in the past if I had joined a club precisely because you have so many people to run with and that way you forget the mileage. I’m in two running groups now in the US and it has made a huge difference to my feelings towards running. Before joining, I would just bang out mileage and didn’t _really_ enjoy it but now, I look forward to meting up with great people and just going running – I could run with people every day all day given the opportunity!

And finally

Mo is running the Copenhagen Marathon on the 22nd May while the entry process to the London Marathon starts next week from the 26th April 2011 on their website if you’re lucky enough to get in. If you’re thinking of running a marathon and have never run one before, come and talk to Mo to get a feel for it. Marathons are hard work, but finishing is just the best feeling ever.

Happy running!