There are so many different marathon, 5K, 10K, and half marathon training schedules you could follow and too little time to compare all of them! The best thing to do right now is be honest with yourself. How long do you think it will take you to get to have a run of 3 miles? 6 miles? 10 miles? The truth is, if you have already been running 10 miles regularly, you are just about half way through a marathon training program or in shape to run a half marathon without much training. If you can barely get a mile out before being tired, your training schedule should be much much longer for a marathon or at the beginning of a 5K training program.
There are several training programs for marathons that expect you to have been running for six months already. That means being able to run a 3-5 mile run without much trouble. While that is one of the most ideal situations you could be in, it’s not realistic to expect everybody to have that kind of patience. Pick a training schedule that fits you. Beginner, Novice, and Advanced are different levels too.
As said before and I can’t emphasize this enough, every training program has to be modified to fit Y O U! Nobody can train you better than you can solely because nobody else knows your body the way you do. You might think this is a false statement because you haven’t learned how to listen to your body and what it’s telling you. Don’t worry too much if you take a lot longer than the length of the original training schedule. Getting out there and doing your weekly runs is what matters. If you can’t meet the milage, repeat the week as necessary and push yourself. Don’t hurt yourself in the process of keeping up with a training schedule if it really is too much for you.
I find myself sounding like a broken record but it is entirely necessary when I say… Listen to your body!
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