Top Tips when Starting your Irish Life Dublin Marathon Training Block

Top Tips when Starting your Irish Life Dublin Marathon Training Block from physiotherapist Mark Kenneally

You’ve started into your marathon training block. Whether you plan on doing a 12 or 16 (or longer!) week buildup a few common themes likely exist:

• You will do a weekly long run, which will get longer and longer for at least 8 weeks
• Your overall training volume will increase week on week
• You’ll probably do a few races in preparation for the big day

In these blogs we’re going to try to offer an insight into what you might expect to feel along the way, month by month, and some advice in advance of potential injury problems.

This months’ topic is training planning and really serves more as advice and a cautionary work, rather than predicting how you might feel.

When starting into your Irish Life Dublin marathon training block ask yourself:

How much running have I been doing leading into the marathon block? Remember that increases in training should be gradual and relative to your training history. Of all the injury problems I see leading into marathons, most of them are down to avoidable training mistakes. And sometimes the problems may not manifest immediately, there can be a delayed reaction, but when training is reviewed looking back the mistakes can be seen.

Remember, just because a plan is written down doesn’t mean it is right for you from the off. Look back over your recent training/running and try to make sure that increases don’t happen at too rapid a rate. Traditionally a “10% rule’ was seen as gold standard. This stated that you shouldn’t increase your training volume by more than 10% a week. So, if you run 50km in a week, the following week should not be more than 55km.

Some new theories have emerged in the last few years which likely more closely reflect an easier way to build up safely. One such method is to take the average of your last 4-6 weeks training volume and compare it to your next planned week. If your next planned week is more than 20% higher than you may be running an increased risk of injury.

The reason that this may be important at this point is that at the start of the marathon training you are going to feel fresh and enthusiastic, so it can be easy to get carried away in these early stages. You probably won’t immediately develop a stress fracture, or a tendinopathy. Maybe you’ll have some muscle soreness, but this usually rectifies itself quickly with some rest, unlike the other injuries just mentioned. Planning and restraint are very important.

As time passes and you get into the heavier training, then the traditional marathon training injuries become a bigger risk. In later blogs we will discuss these.

Mark Kenneally is a member of the Irish Life Dublin Marathon Runners’ Support Squad, helping you to harness the power of support to achieve your goals. Olympians Catherina McKiernan and Mick Clohisey who have developed training plans for all races in the series and the marathon using their vast expertise and knowledge. They are joined by nutritionist, Olivia Keenan, and Sports Performance Psychologist Jessie Barr. To find out more follow the Irish Life Dublin Marathon social media channels.