Here is an example of a weekly marathon training schedule where each activity could be running, cycling, swimming or some equivalent gym exercises.

Monday – Off day
Tuesday – Medium activity
Wednesday – Easy activity
Thursday – Medium activity
Friday – Off day or easy activity
Saturday – Medium or easy activity
Sunday – Long activity

There are established principles which govern all training methods. They are just different applications of the same basic principles. The most important ones which are the mainstay of all training programs are:

1. Athletic Recovery

When setting your weekly routine, it is important to alternate stress and recovery. Your body copes better with hard work if it has a chance to recover and repair itself. Whenever stress builds up it inevitably culminates in breakdown. If sufficient time to recover is not allowed, then the body’s resources become depleted.

Always follow a hard session with light running the following day. This helps prevent injury and gets blood circulating in your tired muscles and helps remove the accumulation of waste products. You can also consider light activities after a hard run which might include cycling, swimming or even just walking.

When you first draw up your monthly schedule, try and alternate 2 or 3 weeks of hard training with 1 easier week where you might reduce your work load by a quarter. This will give a mix of stress and recovery which will help the body to cope and, ultimately, improve your running.

2. Adaptation

Slowly build up your training work load to increase your aerobic endurance. As you get near to the target you have set for your race, adjust your training with speed workouts. This will help you peak for your race. Follow this with a recovery and then start again with some endurance running.

The increasing levels of stress allow the body and mind to improve. Be careful though as overstress does cause the possibility of breaking down. Getting the right balance of stress is difficult. It should be intense enough and regular enough to allow you to progress to a higher level of racing fitness. Use the 10 percent rule which is,

‘Do not increase your distance, time or speed by more than 10 percent from one month to the next. Also, no more than 10 percent of your running should be done as racing.’

3. Consistency

Training should be consistent work. No matter what the weather or how you feel you need to follow your training schedule. Training needs to be done continuously and consistently for good results. Regular running in small amounts is better than ad hoc days of hard slog only when you feel like it. It’s much easier to get out of shape than to get into shape.

Training is all about discipline. We have all had times when we want to take a day off just because things get a little tough. Always try to do at least half as much training as the previous week. Rather than not having a run at all, try cutting back on the distance, vary the pace or reduce your exercises to maintain your consistency.

Regular training in manageable amounts leads to consistency. There will always be unavoidable times when you miss a day or two. Don’t try to make it up all in one go. Add a kilometre or two to your schedule each day for a while to make up some of the lost distance.

Bad habits in any endeavour are easy to acquire but very difficult to lose. It is better to start off with the correct technique and save on a difficult transition at a later date. Some people may wonder why they should change their running form at all when it has worked so well for them in the past. The two main reasons are energy efficiency and injury.

A bad running form can make a big difference to your chances of getting injured, especially in the lower body. The repetitive strain on the leg joints can soon lead to problems.

Wasting energy by using the wrong form will always cost you dearly in a marathon. You need to be able to focus on a relaxed free-flowing form that doesn’t make unnecessary movements. It is not just the waste of energy but the fatigue that results from it and the poor performance that should convince the beginner that changes may be necessary.

Improving your running form could turn out to be more important than improving your aerobic capacity or raising your lactate threshold. Just a small change in your running form could make a dramatic improvement in your times or reduce your chance of injury. Ensuring that you have a good running form makes the body move more efficiently and so, minimizes the use of energy. Your body only has a finite amount so it shouldn’t be squandered.

A good running form is achieved by having a good arm motion and a good posture of the body. You also need to understand how your foot fall and striding technique need to vary depending on terrain or incline. Once you have managed to incorporate all of these factors together then it is likely that you have found your best running form. This is unique to you and should fit your own physique and abilities.

As with everything else, practice makes perfect and it is practice that will help you to find your best running form. Sometimes you will need to focus on a just one body part such as your arms or head to achieve the desired action. If you are training for a race then speed workouts help your body become accustomed to the mechanics that are necessary for keeping up such a high pace. It will exaggerate your running form and make you more aware of it. This will make it stick in your mind and muscle memory more easily.

Always consider all aspects of your running form and not just each part in isolation. When you are going forward into the hill push the hips upwards. The arms should move with short, quick movements. The shoulders need to be relaxed but not floppy otherwise they roll which wastes energy giving no help to your forward motion.

Your body angle depends on the method you develop for your foot fall or foot strike. If you run with a heel first foot strike style then an erect posture is generally more efficient. This is because the muscles would have to strain otherwise to keep you balanced. However, if you use the ball of the foot method, you should have a slightly leaning forward posture which allows for a more fluid motion of the legs.

Avoid rolling your head around, try and keep it straight and erect. Your body has a tendency to follow the head in whatever direction. If you run while looking at your feet you will have a tendency to fall forward. Always look ahead and your head will help keep you erect.

Keep your hips relaxed, keep them forward and up. At the same time, try pulling in your buttocks by moving your pelvis forward slightly. This moves your centre of gravity forward which aids forward motion.

You need to relax your shoulders but don’t let them roll. They should be curved forward slightly in a relaxed manner. Don’t lean forward too much otherwise your hips will move backward to compensate which will badly affect your centre of gravity and your posture. As a result your stride length will suffer and you will be using more energy.

The arms are, perhaps, the biggest problem. They are like two pendulums hanging from your shoulders. To swing a pendulum requires energy. The longer the pendulum the more energy it requires to swing it so shorten it. Bend your arm at the elbow and use it like a piston not a pendulum. If you carry your arms too high though, it will cause fatigue. Don’t swing them excessively but don’t carry them rigidly either. Inhibiting a natural swing uses just as much energy as inducing an unnatural one. In general your hands shouldn’t go any higher than your chest or any lower than the waist. When your arm completes the backward swing then the hand should just graze the seam of your shorts.

Bouncing is probably where most energy is wasted so you should try to eliminate as much of it as possible. All the energy used to bounce needs to be used to move you forward. While running, try focusing on an object in the distance. If the object seems to be bouncing up and down excessively then you are bouncing too much and you should try and adapt your style or rhythm accordingly.