Thousands will gather in Arlington, Virginia, on Sunday at the starting line of the Marine Corps Marathon. A running coach has advice on preparing for the race.
Thousands of first-time racers will take to the starting line Sunday at this year’s Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Virginia. If you would like to take on the challenge, one day, a running coach and MCM veteran has advice on how to prepare for your first 26.2-mile race.
The first thing you want to do is slowly start notching up the miles you run per week.
“Don’t even worry about training yet,” said Jill Brasky, former vice president of training at D.C. Road Runners. “If you’re running 10 miles a week, run 11 the next week and run 12 the week after that, adding an extra mile.”
Build up the miles you run per week by about 10% each week until you can run about 20 miles in a week.
“What you don’t want to do, of course, is jump into the training cycle without building a base because you are going to get injured,” she said.
