5 Marathon Training Tips for Beginners That Work

Don’t do anything new on race day. Don’t wear new shoes, socks, marathon top, don’t use fuels you haven’t trained with.

Don’t go out too fast even if you feel great with adrenaline pumping go out disciplined and stick to your plan.

Know that during the marathon at some point things aren’t going to go to plan, be prepared for this and know what to do when it happens.

Make sure to give yourself long enough to train where you can build up your mileage in a safe manner without risk of injury.

And of course most importantly enjoy it. You only get one first marathon whether you go out with a time goal or a goal to just finish, smile and be happy knowing you are doing something which 95% of people can’t do.

This is a no brainer.

If the pace feels ridiculously easy through the first half marathon, then you are doing it right.

If it feels pretty easy through mile 17-18, you're still doing it right.

If it still feels easy by mile 20-21, speed up a little.

The flipside of that is this: If at about mile 6-7, you think you're "feeling good that day" and decide to speed up, you've probably just doomed your race.

Whenever I visit this subreddit. I tend to see a lot of posts asking about things such as clothing, earphones, smart watches, shoes etc. Obviously all suggestions are the opinions of others, some people fairly new to running and others that are seasoned vets to say the least.

As a fairly new runner(consistently running anyway). I thought I would share my findings over the last 4-5 months. For context, when I was younger(16-20yrs) I would say I was a fairly good runner. 19 min 5km, and 41 min 10km. These days I am 28 and until earlier this year I had hardly run. But over the years I had added about 15kg of muscle. Spent a lot of time in the gym, but discovered my cardiovascular endurance was horrid. So in order to keep myself healthy I decided I would commit to running.

Upon beginning, I was using what shoes I had available and gym clothing and had to make some adjustments quickly to make running enjoyable. So here are some of the things that I think are key for new runners to make it as enjoyable and meaningful of an experience as possible.

These are also in order of importance in my opinion. Please do realise that this information is anecdotal, and it is what has just purely helped me enjoy running and improve as well.

GET FITTED FOR RUNNING SHOES

I can't stress this one enough. I went from running in an old pair of Nike Flyknits, that were on their last legs, and got fitted for a pair of Asics Novablasts 2's. Magically my pace over 5-7km dropped 30 seconds per km, and my knee and calf pains disappeared.

Get proper running shorts

No you don't need to get 4inch inseam shorts. But get a pair that have the liners in them. This will save you washing a lot of underwear and a lot of chaffing as well. Here are some of my personal favourites,

Underarmour Isochill Run Shorts

Lululemon Surge Lined Shorts 6"

Nike Flex Strike Shorts

Running Belt

This one is only something I got in last couple of weeks. But prior to this I was either holding my phone or shoving it in the tiny pocket in my pants. The weight of the phone would normally mean I would need to tighten my shorts up a fair but to prevent it feeling weird and jumping around a bit.

So I got a running belt, they are relatively small and it sits just under the band of my shorts, and you honestly don't even notice it is there.

I went with a cheap option off amazon that had pretty good reviews, I think it cost me about $12AUD. In the future I may look to upgrade to a Flipbelt since I now see the value in a running belt now!

A Hat

If you are anything like me and you sweat a lot, a hat is a great. It can really help keep the sweat out of your eyes. No need for a special runners cap here. Anything will work, hell wear a bucket hat if you like. The extra sun protection is also nice if you run during sunnier times.

Good Earphones

If you are like me and like to listen to podcasts or music when you run, then invest in a good pair. I personally use Apple Airpod Pros. For me I have no issue with them falling out and I am yet to experience any issues due to sweat. The key is obviously finding something that stays stuck in your ears and ideally has an option such as "transparency" on the Airpods. This allows noice exterior to the headphones to come in, so I can remain aware of my surroundings at all times. I wouldn't recommend complete noise cancelling as it can pose a danger around traffic and bicycles in particular.

A training plan of some sort

If you are fairly new to running and have a really low base, couch to 5km is a great place to start. For me the main idea behind a training plan of some sort, is to have structure to your running. If you have structure when it comes time to run you don't have to think about what you are going to do, its already decided for you. This takes out the opportunity to avoid running on a day you are meant too

Electrolytes

This one was a bit of a game changer for me. I found it improved my recovery a lot of than expected, especially on runs around 50mins+. I personally sweat a lot. Over an hour of running I can easily sweat out about 1.2-1.4 litres. So once again if it is something you can afford, then I would recommend it highly.

A Smartwatch

I am a big believer in the principle of what can be measured can be improved. Being able to have some insight and monitoring into things such as your pace, heart rate and overall performance is great.

Once I cottoned on to the concept of going on easy runs where I keep my heart rate around 145bpm, running became so much more enjoyable. Prior to that I could run about 2km and I would be exhausted as I was running to hard. Now that I have slowed it down and go on my longer easy runs, running is actually enjoyable. I was able to do this by have a smart watch that I can train to a particular heart rate zone.

What sort of smartwatch should you get? This will always be controversial as people(myself included) generally have a bias due to their own experiences. There are plenty of good options out there such as Coros, Garmin, Polar and Apple Watch. For complete transparency, I have only ever used Garmin or Apple.

But, my preference is Garmin. I personally own a Garmin Forerunner 945. I like it for a couple reasons:

• Lightweight
• Battery lasts 5-7 days including my running. Without running I can get two weeks out of the battery.
• Simple to use I found
• I like the garmin connect app, and I can link it directly to strava.

A heart rate monitor

This falls back to the what can be measured can be improved. For me personally I wanted my tracking to be as accurate as possible. So this alleviated any concern I had that the optical wrist HR sensor wasn't locking on to my running cadence or having an off day.

Most of the optical wrist sensors out these days are fairly accurate(most of the time). However my preference would be if you can get one and afford one then do it for sure

Chaffed nipples suck

Once I started running more than an hour, I discovered some of my shirts(cotton based) would give me chaffing on my nipples, and let me tell you it sucked for the next day or so.

There are a few ways to prevent this. Some form of tape on your nipples, generously apply some Vaseline or BodyGlide to said nipples or you can invest in a synthetic based shirts that wick sweat away from the body, like Dryfit, Coolmax etc.

• The hardest part about running is lacing up your shoes. Once you have done that you will basically 100% of the time go for a run.
• Listen to you body. If you archiles, knee, foot, is hurting. Rest and let it heal. This will pay off in the long run.
• Have a proper cool down and stretch after a run.
• Get as much sleep as you can, essential for good recovery
• HAVE FUN! You are getting outside and doing something that you hopefully end up enjoying and you are bettering your overall health and wellbeing.

What's your best nugget of advice you'd want to share with someone training for their first marathon?

Take the race and mentally break it into four or five pieces. 10 km 10 km 10 km 12 km or whatever.

Then mentally dedicate each section to someone you love or helped you get to the start line.

Think about them, relive memories, times you've shared, etc. Then switch to someone else each section.

I did this on my first marathon. Haven't done it since. But it somehow made that first one feel extra special.

After the Server Slam, I see a lot of posts where players struggled with the mechanics and how to feel they're making progress. To make it easier starting out, I'm posting my best beginner advice learned from the past weekend. This is intended for new players without any extraction shooter experience to help you get started, but should not be treated as the only way to play - Extraction shooters are best after you learn when to break the rules and take risks, and the sandbox opens up the more experience you get.

General Tips:

• Extraction shooters are about knowing when to be loud and fast, and when to be quieter and slower. Both have risks, but it's better when you mix them at the right time.
• Starting out, your shell is limited by lack of upgrades, implants and cores. You'll get more powerful as time goes on. Every runner shell is viable in Solo and in Trio, and strong in different ways.
• Everything on Tau Ceti wants you dead, directly or indirectly. Finding ways around that is part of the game.
• Things on the map typically only make loud noises when players are nearby. If the UESC or Ticks are angry, but not at you, another player is definitely near.
• If it's quiet, take a moment and listen to the world. Audio cues are extremely strong information and can tell you where enemies are.
• Close doors behind you. An open door is an easy way for players to follow you into a building and ambush you while your back is turned.
• There are plenty of cheap and viable low-tier guns and builds that can help you get extra money. They might be outmatched vs players, but are perfectly fine for PvE loot runs and won't cost much at all.
• You do not need to fight. Hiding, running away, and extracting early are all valid choices, and are intended parts of the sandbox.
• Use your knife! The knife kills low ranking UESC in 2 strikes and is much quieter than your gun, can kill Ticks before they explode and hit you, and you run faster while holding it.
• Don't blow your budget on a new gun if you don't feel confident playing an equivalent, cheaper gun. Better guns typically enable a playstyle or do better damage at longer ranges, but you can figure out what you enjoy while learning cheaper guns.
• There's a gear wipe every 3 months, so allow yourself to take in a strong gun and use it. Even if it's gone in 5 minutes, it'll definitely be gone at end of season anyway. Better to have fun with it while you can.
• Learning is part of the experience, and death is the first step. The only way to get better is to push past the loss. It's always recoverable, and you can always overcome difficulties. I believe in you Green > Blue > Purple > Yellow. I've heard there's even ultra-rare Red items.
• If you don't know what an item does yet and it's white rarity, feel free to throw it out and grab a green item or better. White items are everywhere, and green items are worth more.
• The main types of loot are Weapons, Weapon Mods, Equipment (like grenades), Shields, Cores, Implants, Salvage Materials, and Valuables.
• Salvage can be bartered to buy healing, upgraded guns and upgrade faction abilities with your factions. They can also be sold for raw cash.
• Valuables, aka Loot items are always sold on extract, and are a great source of cash. Some are blueprints that unlock the ability to buy rare items from the Armory.

Factions:

• You will want to complete your contracts with CyberAcme to unlock the different factions and ability to improve your shells and the Armory. Liaison contracts unlock the faction permanently, but typically lead you to conflict with players, so don't worry if it takes a few tries to complete them.
• CyberAcme has account wide upgrades for storage and sprinting, as well as starter gear at very cheap prices. They're always worth levelling up.
• NuCaloric will give you free healing items daily, and you can purchase shields from them with the rank 5 upgrade.
• Traxus sell more expensive weapons and attachments. They take more investment to get to good unlocks, but they give access to strong weapons later, like the Longshot at rank 9.
• MIDA focus on grenades and equipment items, but also have a strong agility upgrade at rank 3.
• Arachne has great upgrades and strong weapons, including unlocking the WSTR shotgun at rank 7.
• Sekiguchi gives easy access to build-defining cores and consumables to let you use abilities more often.
• I'd recommend focusing on CyberAcme and NuCaloric first to rank 5. Traxus can wait, unless you want to rush the Longshot. Every other faction is personal preference, but rank 5 is a good early target and gives you access to good gear and upgrades.

Lastly, Marathon is a complex, dense game. It's certainly confusing in many ways but there are tons of ways to improve and enjoy the game at your own pace. It's intended to be a rich experience where your mastery grows over time, where learning and breaking your limitations is the reward. Death is the first step, and escaping those limits will make you God. Best of luck on your runs, and I'll see you on Tau Ceti!

If you've trained well, you're probably going to feel good during the first half to 3/4 of the race. Things may even feel easy. You may even feel like picking up the pace. Don't.

I wish I hadn't set a time goal and instead just had a goal to run every step!

I hope this is helpful. I've thought for a long time about what I have learned from doing marathons and what I would have liked to have known before I started.

1. Get a belt for carrying your phone. Get some good socks. Get something to carry water that isn't a burden.

2. HILLS PAY THE BILLS. Find the most hateful hill in your area and fall in love with it. Get angry when you see other people running on your hill.

3. Don't try and force out a poo before you run - you will get haemorrhoids and you will die.

4. Gels are a scam - get a bottle of honey - more carbs per gram and you won't feel like you've poisoned yourself after the race.

5. Try training dry and hungry. You don't need fuel or water for session anything up to 8 miles. If you're out for over an hour take water. If you're out for over 1.5 hours take food.

6. Stop looking at your watch - plan the session you're going to do and go on feel. Checking what speed you went through a mile is irrelevant. Train yourself to run at % of maximum effort. You know what you're capable of on that day - your watch does not.

7. Measure your runs in miles. This isn't cycling - cyclists are ants to you now.

8. Make up a session per week that builds your confidence for race day. Consider what you're worried about most and do a session to reduce that worry.

9. Have a bath after a long run.

10. Remind yourself often why you're doing it. Someone said you couldn't? You were the kid crying at the school cross country? Lost a load of weight? Think of those people who doubted you. All the little things that built up to you doing this are free fuel. Use it.

11. On race day: have a plan - but don't overthink it. You will perform better on the day than you ever have in training if you just stay calm and enjoy it. 70% of the race is physical and 30% is your mind. Create emotional boosts - thank EVERYONE that has come out on race day and given up their time to make the event work. The aid stations, the marshals, that kid on the corner hitting a pan with a wooden spoon: thank them and smile - and mean it. Being a good person makes you feel good, and feeling good makes running less bad. They're all out there for you - you're in it together. Little endorphin boosts will improve your race immeasurably. When it gets tough - combine everything - think of your kids - think of your dead cat - think about how far you've come. Try not to cry - breathing is hard when you start crying.

Now updated with Vault Breaker text and several revisions after recent updates have been released!

You had me until you slandered the metric system

Training runs don't need to be at race pace.

Marathon training isn’t hard, conceptually at least. You just have to do lots of miles. I suppose the one thing I would say as a recreational runner is that I think most people should forget about the tempo/zone2/intervals etc… and just concentrate on doing longer and longer long runs each weekend over 4 months. The rest is just do as many short and mid range runs mid week as you can with 1 or 2 rest days. Anything more complicated should be for club runners imo.

I'd love to hear your tips or things you wish you'd done differently at the start. Small stuff like eating dried pineapple instead of gels right up to big stuff like wishing you'd set totally different goals.

Edit: Wow so much great advice here! I'm really enjoying reading all your stories and tips. Sorry I can't reply to everyone but it's all very appreciated!

Enjoy the long training runs at easy pace. Don’t be tempted to speed them up. On race day, start out conservatively and ease into the race. At every race I’ve done, there were people who darted out and when I passed them later, they were walking or cramping on the ground. Know yourself and your pace, and train consistently.

Prepare for the conditions that day, and adjust your expectations accordingly. If it is hot and humid, it will affect your pace and you need to take extra care.

Also take care of your feet. The shoes that are good for 10km runs are not necessarily the best ones for 40km+ runs. I found I needed a wider toe box, one size larger than my usual running shoes (which were already a size up), and a lighter, more flexible shoe.

Have fun and enjoy, both the training and the race itself!

I'm glad I didn't have these tips before my first marathon 😆

If you’re in pain, either from an injury or simply being worn down or overworked, it’s not about if you’re able to “run through the pain.”

If you run in pain, your gait will be off, even if you don’t think it is. When your gait is off, you risk (more) injury. It’s much better to skip a few runs and rest, rather than “push through” when you’re not feeling well.

I have my first marathon coming up in a couple months. Training is going well, but for those that have run 1+ marathons already, just wondering if there are some things you wish you knew about going into your first one. Thanks!

Train with nutrition right from the start

Most of these are really dumb. And I feel bad for you if your main motivation for running is people doubting you. I run because I like running, not because of what other people think.

I have more than 1.

1) This is something I already knew, but worth to share to everyone - Run more and create a strong base before trying to attempt a marathon. I only did my first half-marathon 11 months after I first started running and even then I was climbing from 10k, 12, 14 and so on. By the time I did the half, I felt strong enough to commence marathon training.

2) Follow well-established training plans that is reputable and have evidence that it worked. For my first 3 marathons, I just trained blindly but had the idea that I just needsd to incorporate long runs once a week and just run lower mileages before the runs. But each time I ran the race, I would fizzle out at the 20 mile / 32km mark. Frustrated, I went to buy Pfitzinger's books, followed his plans to a (near) T and in the 2 Marathons that I trained with his plans, I broke sub4 and sub 3:30 and PB'ed each time.

So yes, there is no secret. Run more, followed structure plans and you'll have a good time before the race, because seasoned marathoners know the journey to train for the race is more important than the race itself.

My 2c FWIW.

1. Aim to run a good marathon (which is not the same as a target time).

2. Practise monotony during your training so you can feel your ideal pace without having to check your watch every few minutes. Even if not at marathon pace, practise monotony on your long runs at the pace set for them - aim for every mile being exactly the same pace.

3. Use your long runs to practice structured fuelling and hydration (long runs are great for this) so it becomes as habitual as the running itself. You don’t want this aspect of running to feel unfamiliar on race day. You’ll also find which gels work for you etc.

4. Logically plan your gel use. Gels are not magic bullets. Your body can absorb only a finite number of calories and make it available as energy per hour. Too many gels and you’ll get stomach cramps/nausea. I’ve always worked to 1 gel every 5 miles in a race. YMMV so find out during training.

5. Test your race day kit on your long runs. Related to (20) below, keep the kit light. Don’t run with some chandelier of gear hanging off you (e.g. vest/pack with a water bladder, big waist pouch/belt stuffed full of crap) as it’s just dead weight.

6. Plan you your meals on the day before the race and the race itself.

7. Run a half marathon (as an organised race or as well as you can as a solo run) about halfway through your training plan. The rule of thumb ‘HM time + 10-15 mins’ = realistic marathon time. You still have the rest of your training to go but this gives you a realistic assessment for that point in your plan.

8. Decide if you are going to run a >20 mile long run in training. It can be useful because you’ll find out just what it feels like after mine 20 in a marathon. I don’t think anything can prepare you for that other than doing it at least once in training.

9. Related: Your body (carb loaded) will take you to 20 miles before you are out of glycogen (1 mile = 100 calories and a body (loaded) holds a maximum of 2000). After that, it’s down to whatever fat your body can burn (which requires more oxygen to convert to useful energy than sugars), gels and grit. Obvs, if you are training to fat burn then you’ll have to work out/read up on the best strategy here. I’ve never done it. Knowing calories per mile will also help you with nutrition during training - whether you are aiming for some weight loss or to maintain a healthy weight.

10. Buy The Lore of Running and read it. It’s not just about training but also explains physiology with respect to running. Know that and you know more about yourself.

11. Sleep properly during training as it is one of the best ways to recover from each day’s run. Same for the night before race day. 8-10 hours/night works for me (even though it means going to bed early for 3 months!).

12. Manage niggles effectively - foam roll, stretch, do some core work even if it’s only body weight based things (e.g. leg lifts to work your adductors). Recognise the difference between a niggle and an injury. Don’t run through injuries and effective management of niggles stops them becoming injuries.

13. Reduce your alcohol consumption (stop altogether if you like - up to you!).

14. Have a shoe rotation (at least two pairs) and vary their usage between each week’s runs. Also helps you decide which shoe type will be your race day shoe. Don’t put more than 500 miles on a pair of shoes - the midsole breaks down and it will attract injury. Break in your chosen race day shoe - IMHO, your race day shoes should have 50-100 miles on them come race day.

15. Don’t try anything new/weird on/just before race day. Especially kit and food.

16. Don’t preoccupy yourself with other people’s goals or training or performance. If you have a tight/close group of other runners who know each other well and share experience positively then this advice is less applicable when it comes to them.

17. Don’t try to ‘go out hard and then hang on’.

18. Do your best to do all your long runs without stopping to pause/walk. You need to get used to running continuously for hours (unless your race day strategy includes regimented walk breaks - maybe it does).

19. Do a weekly weigh in. You may be doing this to lose weight (idk) so you can see the benefit the running is helping your goal. If not doing it as part of weight loss, it’s important to know your weight as increasing mileage and your ‘usual diet’ means you’ll be losing too much weight. Weight is also relevant for pace. 1lb = 3-5s/mile so if you are losing weight and appearing to be getting faster, you need to know how much the increase in speed is down to training and how much is down to weight loss. Obvs with weight increase the opposite applies but it’s as useful to know about.

20. Related: 3-5s/mile per lb translates to 1.7 minutes/lb for the marathon distance. If you are doing this as part of a weight loss goal then that can be a real motivator. Losing 10-12lbs will take 20 mins off your marathon time!

HTH - and good luck with your marathon!

P.S. Taking a big 💩on the morning of the race is strongly advised 🤭

Hi folks!!

I (21M) have very low stamina and get nauseous when I run for more than 5 minutes at medium pace. I don't know why my stamina is this low. I am not overweight (5'7 150lbs) and I have no history of cardiovascular diseases. NONETHELESS, I want to run a marathon by the end of August 2023. I want to run a marathon specifically because my stamina is incredibely low (I want to work on my weakest characteristics)

I'm wondering if you think that's possible. Most importantly, how would someone like me even begin to train for a marathon.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Lots of people jump straight to the marathon, but then they usually never run again. I’d suggest you to start with a local 5k or 10k. This gives you near term goals, and near term rest periods that you earn after each race. Then go for the half marathon, and subsequent full marathon

My girlfriend and I have both decided we want to train for a marathon. We are both atleast somewhat active as we both enjoy hiking and I have been going to the gym for some time and she recently started going as well. That being said, neither one of us is a runner. The marathon we are training for will be in about a year, assuming this is reasonable. I am looking for training advice, any recommended training plans or apps, reasonable expectations to set for ourselves or any or tips or advice from your personal experiences.