How To Prepare For A Marathon

Regardless of whether you’re a novice or an experienced long-distance runner, entering a marathon requires weeks of extensive training so we enlisted the help of The 440 Run Club legends, Trent Knox and Todd Liubinskas, to share their expert advice. The Sydney locals took to long distance running as a way to improve their physical and mental health and created The 440 Run Club to bring like-minded individuals together. Now they’re taking the movement to the next level with The 1440 Run – a non-stop running event from 5pm Friday 29th April 2022 until 5pm Saturday 30th April, where relay teams and solo runners will compete to see who can run the most laps around the famous Bondi Promenade in 24 hours (or 1440 minutes). 

Planning for a marathon

The distance of a marathon is 42.195 kilometres and the global average time to complete the race is just over four hours, which doesn’t sound like it would eat too much out of your day, but if you think you can wake up one morning and decide to have a crack at it without adequate preparation, you’ll be sorely mistaken. 

According to Trent and Todd, “a marathon is one of the toughest races in the world, and commonly run by the weekend warriors to challenge themselves and do something that tests the body physically and mentally.”  Their marathon prep starts six months prior to the event with a structured training plan – a mix of tempo running, strength, long runs and recovery. “Preparation looks like a lot of running under fatigue. Usually we would do our work day, 4am-6pm and then run a 10-15km run, and finish with meditation post-run. This allows our body to get used to working under stress, and taking stock of not feeling like training.” 

“One of the biggest pieces of advice we would give is to break your run up into four quarters, that is driven by hydration, food, and having a good pace to your body.” 

Rest days are just as important as running

In order to keep performing at your best, you need to regularly allow your body time to recover. In the lead up to an event, Trent and Todd have a four days on and one day off plan, which includes four days of training (a mix of running, bodyweight work, hills and recovery runs) and one day for rest. “Recovery for us looks like swimming post-run, 15 minutes of stretching for every hour we train, and a combination of sauna and ice bath treatments.” 

What you wear really does matter

“Running shoes and activewear are extremely important. We love to stick to what we are most comfortable in. When it comes to running shoes, we look for three varieties of footwear – a rotation of shoes is important for the feet so your feet are constantly changing and adapting. This helps to avoid injury and allows all parts of the foot to work while running.”