One of my life’s goal is to run at least one marathon–a 26.2 mile run.  To that end, I’ve been reading about various information on how to do it.  One inspirational book I recently read was “50 50” by Dean Karnazes.  Dean is an endurance runner.  He set out to run a marathon everyday for 50 days; he achieved it!

This tells you what the human body can do if the mind is set to do it.

In his book he lays out a training plan for would be marathon runners who has never done one before.  I summarize it for you here:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Rest	walk 20 min	Rest	walk 20 min	Rest	walk 20 min	walk 20 min
2	Rest	10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	optional: walk 20 min	10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	Rest	10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min
3	Rest	7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min	optional: walk 20 min	7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min	optional: walk 20 min	7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min	7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min
4	Rest	5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min	optional: 10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min	optional: 10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min	5X: walk 1 min, run 3 min
5	Rest	4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min	optional: 10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min	optional: 10X: walk 1 min, run 1 min	4X: walk 1 min, run 4 min	4X: walk 1 min, run 5 min
6	Rest	run 2 miles	optional: 7X: walk 1 min, run 2 min	run 2 miles	run 2 miles	Rest	run 3 miles
7	Rest	run 3 miles	optional: run 2 miles	run 2 miles	run 3 miles	optional: run 2 miles	run 4 miles
8	Rest	run 3 miles	optional: run 3 miles	run 3 miles	run 3 miles	optional: run 3 miles	run 5 miles
9	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 3 miles	run 4 miles	run 3 miles	optional: run 3 miles	run 6 miles
10	Rest	run 3 miles	optional: run 3 miles	run 3 miles	run 3 miles	Rest	run 8 miles
11	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 4 miles	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 9 miles
12	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 4 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 8 miles
13	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 5 miles	run 5 miles	optioanl: run 4 miles	run 10 miles
14	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 5 miles	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 11 miles
15	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 4 miles	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 9 miles
16	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 12 miles
17	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 4 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 13 miles
18	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 14 miles
19	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 5 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run  9 miles
20	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 15 miles
21	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 16 miles
22	Rest	run 4 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 5 miles	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 10 miles
23	Rest	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 18 miles
24	Rest	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 8 miles	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 20 miles
25	Rest	run 5 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 6 miles	run 6 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 12 miles
26	Rest	run 7 miles	optional: run 4 miles	run 5 miles	run 4 miles	Rest	MARATHON:  run 26.2 miles

Critical points to remember:

• Make sure you are hydrated every 6 miles
• Watch what you eat before a run
• Get good shoes; any minor annoyance can become serious when extended for many miles; you can get blisters or irritate a knee or hip

To track your progress, think about signing up for an account on active.com.  There you can get a free account to help manage your training.  You can even map out running routes around the neighborhood.

Another site where you can track your progress is at nikerunning.nike.com.  There is you use a Nike + enabled shoe and a sensor, you can easily track your distance, calorie usage, time, and pace.  Information is logged on their site where they provide you with fancy looking graphs to see how you are doing.  And if you’ve gained around 1 year of experience, you can use their training plan there to achieve better marathon races.