Training for the Cork City Marathon - 1st of June 2009

If you are considering doing the Cork City Marathon in June, now is the time of year to start thinking about it. Most training schedules are 16 weeks long. That means that Monday, the 9th of February was the start of week 1 and we are already into week 2. That's right!.....only 14 weeks or so to go the Cork City Marathon!!

If you are currently training for the Ballycotton 10 on the 8th of March then you're fine. You're way ahead of the curve and there is no need for any extra training. You can start thinking about the Cork Marathon after the Ballycotton race.

If you are not doing Ballycotton and you are a beginner, then you need to start giving it some serious thought. The worst thing you can do now is to jump in at the deep end, do too much and get injured. Running 26.2 miles is no joke and you really need to get your body ready for it. The trick is to build up the milage slowly and get your legs used to the increased load. An unwritten rule is that you should increase your weekly milage by 10% per week. Little steps, start now and you'll get there fine.

Next week, I'll have a look at some training schedules. In the meantime, have a look at the Cork City Marathon website and the entry form. For those of you not interested in the Marathon, don't forget that a relay team of between 2 and 5 people can also take part.

So, 14 weeks and counting...