How to maximise your performance for your first marathon

Use a race prediction and (accurate) training plan

We’re not all sub 3.30 marathon runners at Kaizen. Some of us are (Josh’s PB is a very impressive 2.28), but right now one member of our team is going through that exciting life period that comes with preparing for his first full-length race.

For the first time ever he’s taking the marathon bull by the horns, staring into the bull’s sports-shoe-branded eyes and saying with determination, ‘Whatever it takes. I’m ready.’

Something like that anyway.

The point is that within our Kaizen collective unconscious we remember those tough first runs. We remember the struggle to build up a consistent running habit, the balancing of when to eat and when not to eat to make sure we had the energy to run. We remember the discovery that dedicated running gear was essential and that sweat-magnet cotton t-shirts were never going to cut it (as we mentioned in our post about training in autumn and winter here).

It’s easy to feel a little lost when you start out.

So, with that in mind, how can you improve your training and maximise your performance for your first marathon?

Tip one: use a race prediction to supercharge your focus. Race predictions are the key indicator of how ready you are for your marathon. For a start, they’ll help you pace yourself correctly during the race and prevent you from over-exerting your body (which might lead to injury).

But what’s more, during training, they help you understand your current fitness level in relation to your race goals—i.e. the time in which you want to finish the race. If your predicted time is worse than your target time, then you have the information you need to make any necessary changes. These changes—likely an increase to your training load—can then be incorporated into your routine. And if you can’t manage an increase to your training load, you can simply adjust your ambitions accordingly.

That’s the nutshell version, but we think we can do better with a bit more detail.

Not all race predictions are equal—but you have a lot of decent choices

Fact: most running apps these days give you a race prediction—your choices out there really are abundant. However, as we’ve said before, we believe our app, Kaizen, really is the best of the bunch. With Kaizen you get to feel as confident as possible in your training.

We say that for good reason. Kaizen runs on a complicated algorithm that analyses the minutia of your training data—including your pace variation and your body’s response to your training load—over an extended period of time. This provides a race prediction that is often, in our experience, within a minute or two of your real-life capability.

Prediction techniques in other apps can come across as a little like folk logic. Sure, adding 10 or 20 seconds onto every mile of your 10k time is fine and all, but it’s just not very accurate.

Regardless, with an (accurate) race prediction you gain important knowledge—and knowledge is key. The truth sets us free.

Gain clarity during your training

Use your marathon prediction time to give yourself renewed focus as you train.

Our current Kaizen first time marathon runner (Olly) is aiming for the Madrid marathon in April. His training data crunched out some numbers and gave him the so so prediction of, currently, 4 hours and 21 minutes.

Olly took his prediction and, using the Kaizen app, set a race target time for 3 hours 30 minutes, a whopping step up in performance, sure, but one that is achievable if he uses the right tools and approaches his training with the right mindset.

The app made things clear: if Olly wants to achieve that 3 hour 30 minute mark in his first marathon then he needs to get 25km a week of training load into his legs.

And just to big up Kaizen once more, other apps can really overcomplicate this process—big run on Tuesday, rest day on Wednesday—and so on. It can all get bindingly restrictive and confusing if you need to train less or skip a day or two for whatever reason.

Kaizen just gives you a simple training target to hit each week, to be achieved and divided up however you want. The algorithm does the calculating in the background for you—just like a personal trainer would do.

So—Kaizen is like having your own personal trainer in your pocket.

Your goals might vary from Olly’s, but if you’re taking up the challenge of a marathon, chances are you’re hoping it’ll spark a little positive change in your life—maybe you like the idea of incorporating more regular exercise into your routine—and you’re trying to build up good habits. Kaizen can help you with all of this.

What if you don’t hit your training targets?

So what happens if you train more, or less, or faster, or better, or worse than the training load suggests?

The Kaizen app pays attention to your progress—it reads your Strava data and makes assessments on how well you’re responding to training. It then adjusts the weekly training load automatically, which will be reflected in the target for the following week.

But this isn’t a sales pitch—as we say there are other apps out there too! It’s just useful information to know! And we want to share it.

You need to be realistic about training loads. Marathons are considered challenges for a reason

By now, after following these steps, you should have clarity about the level of training activity needed for you to achieve your marathon goals.

Marathons—26 miles and 385 yards, or 42.195 km—require a decent training load in order to really make the most out of the life-changing opportunity.

As we’ve said, Kaizen’s Olly is embracing this opportunity at the moment, and he’s reaping the benefits of regular exercise:

A notable improvement in his performance
Easier, longer and more enjoyable runs
A sense of progression and building momentum in his training
Strengthening running habits—plus a little tightening up around the body too
An improvement in his mood

These positives are available to you too. Sure, you could sign up for a marathon and semi-walk it—definitely an achievement in itself—but you can get so much more out of the experience if you respect the distance. Stepping up and reaching those training goals is a huge part of any potential for personal growth.

But, also, the main thing is that you enjoy your exercise, so the emphasis on extra focus is only there if you need it.

Race day you have to get your pace right

Using a race prediction helps you run your best possible marathon.

Your body is only capable of so much. Training can and will improve things, but by the time race day comes around you have a ceiling of what you can achieve.

The best way to achieve this ceiling is by running at a pace in line with your race prediction. All the best marathons have pacer runners—most likely someone with a flag or a banner attached to them that announces the pace they’re running at. All you have to do is stick close to your chosen pacer and enjoy your race.

Remember, if you push yourself beyond what your body is capable of, then you risk burnout, or even injury, so this shouldn’t be taken lightly! We have a great blog post that covers these risks: the story of a second Kaizen runner during their first marathon. Today we feel like calling it, The Tale of Fred.

The short version is that during Fred’s first marathon, he didn’t have a race prediction. He also hadn’t trained with a clear idea of the weekly training load he needed to hit in order to achieve his goals. So he started the race blind, went too fast, and by half way he was struggling.

For Fred’s second marathon he used a race prediction and the exact Kaizen training load system that we described above. The result: he enjoyed his run, nailed his predicted time, and smashed his PB.

This is why we live by the belief that race predictions and clear training loads are the keys to unlocking the most out of your marathon potential.

OK, so there you go!

We also believe that running doesn’t have to be complicated. That’s why we keep the training load easy to digest—so all you have to do is to ‘simply run.’ You get to enjoy your running without being overloaded with unnecessary information.

So—has this post inspired you to step up your training?

Do you have any other tips for first marathons?

Chat to us here on our Discord and Strava

And here’s another link to that Kaizen free trial.