Does anyone on the board have marathon running experience? I did a search but only came up with one thread that had marathon in the subject...
A female friend called me up wanting me to advise/train her for a marathon she will be running in june. She has running from high school but that is it, she is 19 now.
I checked out coolrunning.com for some ideas but I am curious if she should be doing some weight training along with the running to help prepare her.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Break it down just like you would when designing a training program for any other sport:
Evaluate the sport:
What is the musculature involved
How does it function (explosive, isometric, endurance, etc.)
What are common injuries in the sport, and where/how do they occur
How do we want resistance training to benefit performance
Then, evaluate the athlete:
What are the athletes strong points
Weak points
Assess over/under active muscles
Assess core strength
Assess muscular imbalances
What is the past resistance training history/experience
Finally, learn about the season:
When is the competition/in-season
What is the athletes sport specific training schedule: intensity, volume, frequency, etc.
When do we want to peak and when should we taper (tapering is VERY important for distance runners)
Then, after you have collected and analyzed all that information, you can start exercise selection and programming.
Br
EDIT: In general you need to focus on a few things for marathoners:
Core strength and endurance: bridges, bridges and more bridges
Muscular balance for performance and injury prevention (hamstring strength, VMO strength, hip abductor strength..correct stretching techniques)
Increasing running economy: building power and improving the elasticity or rigidity of the musculotendinous junction via SSC (ie: plyometrics)