Tips for First Time Marathon Runners: Part 1

After years of saying that I would never run a marathon ("I'm only half crazy!"), I finally caught the marathon bug and trained for and ran my first marathon, New York, in 2025. I loved the process of training for the marathon, enjoyed the routine and long runs more than I ever thought I would, made friends along the way, and learned A LOT. I'm here to tell you some of what I learned over the many months and miles that lead up to race day, to help you start your training program on the right foot.

1. Start with a strong base, and practice consistency

Although I love running, I am usually a run three times a week, lift three times a week, rest one day type of girl. I knew that I would need to increase that to at least four days of running, and that I would need to feel comfortable running 8-10 miles before starting my official training in August. This meant that as early as January, I was starting to increase my weekend run from 5-6 miles to 7-8 miles, and then to 8-10 miles from May to August. I made sure that the increase was gradual, and I added a fourth day of running in June. This way when I started my official training, which increased in volume and intensity week over week, my Strava was just continuing up a gradual hill, instead of looking like a mountain! We know that too much of an increase in running too quickly can be a recipe for injury, and I wanted to avoid that.

During this time I also worked on finding a way to complete all of my runs even when my schedule was busy or involved travel. My marathon training included several long runs while I was out of town, and practicing getting in 8 miles while travelling made it a lot easier to successfully complete 17 miles while travelling. I had already gotten down my long run packing to a science, and I was used to getting up earlier than my family and friends to knock out a run, so it didn't feel stressful.

In addition to consistency running, I established a strength training routine that I would complete twice a week throughout my training. Although I changed things up a tiny bit here and there, I mostly kept with the same program from the spring through the race. This way, I knew exactly what I was doing each time I stepped into the gym. I had no excuse to dilly dally, and my body knew how to respond to the exercises without being too sore for a run the next day.

2. Try different fuel options, early

At this time last year, my luck with finding a gel that didn't make me dry heave on the side of the road was....bad. I had success with energy chews and squeezeable applesauce, but I wanted to see if I could make gels work since they are specifically formulated for intra-activity fueling, and easy to carry. So, I ordered several sampler packs on The Feed, and starting trying different brands and flavors. Thankfully, I found several gels that I tolerated and even a few that I genuinely enjoyed! If you don't have a lot of experience with gels, I reccomend starting this process early. You may need to use one type of gel on a few runs before you can tell if it's good for you or not. For example, there was a gel that I really liked the flavor and consistency of, but I realized that if I took more than two, I starting experiencing reflux. That wasn't going to cut it on race day, so I had to pivot, but luckily I still had 5 or so months to figure out a different option.

You also likely need to start training your gut to handle the fuel. Eating while you run isn't natural or normal for most of us, and some people's stomachs don't do so well with it at first. But, we know that proper fueling improves performance (marathoners in this study who met the 60-90g/hr recommendation were more likely to finish a marathon in 180 min or less) , so it is worth taking the time to train your body to take in whatever fuel works for you on the run.

Hydration is another piece of this. For your long runs, you will likely need to carry some sort of hydration with you. This may also take some trial and error: Do you like a handheld bottle? Is a belt with bottles better for you? Or maybe a hydration vest? Do you just drink water or do you add in electrolytes or even some carb mix? Again, this takes time and experience to figure out what works for you. For me, I used a handheld bottle for all of my runs, and was lucky enough to train with a group that had water and Powerade along our course. I alternated between the two and used salt capsules on hot, humid mornings. Even with months of trial, it didn't always work for me and I still sometimes ended up with a bad headache the rest of the day, so this is an area that I will need to improve on the next go around.

3. Get advice, and coaching, from a real person with experience!

I know, I know, Chat GPT knows everything. But really, I beg you, please seek guidance from real people with real credentials. The best type of training plan would be from a coach that you work with in person or virtually, who can answer your training questions and make modifications to your plan based on how your body feels and other things going on in your life. This could be a personal coach, or a group training plan with coaches who oversee the training plans. Sometimes this isn't feasible, so the next best option would be a generic plan from the internet written by someone with good credentials, at least a certified running coach and experience as a marathoner, plus someone (maybe a good friend, or a running PT!) who can answer some training questions as they arise. Sure, Chat could write you a training plan, but there have been a lot of people who have followed AI generated plans and ended up overtrained and injured. Not where you want to be ahead of your first marathon!

4. Find your support team (a Running PT if you can!)

I'm biased, but I think that seeing a running PT before initiating your training is one of the best things that you can do. A physical therapist who specializes in running can assess your strength and mobility that are specific for running, and prescribe exercise to address weakness and imbalances before they become a problem. Also, establishing with a running PT means that if you have some tweaks or twinges that pop up during training, you have a professional that you can reach out to and get help from, instead of playing the guessing game of when to push through vs when to back off. A physical therapist, or a massage therapist or sports chiropractor, can also be helpful to have on your team to help with muscular restrictions and tightness that may occur during training.

5. Buy new shoes!

This is probably the most fun suggestion on this list - and also where I made a big mistake early in my training. I had big plans to get fitted for new running shoes, but kept putting off that errand due to being busy. In mid August, I developed intense shin pain and was really scared that I had a stress fracture! I then realized that I had 800 miles on both of my pairs of shoes. Yikes. Thankfully I had my amazing running PT coworked (working in this industry has its perks!) to assess me and perform dry needling, and I got fitted for two new pairs of shoes that day. I never had pain in that area again! So I'm not saying that the Precision PTs work miracles and new shoes solve all problems, but it sure helped me. Research suggests that rotating between two different models of shoes reduces the risk of injury, likely by changing up the forces your body experiences while running. If you ask me, that is as good of an excuse as any to buy an extra pair of shoes!

Additionally, if you think you are going to want to wear super shoes for your race, buy them several months before the race so that you can practice running in them. They have a different feel than regular trainers, so you need to wear them for a few runs - usually some tempo work or key workouts. I didn't think I wanted to wear super shoes, but about a month before the race I started to consider it until I realized that I probably had missed my window. Next time I will buy a pair earlier so that I can put enough miles on them to be ready for racing.

6. Teamwork makes the dreamwork

Not everyone will agree with this, but I could not have completed my first marathon without my training crew. I had my official training group with whom I did my long runs and workouts with, a friend who would get up and run with me early before work on Fridays, and my close crew of running girls to text and see if it was normal to be feeling the way we all felt. For me, I needed the external support and accountability to show up for those early runs, to encourage me through the final miles of a long run, and to remind me to eat my carbs and drink my electrolytes the night before long runs. I'm sure I could have found the intrinsic motivation to get up at 5 am on a Saturday and run 22 miles....but it was way more fun with a team!

You don't have to have a group of people all running the same marathon. Not even all of your team has to be running a marathon! Maybe it's a friend who will run 4 of your 20 miles with you, or an out of state friend who is also training that you text when you're going for a run. Most races have a Facebook group for participants, and you can be part of a virtual group of runners who are all working towards the same goal.

7. Respect the marathon and the energy that it requires

One of the biggest mistakes a new marathoner can make is assuming that it's just a little more training than a half marathon. In reality, it's probably double the training if not more. This makes sense when you do the math, a marathon is twice as long as a half. So if you've trained for a half marathon, expect to be running about twice as many miles per week as you did for the half. Running farther also means that you're more fatigued and take longer to recover. This had more impact on me than I expected, especially towards the end of training near my peak mileage. Doing daily tasks like cooking felt monumental, and I felt like I had less mental bandwidth to handle my work. Completing my training, recovery, and fueling can feel like a full time job, whereas in my experience training for a half or shorter was very manageable. I don't say this to scare you off, but to help you to mentally prepare for the time, physical work, and mental load that comes along with marathoning. Make sure that you have a plan to handle the stress when it increases (meditation and breathwork are great options) and ways to cut out stressors (such as short cut meals) when you need to!

If you are preparing for your first marathon, I want you to know that you've got this! It takes a lot of time and dedication, but I am sure you are no stranger to that. Week after week, you will have the joy of pushing yourself to a new distance and celebrating that accomplishment. It is awesome, and enjoy every moment.

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Elizabeth Karr PT, DPT, OCS