You Don't Have to Run a Marathon
(aka "In Defense of Running Non-Marathon Distances)
It’s no secret that marathon running has become very popular in the past several years. It’s evident from the boom in run clubs, the surge in applicants to marathon majors each year, and record setting race sizes. This is awesome! The fact that more people are believing in themselves, signing up for, and training for marathons is awesome, and I support it 100%. But I fear that with this surge, and how running a marathon is portrayed on social media, that people are feeling undue pressure to run a marathon. Let me make a few things clear: 1) You don’t need to run a marathon 2) You are a runner if you run, period. No distance qualifies that statement. 3) The marathon is HUGE undertaking, and a healthy amount of fear around attacking that distance is good.
As a physical therapist who specializes in working with runners, my goal is to help athletes stay healthy so that they can continue chasing their goals. From a longevity in sport standpoint, it is of my professional opinion that if you decide to run a marathon, you should build up to the distance. I am seeing an increase in “couch to marathon” runners on social media. Again, I love that people are joining the sport of running and feel motivated to run a marathon! It took me years to feel ready to attempt a marathon and I give kudos to everyone who desires to tackle the distance!
However, there are physiologic adaptations that come from training your body consistently over time (years) that can help you stay healthy when you do train for a marathon. By training for shorter distances for a year, or two, or more, builds your aerobic capacity which is your “engine” for running. When you train above your fitness, which can happen when entering an aggressive training block without an adequate base, we see injuries occur. Running is a very repetitive movement pattern, and therefore the most common types of injuries are overuse injuries. When we slowly build up our mileage over time, our muscles, tendons, and bones can adapt to the load of running. Your muscles get stronger, tendons get stiffer, and bones lay down more calcium to become harder. This improves your resiliency and further reduces injury risk. If you increase running volume quickly, the load is likely to increase faster than these structures are able to adapt, leading to injury. The cool thing is, running rewards consistency and time in the sport. When you train, those bricks keep stacking, and you can see year over year improvement in your running and continue to set PRs even as you age.
I remind my athletes (and myself) that the marathon isn’t going anywhere. If you want to run a marathon, but are brand new to running, I encourage you to challenge yourself to run no further than a 10k race in the first 6 months. Enjoy 5ks and 10ks. Get consistent in your weekly runs. Introduce strength training. After 6 months, consider training for a half marathon if that sounds fun. Personally, I wouldn’t even think about a marathon without 18-24 months of running under my belt. Though that may sound like a long time, the reward for your patience is being physically more ready to train for and race the distance.
Marathons are amazing. I’ve run one and want to do many more in my life. They also are incredibly challenging. Respect the marathon distance, and go into it prepared. Start with shorter races and work your way up. Who knows, you may find out that you’re an awesome 10k runner!
If you’re already a marathoner, congratulations! I still challenge you to get outside your comfort zone and sign up for some shorter races! This can help you improve your speed which can translate well into your marathon pace down the road.
My biggest takeaways: 1) Run your own race. The race you want to run, not the one that the running influencer you follow is running 2) Build your running volume over time. 3) Sign up for a 5k :) 4) Make sure you’re having FUN
As always, thanks for reading, and happy running!
Dr. Elizabeth Karr PT, DPT, OCS
