The big goal Marathon
Marathon training requires a good portion of motivation.
Lace up your running shoes and go. It’s not always that easy. Sometimes the necessary bite, time and drive are missing. We have taken information directly from the Hahner twins.
The distance from start to finish is 42.195 kilometres. For many ambitious hobby runners this distance is such a big goal that a lot of passion is put into the preparation. Anyone who makes it to the finish, no matter how long it takes, knows what he has been training for over the many months. When crossing the finish line, all emotions are released and the torments of the preparation time are forgotten. The way there is still hard. Besides a full-time job training for the longest Olympic running discipline is crisp. That is why runners should set themselves small stage goals. That’s what the fastest marathon twins in the world do – Anna and Lisa Hahner.
With stage goals, you can always achieve a small sense of achievement in between, and this brings you closer to the big goal bit by bit.
The two successful marathons even divide the race course into five-kilometre stages. This means that the end does not seem so far away. Anna also imagines during a marathon “how cool it will be to cross the finish line.”
Thinking in small units can have a very positive effect: For running, this applies in two senses. Because even if there is little time, a short training session is always better than none at all.
Stay tuned!
Endurance sport is something for people with bite – they do not lose sight of their goal. Determination or not, even the most passionate and disciplined runners sometimes face great challenges during training phases. An effective tip: look for a running partner or join an entire running group. In phases when things are not going so well, training partners can motivate each other. The secret behind this is as simple as it is easy to implement. Nobody cancels a fixed appointment with other running enthusiasts so quickly, even if the drive is missing or the weather is bad. If you manage to get into your running shoes anyway, you’ll be doubly proud after the sport.
Running in a group is fun for all runners – you can make an appointment and swap ideas before, during and after the run. Everyone benefits from this.
Running in a group is fun for all runners – you can make appointments and swap ideas before, during and after the run. Everyone benefits from this.
Even professionals do tricks
To visualise your goals has never hurt. This can be a properly managed training plan in which runners enter their training sessions. But five sticky notes on the fridge, which stand for the five runs in the coming week, can also provide an additional boost of motivation. Once a training session has been completed, the sticky note flies into the bin – just tearing the note off and throwing it into the bin is fun. On the other hand, if a Post-it sticks, every Marathon or someone who wants to become one knows what to do the following week. A feel-good trick that Anna and Lisa also know and use: Reward after work is done!
After really intensive running units it is important to be able to look forward to something during the run, so that you can really put your foot down on the last metres.
These can be very different things. One looks forward to a piece of cake – like Anna and Lisa, for example, who are more of a sweet tooth. For other runners, however, it might be a pair of new running shoes, a visit to a restaurant in the evening or a subsequent visit to the sauna, which also helps to regenerate.
Anyone who trains intensively must give their body time to recover. Only after regeneration, which is part of the training, should you continue training, otherwise the performance curve will not go up.
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This includes regular and sufficient sleep, healthy food, sauna, perhaps a physiotherapy session or massage. It is important that every runner internalises that a strenuous working day is not regeneration. So listen to your bodies, be careful and do not ignore any signs. And if motivation is lacking again, remember: the feeling after a successfully completed training unit is above all your own satisfaction, and that is priceless: “Whether after 42.195 kilometres or after the round around the block.”