Step One - Choose a Training Plan

You've decided to do your first marathon and you've even pulled the trigger and registered! Now you need to begin some real focused training. Your first decision will be, do you hire a coach or will you coach yourself?

Hiring a coach may seem like a daunting task if you've never hired one. You might think, "It's only running. What do I need to learn?" Or you might think that only pros have coaches and no one would take you on. You might be curious about hiring a coach, but you don't know where to begin. Word of mouth is always best, but an online search can help you come up with a list of coaches. How do you know which coach is for you, how do you go about hiring them and what should you expect?

First and foremost, check your coach's credentials. It seems like everyone is getting into the coaching business these days. However, having someone coach you for a marathon based solely on your coach's experience of having done a marathon is a little like hiring an architect whose experience consists of having had a house built, or a math tutor for your son whose experience consists of having graduated high school. They may have some valuable advice to offer, but if your experience is outside of their realm of experience, they might not know how to advise you. And let's not even talk about having a spouse or parent coach you. Bad idea.

Credentialed coaches are taught about injury prevention, nutrition, hydration, safe training practices and proper training/racing equipment, as well as how many hours a week you should be training. Do they coach part time or full time? If they make their living as a coach, they probably spend a fair amount of time staying current with the research as well as writing your program and answering athlete's questions. They should be able to determine the correct training pace for your long slow runs as well as any tempo or speed work you might be doing - and not base a training plan on what worked for them.

Some coaching programs involve personalized coaching, but more and more combine personal or group coaching with online coaching. This tends to be a more practical and affordable way to be coached long-term, and will allow you the flexibility to integrate your running program into your life with minimal disruption. Inquire about the coaching style and just exactly who you will be communicating with. Find out if the program will be designed for you, or is it a one-size-fits all beginning marathoner program. That may or may not matter to you, but be sure you know what you are getting. If you think you are paying to have a famous coach write a program just for you and you find out that you are getting someone who works for this coach and they are using a standard program, you may be disappointed. Also be clear on how often you will communicate with your coach and what the method of communication will be. Sadly, the biggest complaint I hear about some of the best coaches in the world is that they are unreliable with communication or don't get your schedules to you on time. You need to be reasonable about your expectations, but I find it easier to coach an athlete if we have fairly regular communication.

Once you decide who will do your coaching, you need to trust your coach and stick with their plan. This is huge. I can't tell you how many times an athlete will start with a coach, only to read an article or hear about what a fellow athlete is doing for training and start modifying the training plan sent by their coach to incorporate other training. Don't add workouts, speed up the pace of your run or do any other crazy workouts you read about if they are not in your training plan. If you are tired, sore, or unable to keep the pace your coach is recommending it is your responsibility to tell the coach, and the sooner the better. But if the coach says take a day off, take it. If he or she tells you to slow down on your long runs, trust him/her. Pay your coach on time. And most of all, if you don't stick with the plan, you are not allowed to be disappointed with the result!

If you chose this route and you are new to marathoning, I hope you are at least going to read a couple of books or subscribe to some running publications. The only trouble with this self-taught method is that there is so much conflicting advice out there! How do you figure out what is best for you? You are going to need to do some of the things a good coach would be doing for you. First, you have to set a goal. It's not a bad idea if it's your first marathon to have your goal be just to finish. But if you are an experienced runner and have just not tackled this distance yet, you might indeed have a "finish time" in mind. Determining whether this is realistic or not will be tricky but it will be based mostly on the pace of your most recent long race (hopefully that's a half marathon at least) and how much time you have to train. Trying to do a sub 3:30 marathon when you only have time to run 20 miles a week is probably unrealistic, no matter how fast your best 10K was. At the same time, you have to know how much training your body can handle. Uta Pippig used to train twice a day and routinely did over 100 miles a week in training. But thinking that if you train the way she trained you will get the same result (Pippig is a 3-time Boston Marathon winner) is a huge mistake. Once you settle on a training program and have plotted it out against the number of weeks until the marathon, you need to do the same thing you would do with a coach - trust the program! Do your own training and don't be led off track by someone else's training program. Realize you will have good days and bad days, but if your plan has been realistic there will be more good days. Be patient, but you should see progress. Never train through injury. Include days off.

Most of all, enjoy the process as much as you are looking forward to the final result. You are truly blessed to be able to have this experience and you never know when you will have this opportunity again.

ABOUT BETH KENNEY

Coach Beth Kenney is a USA Triathlon Level II coach, a United States Cycling Federation coach and a member of American Swim Coaches Association. In addition to coaching Team Pegasus, Coach Kenney is the assistant director of the Team Vortex (formerly www.JuniorTri.com) and is a race director with several triathlons and duathlons to her credit. She is the co-director of the Marshfield Youth Biathlon which for eight years has been providing talented young athletes with a safe and challenging course to hone their skills. Additionally, she coaches US swimming and is the cross country and track coach for the Duxbury Girl's High School.

In 2002, Beth finished 10th in her age group at Ironman USA and 2nd in her age group at the Great Floridian Half Ironman. She has had numerous podium finishes, including 1st age group at Monster Triathlon, Boston. Beth has completed 9 marathons, including 7 Boston and is the mother of Caitlin Shea-Kenney, a professional triathlete, winner of the National Under-23 series and the 2004 NCAA Triathlon Champion.Beth has attended 5 Triathlon World Championships.