Marathon training days two and three

Day two: I got my walking in while wandering around the library and Lee's Marketplace. Yup, I walked for ten minutes.

Day three: I walked with Liz for about 15 minutes. She slept while I walked.

Up for tomorrow: Another day of rest. (Sundays are my rest days of course.)

Here's my advice for anyone just starting to run.

Don't start out running. Start out walking. The first week get up to 30 min. walking, the second, run for five minutes and walk for 25. The third week, run 10 minutes and walk 20, and so on until you can run for 30 minutes. This is usually around a 5 k time for a beginning runner. (It's ok if you take longer.) If you get sore or feel any pain, stop running and walk. Always have a day of rest, but don't take more than two days off, or you will lose what you've gained.
Always warm up a bit before you stretch and stretch afterwards. You can look up good stretches online if you don't know very many.
Do some research. There are a myriad of websites out there dedicated to running. Here is one of them http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_start.html. If you sift through all of the advice out there you can find something useful.
Don't forget the right equipment. If you go running, you have to wear the right shoes or you'll be in for some hurting. Try to go to a running store and they will fit the shoe for your foot type. There's a good store in Sandy that I want to go to around Thanksgiving. (Running shoes usually aren't very cheap, but they do help you run.) Oh, and ladies, your bras need to fit right too. http://www.runnersworld.com/bratool/ I found a good nursing sports bra at a maternity store. It's very comfy and easier to use than the normal ones.
Nutrition. I could go off on this, but the most important thing is water. Drink it instead of soda. There are dozens of reasons, but one of them is to avoid any stomach discomfort. Also, keep away from sports beverages unless you are planning on running for an hour or more.
Running takes time. When I was running before I had my baby it would take just over an hour a day to warm up, stretch, run, cool down, stretch, and shower. That doesn't include travel time if I wanted to go somewhere else to run.
You may get bored... There is also a large mental component to running. You aren't constantly competing with someone else, it is just you and the same stride. It can get tedious. Some fend off boredom with ipods or a running partner. The hours it takes for a marathon can be the biggest obstacle for a runner and not the distance.
How far have you gone? www.mapmyrun.com uses satellite imagery that you can draw your route on. You can plan runs or just run them and come here to see how far you've gone. It beats using a pedometer everytime.


There are lots of other things I could talk about, cross training, weight training, speed workouts, form, working up to a race, etc, but I probably should quit now.