Marathons for Beginners: What you need to Know to Prepare

According to Medicalxpress.com, a web-based medical and health news service that is part of the renowned PhysOrg.com network, participation in marathons is at an all-time high. In fact, there are figures that show the tremendous growth in participation over the last decade.  From 299,000 participants in 2000, the number increased to 475,000 in 2009 (Exercisemed.org)

But what does it take to run a 42 kilometer marathon?  Of course, joining and finishing it is easier said than done.  Just like any competitive sport, in running a marathon, preparation is key.  Even therapy websites provide quality guide to ensure that a beginner is fit to join the marathon. In a nutshell, below are three major categories that each participant should focus on before joining a marathon, regardless of fitness level.

PHYSICAL

Running a full 42 km marathon requires work, and a lot of it.  If you are a beginner, it is best that you find a running group in your community that would help you learn the basics, from selecting the right shoe to running fundamentals and best practices, eventually leading to running long distances on your way to finish a full 42 km marathon.  Encouragement is also a priceless benefit you will get if you run with a group.  You may want to ask help also for proper cross and core training exercises as these will be very helpful to make your first marathon fun and rewarding.  Remember also, stick to whatever work-out schedule you have and commit yourself to it. 

NUTRITIONAL

There are many web-based resources where you can get essential information on the food you should eat and food that you should refrain from before, during, and after running a marathon.  Try to find out about carbohydrate and protein intake as this will provide you the nutritional demands needed during training and the day of the run itself.  Try to check also on foods that will help you recover after a tedious training regimen, as well as fluids you need to take before, during, and after the run.

PSYCHOLOGICAL

Most runners don’t realize that running a marathon also require the proper mindset to actually finish the event.  As what most marathoners would tell you,  there will come a point in your run, around the 32 km mark, that you would hit “The Wall”.  It is a term used by marathoners where you feel like you are being discouraged from finishing the race even if the finish line is only a few kilometers ahead.  This is nothing new to marathoners.  According to Dick Beardsley at the 2^nd marathon of his career in 1977, “It felt like an elephant had jumped out of a tree onto my shoulders and was making me carry it the rest of the way in.” To prepare yourself from this, you need to be mentally prepared as much as your body is well-equipped.  Psychologists and therapists can help.  There are many psychologist websites available.  Make sure you find the best in your area.

Engineer your own Therapy Website Now!

Have you ever wondered how your patients can reach you 24/7? There are times when patients just do not have the time to visit your clinic. Or maybe your patient has an urgent medical question that needs to be answered? How can you be reached other than the traditional methods of a phone call or a clinic visit? Do you have an online medical resource that patients can refer to if they want a quick medical answer regarding something ailing them?  A possible solution to all these questions would be to have your own therapy websites.

What are websites? A website is space on a computer where anyone who subscribes can say “This is me, this is what I do, or what I am interested in, what I know, or what I can sell you”. An electronic brochure and source of information available to the whole world 24 hours a day, according to http://www.fredmoor.com/design/what.htm. With this in mind, having your own therapy websites would make a good venue for you to advertise and/or market your services to patients not limited to your vicinity but also to nearby areas. You would also be able to reach out and connect to your patients way beyond your designated clinic hours which in turn can help build a stronger patient to therapist relationship. You would be able to give the life help needed by your patients wherever they may be at any time of the day. This will also increase your exposure as a therapist and a good step to be widely known. Definitely, you’ll need to have the website design that will deliver these benefits. 

But how would you go about setting up your own therapy websites? Your field of knowledge is in medicine specifically therapy but not web design. A lot of help can be found over the internet that specializes in websites for therapists, including psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapist counseling centers. Some sites offer striking designs and the best technology for custom website content management system. You can let the experts in therapist website design make a therapy website customized to your needs and requirements and be assured of high quality.

Partnering with web design for therapist for your own therapy websites will let you achieve your goal of being available to your patients 24/7 so that you can provide them with the life help they need as a therapist at the patients convenient time. Now, your patients can get in touch with you in more ways than one.

The Recent Popularity of Marathons

Marathons (42.195 kilometers or 26 miles and 385 yards) are gaining so much popularity than ever before, and it is quite noticeable that a lot of them are being organized.  Annually, 570 marathons are held in the U.S. alone and in 2011, a total of  551,811 individuals finished the event (from only 299,000 participants, not even finishers, in 2000). 

Who can argue about the global popularity of the marathon? This event at the Olympics is always a favorite.  How about the Boston Marathon, one of the longest-running annual marathon in the world with 100 plus years of tradition?  It is a marathon like no other that even foreign participants move heaven and earth to make sure they prepare for this event, no matter how much it would cost them, considering all the training and logistics. Believe it or not, participating in such an event is a dream come true for most of them. Moreover, therapy websites encourage this type of event to join to and guide clients on how to be physically qualified.

The popularity of running as a sport is also evident on the increasing number of magazines being published that focus specifically on running, some are even exclusive to men or women.  Popular ones are Runner’s World and Running Times.  There are many web-based resources as well like Runningforums.com that provide valuable information on running for people of all fitness levels, including the basics of running, selecting the right running shoes, nutrition, best practices of running, events schedules, and even websites for therapists to ensure a participant is mentally prepared to finish a marathon (as it is no surprise that running a full marathon is tougher mentally than physically for some people). 

From professional athletes to beginners, marathons will always have its loyal and new followers.  It doesn’t matter whether you are young or young at heart.  Joining a marathon is easy, although finishing it is a totally different matter.  Even seasoned amateurs who have run a number of marathons know the physical, nutritional, and also the usually overlooked psychological requirements to finish the event strong and injure-free. 

But what lures people in this exciting and rewarding activity is the physical and emotional benefits.  It will obviously have its physical benefits on the over-all health of a participant due to the preparations needed.  But it also has an emotional benefit knowing that a participant has spent considerable time, energy, and discipline to complete the event.  The fact is, only 0.5% of the U.S. population has run a marathon.  Imagine being part of this elite group where every finisher has the bragging right to be called a “marathoner”.

If you are interested to join a full marathon, or are at least interested to join fun runs (3 km, 5 km, 10 km, 16 km) with family and friends for physical or social reasons, feel free to contact your local community to find out schedules or clinics available in your area.