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How to Run a Marathon

Hey, maybe it's time to run a marathon. Because, really, what self-respecting, athletically ambitious, kick-ass entrepreneur can resist that challenge?

Fit

Because, really, what self-respecting, athletically ambitious, kick-ass entrepreneur can resist?

Maybe it's just time, you know? Time to take on those 26 miles and 385 yards. Time to step right up to that whole history-soaked, messenger-in-ancient-Greece situation. You'll wear better shoes than Pheidippides did, of course. (He ran barefoot.) And as apr?race sensations go, you'll be shooting for something a little less dramatic. (He immediately died.) But you will be a marathoner, is the point. And let's face it: athletically speaking, there is your marathoner, and then there is everyone else.

For 43-year-old entrepreneur Steve Costello it was time last spring. (See "Marathon [Business]man," below.) Why the marathon? He had his reasons. If your time has come, you'll have no trouble supplying your own.

What we can supply is help. Inc looked up two of the best distance-racing coaches in the country -- Patti Finke and Bob Williams -- and asked them the questions any would-be first-time marathon runner might ask: about how to get ready, how to race, and what to expect.

Here's what we learned:

HOW LONG WILL I HAVE TO TRAIN? That depends. Williams dislikes the miracle programs that claim to train couch potatoes for marathoning in 18 weeks. He believes you need to be able to run 6 miles comfortably before you begin a marathon training program. If you can do the 6-miler, you'll need 24 weeks of preparation. If you can't, you'll need up to nine months of running 4 miles, five to six times a week, before the 18-week marathon program. Such programs typically consist of one long run (8 to 12 miles at first but eventually 20 miles), one day off, and five days of short runs (4 to 5 miles), one of which eventually becomes a medium to long run.

HOW MUCH OF A DAILY TIME COMMITMENT ARE WE TALKING? On "short" days, you're looking at 80 minutes, max. Figure 5 minutes for changing, 30 to 60 minutes for actual exercise, and 15 for showering. On "long" days, when the runs are between 8 and 20 miles, the actual running may take from one to 3.5 hours. The good news: as noted, most programs have only one long run a week, not to mention a day off.

WILL IT HURT? Oh, yes. Especially if you're starting from scratch. You'll struggle with breath for the first six weeks, says Finke, who has groomed rookie runners for two decades. And depending on how far gone from "fit" you are, it could take between six months and a year for your bones, muscles, joints, and tendons to get used to the near-daily pounding. Women in particular, Finke observes, may struggle. Whereas even out-of-shape men usually have played enough sports to understand that masochism is part of improvement, female runners are often true rookies -- people with almost no sports experience, she says. So they have to get used to the whole pain thing for the first time.

WILL I GET INJURED? Maybe. Most athletes do over the course of a year. The advice here is simple: Don't run when you're supposed to be taking a day off. And if you get hurt, let yourself heal. Never hurry back for the sake of a race. That would likely lead to reinjury, which would only increase your frustration.

SHOULD I STRETCH BEFORE RUNNING? Nope. "More runners are injured in prerace stretching than in the actual marathon," says Finke. She stresses that stretching should be done only after a run, when muscles are warm and relaxed. Any good athletes you see stretching before a race or game have probably already jogged for 15 or 20 minutes to warm up.

HOW FAST SHOULD I RUN? Forget fast. If anything, the aim of training is to figure out how slowly you ought to run. Williams suggests you run the marathon at a pace that's 90 seconds slower than your usual rate. Translation: if you're easily doing 9-minute miles on your short runs, do your long runs at 10:30 a mile. And prepare to run the marathon at the slower pace. Don't worry about how that will affect your overall time. Believe it or not, by training that way you may be able to run 9-minute miles during the marathon. Williams says, for example, that when Alberto Salazar was prepping for the 1982 Boston Marathon, which he won in a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes (or 4:55 per mile), he was actually doing his long runs at a pace of 6:30 a mile. So what explains his race performance? He did his shorter training runs at a faster pace. "Plus," says Williams, "he's gifted."

HOW MUCH WEIGHT WILL I LOSE? Bad question. Training for a marathon is not a way to lose weight, Finke says, and most rookie runners will actually have to increase caloric intake -- which she's found is a particularly difficult concept for female runners to swallow. Finke says the women she trains typically hike their daily intake by 500 to 1,300 calories. (For men, the uptick is smaller: usually from zero to 800 calories.) While it's certainly possible that rookie runners will lose weight in training, they should know that weight loss can't be a goal and that it's entirely possible to be a terrific marathoner without being a swimsuit model. Finke says that she's trained many men and women who are bulky or overweight but can run marathons in just over 3 hours.