How to train for a Marathon?

How did you train for your first marathon?

• What would be your tips for a "big" guy to finish his first marathon? My first marathon will be Vilnius marathon on 14th of September. I can run half marathon, but never tried to run 40km. I am 191cm 97kg and sometimes I feel pressure and little pain in my knees. Should I run as much as I can or train on half marathons?

• Answer:

  Run training is all about consistency. If you can manage a half you should be able to handle a full. With athletes I train, for bigger guys (like myself) I try to be careful about too much volume, especially if there are already some joint issues. If I were writing your training plan I'd probably focus a lot during the week on shorter but somewhat intense sections (runs with long interval paces that feel "comfortably hard", that you can just manage forced sentences while talking) and then a progression of long runs one day/week, culminating in a 20-22 mile run two weekends before your race. If you can complete that last run, at that last distance and not be injured before, you should be able to finish. Another option to think about is a run/walk strategy. It surprises a lot of people that they can employ a run/walk method on the race and finish faster than if they run the whole way. Jeff Galloway has some great books on this method that might be worth checking out if you think you may be vulnerable to joint problems.