How do i train for a marathon?

well, that all depends on what your age and experience level is, and wether you're shooting for a specific time or just trying to finish. I've done 4 marathons, with my best finish being 3:01 at the LA Marathon (a tough course). My training was geared towards a competitive person going for a good time. I ran between 65–80 miles a week. I'm guessing you are starting out, and this is probably your first marathon. here is my general advice (you should supplement it with other research to tailor it specifically for your needs): give yourself 5–6 months to train. 6 if you are starting from zero. what you will be doing is training your body to handle all the mileage. start slow. buy yourself a heart rate monitor and use it religiously. it will be your good friend during your training. you should generally be running at about 70% of your max heartrate (HR). My max was about 200 bpm, so most of my runs were around 140–150 bpm. Estimate what your max is. (there are a couple ways of doing that, like subtracting your age from 227). stay within your 70% zone. that zone is going to feel painfully slow at first, maybe even close to walking. but as your conditioning improves, you will start to run faster at the same HR. assuming you are starting from zero, start running 3 miles, 3x a week. the week after, make it 4x a week. the week after, make one of those days a longer run of 5 miles. assuming the race you've picked is on a sunday (most are), your long runs should be on sundays. these will become your most important runs. you should aim to run no less than 5 days a week, and 6 is better. at first, you may only be running 3-4 days a week, but you should slowly work your way up to 5 and 6 days. in your training, a good rule of thumb is to increase your mileage by 10% every week. So if you do 20 miles one week, do 22-23 the next, and so on. everyone is different about how much mileage they can handle, but if you do it slowly, you should be able to handle 50 miles a week at your peak. I would recommend no less for a marathon. try to get a good 8 weeks at this peak mileage, during which your long runs will be about 16-22 miles. do about 2-3 20+ mile runs to get used to the longer distances. be sure to eat and drink during these runs, or you will be in a world of hurt. every three weeks, step down the training. so for example, do weeks of 20, 23, and 26. then do one week at 18. then start again at 26 and ramp up again. these intermittent weeks of lower mileage give your body a chance to catch up and adapt to the training. you must realize that your body will be going through physical changes during your training, like losing weight and improving cardiovascular fitness. you have to give your body time to adapt. IMPORTANT: the temptation to run too fast or build up mileage too quickly is dangerous! you may feel bored, but 6 months is a long time. you need to take it slow and let your body get used to the mileage. I guarantee there will be weeks when you feel very sore, and this is your body adapting to the training. listen to your body! a little soreness is normal, but pain is not. also, if both legs/knees/ankles are sore, that's a good sign. if only one hurts, this could be an injury in the making, so be careful. that should get you going pretty well. use this as a starting point and tailor your training. if you can handle it, do more mileage. listen to your body. there's no use running when you're hurt or sick (I've broken this rule countless times, you just end up NOT running for a long time, eventually) good luck.

Start running as many miles as you can at first and increase monthly until you are over your marathon length,

Start running as many miles as you can at first and increase monthly until you are over your marathon length,