With the Los Angeles Marathon now in my rear view mirror, I’m looking forward to my next big race….The Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. After having a pretty successful 10 mile run this past weekend, I am feeling motivated to push for a half marathon PR. As I do so, I thought it would be fun to check out some words of wisdom on how to prepare for a marathon (or half Marathon). If you signed up for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon yesterday (or today as it looks like there will still be spots available…amazing) or any other half or full marathon, it’s always good to hear some tid bits of advice from the experts.

First up is some advice from reigning Boston Marathon Champion, Meb Keflezighi. As I’ve begun to learn about the main runners at the marathon distance, Meb has been nothing short of amazing. Not only did he win the 2014 Boston Marathon, but he’s a great ambassador for our sport. Meb is going to be at the Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon/Half Marathon Weekend and I’m hoping to get to meet him. For those of you who don’t know, Meb resides in San Diego. So, that will be a home town race for him. This video covers a lot. He trains 12 times per week! Yikes! That’s running 7 days a week and 5 days with more than one run. Hey, he’s an elite marathon runner. He stresses the importance of core training and nutrition in addition to the running. Good stuff to remember.

Do you want to improve your marathon or half marathon time? Try these mile repeats. I’m not quite up for them yet. Since I don’t have a track to run on (all the ones by me are closed to those that attend the schools where they are located), I’ve decided to use time on the treadmill for this. So far, I’ve been running a half mile and walk a quarter mile. I do this 2 or 3 times and think it has helped me. My goal is to get up to being able to do mile repeats on the treadmill. Then, transfer them to the outside.

You knew that, being a Jeff Galloway run/walk runner, I had to include him. Right? I like this video as he talks about the method behind his long run strategies in getting ready for the marathon and/or half marathon. He mentions that, with his plan, you are building up to a 14 mile long run before the half marathon and 26 miles before a full marathon. The reason he has you go to the distance you’ll race (in the marathon) or beyond it (in the half marathon) is to help eliminate mental fatigue. Also, in the video he talks about how to figure out how fast you should be running. The key is the “Magic Mile” in your training. If you want to find an easy way to translate your Magic Mile time into your projected pacing, click here. You will not only find a pace calculator for you, but information on Jeff Galloway’s run/walk/run method. I’m planning on adding this back into my training as I prepare not only for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon but also the Dumbo Double Dare.

That’s all for now. I’m going to try and include these Words of Wisdom Wednesdays with new training videos to help us all out as we get ready for whatever race we’re preparing for. Hope something in these videos helps you out!