Congratulations…you have run your race, a goal that took many weeks and months of the year to achieve. Now what? Well, first put your feet up…or in some nice warm water and relax a few days. You’ve earned it.  Then, you are ready to jump back into running!  We hope that you will remain loyal to the team, and run for us next year.  But what do you do until the next marathon in November?  You certainly do not want to run another marathon for quite a few months after completing your last; I would say do no more than two per year in total.  But you can run in some shorter races to keep you sharp, like a nice 10km a couple of months after running your last marathon.  And as for the 5kms, well, you can do those for breakfast.  A race once a month is often a good way to keep focused on your training. It can help to drag you out the door on a cold winter day because YES running is good for your health, both physical and psychological, and I do want you in top health.  Running is by and far the best cardio sport there is and you’d be hard pressed to find a doctor who does not recommend a dose of it. I know, some doctors do not like marathons, but 95% love 5kms... so just keep it quiet that you plan on running a twenty-six miler later down the road. That can be a secret between you, me and the other Team Lifeline members.

In the “off-season,” as we can call it, when you are not on our super rigid (some would say horrible) training plan – the nose to the grindstone marathon plan - you don’t even have to do those ever increasing long runs.  You can get away with a lot of things but please do try for consistency. As someone who loves to run, I would give my “doctorly advice” to run four times a week.  Just go out the door and aim for forty minutes, run thirty as a minimum.  This will set you up with a great base to stepping into a program to complete a longer race without (pardon the pun) running you into the ground.  Should you wish to step it up, then include a session of speed work per week. That is when the training becomes very individually-based, as one runner's intervals, short fast running, is another's easy running. Running is not rocket science, but if you run a faster pace on one run per week, faster than you run on your other days, you will improve at a faster rate.

But however you decide to do with your running, do it with a 'fun' mindset in the off-season.  You will have plenty of hard practicing when the 'big' time of the year comes around!  Happy running!

Toby Tanser
Team Lifeline National Running Coach