Gear Up for Grandma’s kicks off the 5 month marathon training season for runners

Monday, Grandma’s Marathon hosted ‘Gearing Up for Grandma’s’, a marathon event that helps runners prepare for the training process for all the races in the summer.

With it being five months away from the marathon in June, runners need to use that time to get their bodies acclimated for the big race ahead.

Marketing & PR Director Zach Schneider says training and running in the marathon is a big goal for a lot of people.

He says, “We’ve got people coming to the race that are going to expect to win. We’ve got people that are coming in this year to maybe qualify for the Olympic trials or the Boston marathon. But we’ve also got people who are just coming to run their first one and just want to get to the finish line.”

While it’s important to pace yourself physically, it’s also important to pace yourself mentally. Two-Time Grandmas’ Marathon Champion Dick Beardsley was at the event to share his experience keeping motivated over the full five month training cycle.

Dick says, “To get ready for Grandma’s Marathon, it’s still five months away, but you have to do a majority of your training in weather like this: lots of snow, ice, cold weather, winds, things like that.”

He says it’s important to not to push yourself to hard in the beginning of the process. “Now is a good time to start building your base as we get into the winter time. It makes the winter time go by a little quicker. Plus we aren’t doing as much activities outside so it kind of keeps your weight in check by putting in those miles.”

When it comes to staying healthy during the five month training, Athletic Trainer Cristina Nistler says, “Start where you are, start with what you can do right now and add 10%. If that is feeling totally fine then you can add a little more than that.”

And that’s the great thing about Marathon. It is it’s the same 26.2 miles whether you’re running course records or you’re the back of the pack.”

She also mentions that strength training is immensely helpful. “It builds muscle which helps with shock absorption so once you are logging those long miles you are less likely to get overly injured. And it can help prevent more of the biomechanical injuries like I.T. band pain and things like that by correcting muscle imbalances.”

Grandma’s Marathon is scheduled for June 17th. Good luck runners!