Benefits for Your Mental Health
Long runs play a big role in helping you hone your mental toughness and develop a coping system to deal with running day-after-day, mile-after-mile, in tough conditions. Running a marathon will also help you reap the following benefits.
- Stress reduction: Research suggests that running in times of stress helps you better handle life’s challenges by increasing your mental resilience.3
- A new outlook: This well-known maxim says it all: “The person who starts a marathon is not the same person who finishes a marathon.” You are sure to be a different person at the finish line because you’ll forever know that you have the mental and physical strength to persevere, even during times when you think you can’t and won’t succeed.
- Inspiration: Whether it’s the double-amputee wheelchair racer, the 73-year-old grandmother running her 35th marathon, or your own kids holding “We love you!” signs, you’ll find some inspiration around every turn.
- Improved motivation: You can’t get away with not training when it comes to a marathon, so having one on your calendar will keep you motivated to stick to your training schedule. On days when your motivation is lacking, you’ll think about how you’ll feel if you’re undertrained, can’t finish, or have to cancel and find the strength train anyway.
Benefits for Your Physical Health
Training for a marathon has many physical health benefits for the body.
- Improved overall health: Running regularly strengthens your heart by increasing your VO2 max (aerobic capacity) and helping keep your blood pressure and high cholesterol at healthy levels. It also improves your immune system and increases muscle strength. In addition, longer runs push your body to strengthen fast-twitch fibers in the muscles to combat fatigue and build strength and power.
- Better sleep: Marathon training can be exhausting. Your body will crave sleep, since it repairs itself while you’re resting. You’ll find yourself getting to bed earlier and sleeping more soundly.1
- Better fitness: Marathon training challenges even the fittest athletes. If you’re not in good shape (or the best shape of your life) by the time you reach the starting line, your training may have been lacking.
- Toned legs: Weight loss is often a goal of marathoners-in-training but, as many discover, it doesn’t always happen. Although you may not lose a lot of weight, logging all those miles will absolutely increase your lean muscle mass and tone your legs.
- Guilt-free massages: Marathoners-in-training tend to get tight muscles, and regular massages can help you feel comfortable and stay injury-free. Treat yourself to a massage or two during your training to help relieve some of that tightness.
- Room for extra calories: During your very long runs, you’ll be burning thousands of calories, so it’s OK to be a little indulgent after. You will be hungry, after all. You can run hard, and celebrate hard.