What kind of effects would training for and running in a marathon have on a person? Suppose someone decided to take a year and train for a marathon - what kind of effect would this have on their speed and their body in general?
I came across this article regarding muscle fibre type and the effects of training when researching the effects of 5k road races on sprint training.
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/technique/155-Jason_Karp.pdf
Thanks the article. Besides a loss in muscle mass, what other effects will there be? Would training for a marathon make your 40 time slower or should you pretty much maintain your current speed and quickness?
I read a study a number of years ago wherein they tested runners on their standing vertical jump before they started training for a marathon and then some interval after they completed the training (and the marathon.) Not surprisingly the vertical jump results were significantly lower after training for a marathon.
Why? SAID - specific adaptation to imposed demands. Marathon training requires the body to develop the endurance capacities of the body (red, slow twitch fibers) to the detriment of the explosive capacities of the organism. Likewise, I would expect your 40 time and quickness to get worse via marathon training.
That makes sense. It is possible to maintain the speed by adding a few sessions here and there? I’m looking for something to train for myself. I played football and some basketball in college. I now teach and coach in a small town. I don’t really have any way to compete except for running road races. I don’t really like racing anything over 40 meters, but I’ve always wanted to run a marathon just for the challenge. When I do get a chance to play basketball, or do something explosive, I like to have that ability… but those opportunities are few and far between so I guess I’ll go for it. I need a goal.
Certainly doing some speed work would be better than doing no speed work, but if you are seriously training for a marathon, I wouldn’t expect miracles.
Although I agree with xlr8 about marathon training affecting your speed, everyone is different and you may find that your speed may not decrease as much as it may for others. A lot depends on your genetic makeup.
I spent all of last fall and winter doing long distance running (up to 60-70k/week at times) in order to bring up my fitness and did no speed related work what so ever. During the indoor season, I ran a 60 and 400, and was surprised to find that I ran just as fast indoors as I did outdoors.
But like I said though, everyone is different. If your desire is to do a marathon, go for it and best of luck in your pursuit!
thanks for the help and encouragement. I’ll try to get some pre and post data as I go. It might come in handy if this ever comes up again.