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What is the best way to start training for a marathon?

Mastering Marathon Training: Expert Reveals Top 4 Strategies

So therefore things I do. Any time I start training for a marathon starting about four months before the race. The first is gradually build up mileage, start very low. If you haven't been running at all, maybe do less than 10 miles in your first week and every week add something like 10% or no more than 20% per week. So that's the first thing. The second thing is do one long run per week. I would usually do them on the weekends and just go slow. Don't worry at all about Pace. Just just have it be long and every week have it be a little bit longer than the week before. The third thing is do one tempo run per week. Temple Run is where you're running at. Basically close to your goal, race Pace, or maybe even a little bit faster. I'd say start out with a shorter tempo. Run, you know, maybe like as short as two miles or no more than four miles where you going quite hard for that distance. And then, every every week go a little bit further in your temple, run to the point, whereby the as you're getting close to that Marathon. You're going up to like a 12-mile Temple Run. And then finally, the fourth thing is do one track workout per week and And that's just that could be anything from like 400 meter repeats, you know, something like 16 by four hundred or thousand meter repeats or 800 meter repeats. Basically, just something that's getting you some speed on the track. Those are the four things. I do anytime. I'm training for a marathon.

When training for a marathon, I gradually increase my mileage, do one long run per week, one tempo run per week and one track workout per week.

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When starting training for a marathon, there are four key things I recommend incorporating into your routine. 

First, gradually build up your mileage. If you're new to running, start with less than 10 miles in your first week and increase by 10% or no more than 20% each week.

Second, include one long run per week. Take it slow and don't worry about pace. Focus on increasing the distance each week, making it longer than the previous week's run.

Third, incorporate one tempo run per week. A tempo run involves running close to your goal race pace or slightly faster. Start with a shorter tempo run, such as two to four miles, and gradually increase the distance each week. Aim for a 12-mile tempo run as you approach the marathon.

Lastly, include one track workout per week. This can involve intervals like 400-meter repeats, 1000-meter repeats, or 800-meter repeats. The goal is to incorporate speed work on the track.

By incorporating these four elements into your training routine, you'll be on the right track to prepare for a marathon.

Say you started triathlon in your 20s, wanted to fast-track your pro triathlon career, and had zero constraints — where would you choose to live?

Pro Triathlete Reveals Ultimate Training Destination: Girona, Spain

Hi Malachi, great question. And, you know, I was fortunate enough to be able to train with the goat himself. Ian four-day know, for a week in Girona last summer and it was pretty incredible, the biking, the running and the swimming. So seems like he's got it figured out if I could train anywhere in the world and I was in my 20s and I had zero constraints. I think I would take a close look at Girona. Ah, there's also a great Cafe there for espressos between workouts.

If I was in my 20s and had zero constraints, I would take a close look at Girona. It's a great place to train with the biking, running, and swimming, plus there's also a great cafe for espressos between workouts.

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If I started triathlon in my 20s, wanted to fast-track my pro triathlon career, and had no constraints, I would seriously consider living in Girona. I had the opportunity to train with Ian Four-Day there last summer, and it was an incredible experience. The biking, running, and swimming opportunities are fantastic. Plus, there's a great cafe in Girona for those much-needed espressos between workouts.

What is a key tip you would give someone aiming to do their first ever Ironman (besides enjoying the process)?

Expert tip for first-time Ironman: Don't race until the marathon leg!

Hey Eduardo, before I did my first Ironman. My coach at the time. Matt Dixon said treat it like a long day of training and whatever you do. Do not start racing until the end of the marathon leg, at which point I guarantee you. You're not going to feel like racing and that was great advice.

My coach said to treat my first Ironman like a long day of training and not to start racing until the end of the marathon leg.

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A key tip I would give someone aiming to do their first ever Ironman, besides enjoying the process, is to treat it like a long day of training. This advice was given to me by my coach, Matt Dixon, before my first Ironman. The idea is to resist the urge to start racing until the end of the marathon leg. By then, I guarantee you won't feel like racing, and this approach can be incredibly helpful.

What sparked your entrepreneurial journey?

Training for triathlons and sparking a new entrepreneurial journey

The question is what sparked your entrepreneurial journey? My answer to this question is a bit different depending on which of my three entrepreneurial journeys you are referring to. My very first startup was called datesite.com. It was a crush site that I built while I was in college at Harvard where you could enter email addresses of people you had a crush on and see if you matched with other people at your school. I think the main thing that sparked this initial journey was the fact that I was too shy to ask anyone out myself and I thought this product would be useful for students at Harvard and it turned out within one week a quarter of all of the students at Harvard had used it. My second startup was called Friendly, friend.ly. It was a social question-and-answer website where you could ask people questions about themselves and answer questions about yourself and it used questions and answers or a Q&A as an icebreaker as a way to meet new people. So Friendly was actually another dating site in disguise because it was really a way to meet new people. I think the thing that sparked this entrepreneurial journey was the fact that I was living in Silicon Valley and I had just graduated from Stanford Business School and everyone was starting companies and I felt like I should start a company too. Silicon Valley was a great place to start a new company and there were a lot of other entrepreneurial people around me and it was a really exciting time back in 2008 to be starting a new company. My third entrepreneurial journey is building AnyQuestion, the app that we are on right now. And the thing that sparked this entrepreneurial journey of building AnyQuestion was really the fact that I thought of a product I would want to use myself that hadn't yet been built when I was training for Ironman triathlons. I wanted to be able to ask the best triathletes in the world questions and learn from them and I was surprised that there wasn't a platform where I could do that. And that is why I started to build AnyQuestion in order to build a platform where people can ask the best experts in the world questions and learn from them. And it has since then become more of a place where anyone can share their knowledge, especially their tacit knowledge. So in summary, my first startup, Datesite.com, was based on building a product that I wanted to use myself, that I felt addressed a need that I had and that others had. And my current startup, AnyQuestion, also I have built in order to address a need that I have that I think others have as well. With Friendly, the inspiration was more just being in Silicon Valley and being around a lot of other people who are starting companies and feeling like that would be an exciting thing to do. So those are the things that have sparked my three entrepreneurial journeys.

Datesite.com was sparked by a need I saw for a product that I wanted to use myself, Friendly.ly was sparked by the Silicon Valley startup culture, and AnyQuestion was sparked by a need I had while training for Ironman triathlons.

What sparked my entrepreneurial journey? Well, it's interesting because my journey has taken different paths with each of my three startups. 

My first startup, datesite.com, was born out of my shyness and reluctance to ask anyone out myself. I saw a need for a platform where students at Harvard could anonymously enter the email addresses of their crushes and see if there was a mutual interest. Within a week, a quarter of all Harvard students had used it, sparking my interest in entrepreneurship.

For my second startup, Friend.ly, I was living in Silicon Valley after graduating from Stanford Business School. The entrepreneurial spirit was contagious, and I felt compelled to start my own company. Friend.ly was a social question-and-answer website that served as an icebreaker for meeting new people. It was essentially a dating site disguised as a Q&A platform.

My current entrepreneurial journey involves building AnyQuestion, the app we're on right now. This journey was sparked by my desire to have a platform where I could ask the best triathletes in the world questions and learn from them while training for Ironman triathlons. I realized there wasn't a platform like that available, so I decided to build it myself. AnyQuestion has evolved into a place where anyone can share their knowledge and learn from experts.

In summary, my entrepreneurial journeys have been sparked by different factors. The first was addressing a personal need and seeing its widespread appeal. The second was the entrepreneurial environment of Silicon Valley. And the third was identifying a gap in the market and creating a solution for it. Each journey has been unique and driven by different motivations.

Ed Baker answers your Entrepreneurship questions. See all the advice Ed Baker has and get answers to your own Entrepreneurship questions.

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Ed Baker is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive, currently serving as the CEO and Founder of AnyQuestion, an AI powered knowledge sharing platform. Prior to this, he played an instrumental role as the Vice President of Product & Growth at Uber and prior to that he sold a company to Facebook where he joined the team as the Head of International Growth. Ed currently sits on the boards of both WHOOP and Form, and his extensive experience in product management, growth strategies, and consumer technology has made him a sought-after thought leader in the tech industry.