Want to run the Copenhagen Marathon in May? Here is a few tips on how to get started.
It takes time to prepare a marathon
Most people can complete a marathon if they do the necessary training and set aside time for it.
How long time it takes to get in shape for a marathon, is individual, but for most people it takes several months for the body to get used to the strain. Therefore, January is a good time to start the targeted training efforts for a spring marathon such as the Copenhagen Marathon.
If it is your first time running a marathon, you can get lots of advice on how to begin your journey here:
Tips & advice on how to begin your marathon journey
Your race day experience depends on your training
It is important that you ask yourself whether you ‘just’ want to finish, or if you also want to have a good experience during the race, or even want to set a new personal best.
Your race day experience really depends on the efforts you put into it during the training.
If you haven’t trained enough, the final 10 – 20 kilometres can be really tough. On the other hand, if you have been doing your “homework”, you’re in for a great experience.
Therefore, start by clarifying your expectations to the race and to your training.
A rule of thumb
If you are not sure how many weekly kilometres you should run besides the long easy runs, there is a good rule of thumb saying that the distance of your weekly long run should equal the total distance of all your weekday runs.
Long runs with local communities
Copenhagen Marathon organizes free marathon training hosted by local running communities all over Denmark.
The community trainings run on a weekly, semi-weekly or monthly basis, and all runners are welcome to join no matter level or ambitions. Distance increases slowly starting out at about 13 km increasing to 30 km a few weeks before race day.
You can find more than 25 local training communities all over Denmark. Most of them begin their training in January.
Find a local training group near you (only in Denmark)
Test your shape
Once in a while it is nice to test your shape. You can do that at the “Nike Test” race series that consists of three races at 10, 15 and 21,1 kilometres from February to April at Østerbro.
At the races you can test the pace you wish to run at Copenhagen Marathon.
