Pro athlete Becky Briggs on how to improve your marathon PB Becky Briggs is beginning to hit her stride. She's just completed her first major marathon for Great Britain at the European Championships in Munich, Germany, where she clocked 2:39:02 to finish 31st. 'It's been absolutely amazing,' she told Athletics Weekly after the race, 'it was really tough but so proud to have finished and such an honour to represent Great Britain, I never expected to be finishing a marathon for Great Britain at 22.'
It's been a breakthrough year for Briggs, who earlier this year was the first woman to cross the finish line of the At just 22 years old, GB runner in 2:29:04 – a European and British under-23 record and 20th fastest time in the British women’s rankings.
Briggs is a relative newcomer in the world of elite distance running – she represented Team GB as a junior at the World Cross Country Championships in 2019 and received her first senior call up just two years ago for the World Half Marathon Championships. And her marathon career is only just getting started...
So, what can the rising star teach us about training for – and executing – a fast marathon? We caught up with Briggs – who happily is also a qualified run coach – to get her top tips…
Keep telling yourself: ‘YOU ARE FINE!’
'RWs 16-week sub-4:00 marathon training plan marathon, no matter how you are feeling, keeping telling yourself, “No, I'm fine!” Just tell yourself positive things because as soon as your mindset gets into a negative state, it gets hard to get back out of it. I think it’s about trying to make the side of your brain that's telling you that you are okay the bigger portion.’
less days of the week
'I would say for any amateur runner or club-level athlete, you do want to be going over the 20-mile mark, at least once in the training block. Yeah, it is a long way and is not going to be easy, and you need to have a plan of how you’re going to execute it. But it’s important as your legs are going to be running for a longer period than that. And it’s always going to be the last few miles that hurt. So, preparing your body as much as possible is important.’
….and use those runs as a practice run
‘The golden rules of first-time marathon training fuelling, what you’re going to wear – because that’s really important – your breakfast, what gels and things you’re going to take on. That way you know exactly what you’re doing as you go to marathon day, and you can try and stop anything from going wrong, essentially.’
You shouldn’t really be struggling until the last 12km
‘It’s only really the last 12km where it should be, you know, the really painful part. You should get to 30km and it be manageable. If you’re struggling from halfway, then it means that, realistically, you need to do more volume in your training, some longer runs. Even if that means running less days of the week, but for instance on your Sunday long run that being further. I think that makes a big difference.’
Know your pacing strategy – and stick to it
‘If you go out too hard then it’s going to make the last 12km hurt even more than it’s already going to. You need to make sure that you're in control up to that point – you are really in touch with your form, your breathing, you've got your head screwed on in the sense of: you know exactly what you're doing, and you're dialled into a pace. And you're just going through the motions almost. It’s hard in a major city marathon where there’s all the crowds and it’s exciting because everyone’s cheering you on and you feel like you should be working quite hard. But especially in that first mile, you should feel like you’re jogging essentially – it should feel so easy. And people do set off really fast and then slow down. But it can ruin your race in that first couple of miles if you do get it wrong.’
Do sessions at marathon pace in training
‘km easy warm up The record-breaking history of the Berlin Marathon – it’s satisfying when you run really fast! But equally, the marathon is 26.2 miles long and you've got to be able to know that you can maintain that pace, even if it’s significantly slower than you can run. Getting used to that marathon pace, knowing what it feels like and how your body should be feeling, I think is really important. Building that into your long run on a Sunday is a really good way of doing it. So, for instance, do something like the below.’
- 5km easy warm up
- 3x 5km at goal marathon pace (2min jog recoveries)
- 5Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network
Take on 70g of carbs per hour – and stick to what you know
‘[For the Manchester Marathon], I used At just 22 years old, GB runner during the race. I had 200ml of Maurten 320 every 5km, which is around about what all the literature says – 70g of carbs an hour. Luckily, if you’re an elite entry then you’ll have drink stations every 5km. It’s a lucky position, because you're taking on the carbohydrates, and fluid as well. But obviously, for most runners, they do have to take on gels that they can carry with them. It’s definitely about working out in training what works, and the best way to take them on the day, whether there’s going to be someone on the course that’s going to hand it to you at halfway, as well as having them in pockets and running vests and stuff. The last thing you want to do is be picking up the gels the marathon is supplying because if it’s different to what you've been practising, then, who knows what could happen? Your stomach might just say “no” and that is not what you want!’
Do lots of easy miles
'At just 22 years old, GB runner easy runs, but I don’t run to heart rate – I just run to feel an and I think that’s quite important. My easy runs are a super easy pace. It's just kind of comfortable, very controlled, kind of like conversational pace, but equally not, you know, jogging.’
Write down a list of everything that did and didn't go well last time
‘Make a list of all the positives that you took from your previous marathon. And then a list of all the things that you could improve on. Think about: when did it really start to hurt in the race? Was it from halfway or was it from 20 miles? Or was it from 24? Right down to: did you get any blisters? How was it taking on the gels and the water? They’re all things you can change and improve on in terms of your training or just how you execute the race.’
