100 Days To Train For A Marathon – Not Jogging For Squash!

Today I officially entered my first ever marathon!

On 15th November, I will run the Eurasia Marathon in Istanbul – which is the only one in the world that traverses 2 continents. A jogging for squash experiment…

It’s an exciting challenge for me.

My goals are…

Firstly, to have fun & enjoy the physical action of running, that is – funning 🙂

Secondly, to raise money for Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı (TOG) which is a non-governmental organisation that contributes to the personal development of young people through encouraging them to participate in social responsibility projects as volunteers. By this way, it increases the young people’s community involvement on a voluntary basis.

Thirdly, to complete the course at a decent & persistent click over the whole 42.125km, without stopping.

And lastly, to fulfill a curiosity I’ve had since I first began reaping the rewards of training the Squash Core Foundation workout over 10 years ago.

That is, I’m curious to see how effective the Squash Core Foundation workout is for something like a marathon.

While it’s the best squash fitness workout any player can do, if a runner saw the 3 exercises they would definitely say that it’s not suitable for long-distance running.

I have a hunch that it is more than suitable.

I don’t know for certain.

I’m just curious.

So it will be a fun experiment.

My Jogging For Squash Curious Plan – Running Once A Week!

I’m aware of the most common marathon training plans, which essentially involve a lot of running. I’m not going to follow any of these variations.

The only aspect of a traditional marathon training plan I will be adopting is the long run:

A typical long run (which is recommended to be done once a week) involves jogging at a relatively slow-pace (the gauge is that you should still be able to have a casual conversation and not be out of breath) with the aim of getting miles under your belt – or ‘in your legs’ so to speak.

As I said, this long run is all the running I’ll be doing!

So my training plan – which will increase/decrease as race-day approaches – consists of the following:

• The Squash Core Foundation workout
• One long run per week (which equals a total of 12 runs before race-day)
• Calf raises whenever I’m standing around waiting for someone/something
  
• Static stretching after a run/workout
• Voodoo Flossing
• Deep breathing

Counting down from 100 days (last Friday), I’m currently on Day #97!

Why Do I Think This Jogging For Squash Alternative Will Work?

Quite simply, when I first started training the Squash Core Foundation workout many years ago, I was doing a lot of rollerblading around Sydney, Australia. This included long, steep hills.

The deep reserve of energy & endurance the 3 exercises gave me – and the fact that I could feel for myself how it was helping me accelerate up hills – instantly made me think:

“If I had known about this squash fitness workout in my teens…
…I would have been physically invincible on court!”

…and…

“…I would have won the cross-country running State championships
which, at the time, I just did ‘okay’ in!”

I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic but this is the expression of the euphoria I experienced from training the 3 exercises.

This Is Not Cross-Training For Squash

I’m not training for a marathon because I think it will help my squash fitness.

I don’t think long-distance running or any jogging for squash is very applicable to moving around a court – and it takes up a lot of your time.

If anything, my thinking is the other way around – the unique squash fitness workout that I practice myself and also teach to others is so powerful I want to test for myself the extent of its value.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted 🙂

Have fun & play your own game!
Shmick Mick