Falls Church coach says training is all you need for a marathon

Marathon training coach Jack Hughes of Falls Church is the inspiring drumbeat for dozens of marathon trainees every year, leading them down the path to fitness and, ultimately, toward their most challenging goal: a 26.2 mile run. As the coach puts it, the key to a marathon – and any endurance event – is the training. Getting to the starting line is harder than getting to the finish line.

“Anyone who puts in the time and is willing to do the training can run this race,” Coach Hughes said. “It’s very challenging, but also very rewarding. And it doesn’t matter how fast you are – you can even walk it – the marathon is just as challenging at a slower pace. But to succeed, just remember, endurance training follows a Goldilocks rule: too much and you can get injured, too little and you can get injured. That’s where a good program and a good coach can make the difference,” he said.

Anyone caught up in the pre-marathon hype for the 41st running of the Marine Corps Marathon, October 30th, the self-described ‘people’s marathon,’ has the beginning of what Coach Hughes calls ‘the marathon ambition.’

“A marathon is one of those things people have on their bucket list,” he said. “It’s this dream they’ve always wanted to say they’ve done, but it’s always seemed so far away. But this is a dream you can wake up and do. A marathon is just about four months of training away.”

Case in point: Hughes is a coach for the D.C.-area teams that support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Each of the charity runners he trains likely signed up for their first marathon as a way to help fight cancer when they joined LLS’s Team In Training. In a few short months, Hughes takes them from casual runners to marathon-ready endurance athletes. Many return to run again, devoted to the cause and to their new-found love of running with a group of like-minded folks.

In the 28 years LLS has been coaching the Team In Training runners, hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised by the teammates nationwide and given to researchers working toward a cure. With fundraising as their number one goal, many of LLS’ 600,000 athletes did not start out as runners. But Coach Hughes understands having the dream, then doing a marathon.

“If you are thinking about doing it from the couch, build from the base,” said Hughes. “Begin walking. If you are already a runner, build your base. Get out there and start to make it a habit, even just 30 minutes three or four times a week. In Team In Training, we have people get off the couch in May and run this race in October. The more base you build, the better off you are,” he said.

Coach Hughes stresses the importance of training for the Marine Corps Marathon with a coach “because there is just so much to know.”

“That includes running form, walking form, pacing, race strategy, cross training, injury prevention, clothing, shoes, nutrition, hydration and an appropriate training plan for your level,” he said. “Marathons are tricky things; a lot can happen in 26.2 miles. Even experienced runners focus train.”

One of the experienced runners on this year’s team is Lara Snead, a competitor in high school who had planned to make this race her first marathon last year. Last summer she was suddenly hospitalized and diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. She faced six months of chemotherapy to shrink large tumors and kill the cancerous cells in her body.

“What I missed most was running,” Lara said. I couldn’t run to relieve stress, at a time when I was at the peak of stress in my life,” she said.

Today, Lara is again holding a bib number for the Marine Corps Marathon. She began running again in January after deciding against radiation treatment. Her energy returned, slowly. At first, she could run a few hundred yards and, days later, a mile with Hughes’ team. In April she ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, fewer than four months after chemotherapy.

“I call this my redemption run,” Lara says of her plan to run the Marine Corps Marathon. “I decided to run with Team In Training because I wanted to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society raise money for cancer research, and help future patients like me. I needed to get back out there, and being associated with LLS makes this race that much more meaningful to me.”

The charity component of the Marine Corps Marathon not only raises millions, it guarantees thousands of runners a spot if they sign up to support a charity. And it’s helpful inspiration.

Coach Hughes joined Team In Training as a runner in 2007 when his brother-in-law was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma. “My dad, who died of lymphoma when I was a kid, once told me that you have to find a way to do something positive in the face of adversity. And so, supporting LLS made perfect sense to me. But no matter what your charity, I think you have an advantage as a charity runner for having something bigger than yourself to run for,” Hughes said. “You have that to draw from when the miles seem long. There’s a spiritual side to the whole thing that’s hard to put into words.”

Team In Training brings 40 runners from the D.C. area to this year’s Marine Corps Marathon, who together have raised $40,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s research and patient support programs.

Team In Training is the flagship fundraising campaign of LLS and the world’s largest and most successful charity sports endurance training program. Since its inception in 1988, when a team of 38 runners trained together for the New York City Marathon and raised $320,000, TNT has raised more than $1.4 billion, trained more than 600,000 people and helped LLS invest more than $1 billion in research to advance breakthrough cancer treatments that are saving lives today.

Upcoming Team In Training events include Lavaman Triathlon in Waikoloa, Hawaii, America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride (100 miles around Lake Tahoe). www.teamintraining.org

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.