Personalized Marathon Training Plan Guide
Preparing for a marathon requires a systematic training plan. RunBox AI coach creates a customized 16-20 week marathon training plan based on your fitness level, goal time, and available training time.
Why Choose an AI-Customized Marathon Training Plan?
- Personalized Assessment: Based on your running experience and fitness condition
- Smart Adjustments: Training intensity optimizes automatically with progress
- Scientific Pacing: Based on your target finish time
- Injury Prevention: Reasonable intensity progression to avoid injuries
what issues impact the further development of marathons in china
——From Guima Organizing Committee
The current marathon scene in China is flourishing. Describing it as 'prosperous and bustling, like oil boiling over a fierce fire' is not an exaggeration. Since 2015, the number of marathon events and participants has repeatedly hit new highs. Marathons have become a super engine for promoting and implementing nationwide fitness.
Marathons have truly become a wild horse galloping freely across the land of China, enjoying unparalleled popularity for a time.
However, as this wild horse strides forward, some crises are approaching, becoming hidden ailments that could affect its continued run.
——From the Internet
1. Frequent changes in event operation rights
Most, if not all, event companies in China face an awkward problem—the IP of the events is not in their hands but with various levels of government. No matter how capable an event company is, it is essentially working for the government.
Working for others means facing the possibility of being kicked out at any time. We see that the operation rights of many marathons frequently change hands, with some being tendered every five years, some every three years, and some even every year. The events remain, but the event operation companies come and go.
The instability of event operation rights leaves event companies exhausted from bidding, unable to settle down and properly prepare for the events. Event companies might think, 'No matter how hard I work to organize a good event, in the end, I'm just making wedding clothes for others.' Such situations are not uncommon in the marathon field.
Events that are truly well-organized have stable event companies running them, such as China Olympic Road Running for the Beijing Marathon, Donghao Lansheng for the Shanghai Marathon, Xiamen Media Group for the Xiamen Marathon, Zhongji Sports for the Lanzhou Marathon, and Huipao Events for the Wuxi Marathon.
Stable event operation rights allow event companies to focus on organizing good events, carefully exploring the 'selling points' of cities, striving to cultivate the brand of the event, and earnestly accumulating the culture of the event. Over time, event companies offer us not just an event but a grand city show in the name of a marathon.
2. Instability of event company personnel
Running a marathon event is particularly arduous, not just physically but also mentally exhausting. After all, a marathon involves two to three thousand people, and a single mistake can lead to disaster.
Many marathon operators face the reality that the economic returns they receive are not proportional to the efforts they put in.
I've been selling energy gels in this circle for nearly five years, and the partners I work with at various events have changed repeatedly. Some have gone to other event companies, and some have left the industry altogether. I understand why they leave. After becoming friends with some partners from event companies, I often ask them, 'Why did you decide to work in marathon events?'
Operating a marathon is a particularly complex task. While it may not require extremely high technical skills, it does demand high levels of ability, psychological resilience, and experience. It is not easy to find and cultivate an excellent marathon operator.
A good event requires a group of excellent marathon operators working together with sincerity. After working together for a long time, coordination becomes smoother. Frequent personnel changes in some event companies mean that everyone has to re-adjust before the event, requiring even more effort to organize a good event.
3. Low registration fees for events
Currently, the registration fee for a marathon in China is around 150 yuan, about 100 yuan for a half marathon, and about 60 yuan for a mini-marathon.
For an event with 25,000 participants, assuming 7,000 for the marathon, 8,000 for the half marathon, and 10,000 for the mini-marathon, the total registration fee would be 2.45 million yuan, which seems like a lot of money.
How much does it cost to organize such an event? According to a well-known photographer in the running circle, Duoji, it costs about 6.835 million yuan. According to Mr. Ren Zhigang, president of Guangzhou Zhongti Sports, Duoji's calculation is reliable.
With a registration fee of 2.45 million yuan and an operating cost of 6.835 million yuan, the registration fee cannot cover the operating cost, leaving a gap of over 4 million yuan.
Some say that marathons can attract sponsorships. Large, well-known events can indeed attract sponsorships, which is why the Shanghai Marathon charges only 100 yuan for registration each year. However, most events find it difficult to attract enough sponsorships. Some also say that many events have government backing. We must recognize a major trend: government investment will decrease. For example, the government only provided 100,000 yuan for the recent Nanchang Marathon.
Many event companies can only cover the costs themselves. Some financially strong event companies can sustain this for a few years, while others that are less capable have already closed down.
4. Too few runners capable of running marathons and half marathons
In 2018, the number of marathon finishers was 214,300, and the number of half marathon finishers was 546,900. This means that the total number of people in the country who can run half marathons and marathons is only 761,200, accounting for just 0.05% of China's total population of 1.4 billion. If you put all the marathon runners in a large stadium with 1.4 billion people, you would hardly notice them.
——From SaSa
Many people say that when they try to register for a marathon, they can't get a spot, and some haven't been able to get a spot for years. I admit that some popular marathons are indeed hard to get into. However, we also need to see that many small and medium-sized events struggle to recruit enough participants. Some organizing committees even 'buy participants' or keep expanding the number of mini-marathon participants to make the numbers look good.
In the running circle, it seems like everyone around us is running marathons. But if we broaden our perspective and look at our middle school, high school, and college classmates, how many of them run marathons? Not to mention marathons, how many even have a habit of running?
There are some runners in China who run many races a year and are seen everywhere, but this group is very small. We can't expect them to keep running like this forever.
If the growth in the number of people who can run half marathons and marathons continues to lag behind the growth in the number of marathons, the further development of marathons in China will lack momentum.
5. Weak awareness of paying among runners
Having sold energy gels for so many years, I've encountered all kinds of runners. A large number of them, when visiting a marathon expo, will ask at a booth, 'Is it free or not?' If you say it costs money, they turn around and leave.
Many runners lack a sense of paying, so sponsors can't sell their products. If sponsors can't sell their products, they have no money to sponsor event companies. If event companies can't attract sponsorships, they can't make money. If event companies don't make money, they can't pay marathon operators high salaries. If marathon operators don't get high salaries, they will look for other jobs. If marathon operators leave the industry, marathons can't be well-organized. If marathons aren't well-organized, runners can't participate in good events.
Runners, sponsors, event companies, the government, and marathon operators are all links in the marathon ecosystem. Runners' willingness to spend money is an important driving force for the healthy growth of this ecosystem. However, the awareness of paying among runners is still too weak, making the marathon ecosystem very fragile.
Some runners are willing to spend money. When they visit expos and see something they like, they buy it, and some even buy things for their friends. However, this group is still too small.
Although marathons in China are developing rapidly, they are still in the early stages of development, much like a child in adolescence, growing visibly in height and weight but with rough edges and many small problems, and a bit of a temper. They need our careful attention, guidance, problem identification, and problem-solving.
Despite the various issues, the future of marathons in China remains promising because countless passionate and dedicated individuals in this field continue to nurture its growth and spread the beauty of marathon running.
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- GPT-4o powered personalized training plans
- Daily training guidance and feedback
- Nutrition and recovery advice
- Real-time progress tracking
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