Marathon Training Tips

Things To Know Now                    

Know Your Training Program and Schedule - Write it all out so that you know what you are supposed to be doing each day, including all cross training, recovery, tapering, projected mileage and pace. It is ok to adjust it as you go, but you need to have something to follow so you can chart your progress. This will also allow you to make adjustments for vacations, trips and such.

Know Your Goal - Figure out what time you are aiming for. Also set Plan B, C and perhaps D. Finishing is always the top goal. Set three times: One for the perfect day, one for the typical day, and one you know you will be happy with.

Know Your Pace - If you know your pace or at least some of your splits, you will know right where you stand going through the race and you will be more comfortable making adjustments during the race. Also, assume that at least mile one and perhaps two will be slower than you project. Just add a minute to 1.5 minutes to your pace for the first couple of miles, and adjust your race to match. Finally, don’t blow through the first half too fast because you feel good. Stick to the pace plan and try not to push any mile too much. A little time in the bank is good, but it does you no good if you are too tired to keep your pace up at the end.

Know How Seriously You Are Approaching the Race - Is this a fun race? Are you trying to set a P.R (personal record)? Are you trying to qualify for Boston? Answering these questions will help you define your goals and help build your training schedule.

Are You Running the Race With a Friend? - This is also important. If so, make sure that your goals match and that you are all committed to the same training. You don’t want to get out there and find that one of you is not ready to go and that you are having to drag your buddy through the course.

Things To Figure Out Soon                    

Shoes and Socks - Get your marathon shoes about 1 month before the race. Log about 25-50 (not more than 100) miles in the shoes so they are “broken in” but not too worn in. Log at least one long run before the race with the shoes. Usually the shoe you are training in.

Race Day Apparel - Figure out what the weather should be like and decide what shirt and shorts you want out there with you on race day. Remember that once you are running, it will feel up to 20 degrees warmer than it actually is on the course. After a couple of miles, a 50 degree day will feel more like 70.

Hydration - How often? What is on the course? What are you going to use? Look at the course info and decide if you are going to use what they are supplying. Also look at the stop locations (about every 2 miles) and figure out your rhythm with hydration, practice it on your training runs. This is often overlooked when people begin training at longer distances. Proper hydration on your workout means more than just water. Hydration out on a run means taking in electrolytes, such as Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium. These minerals are vital for you to be able to stay hydrated and keep your body functioning properly. Without these minerals, your body won’t be able to absorb all of the water you are taking in and could cause some issues.

Energy - What do you want to use on the course? Most supplements recommend 15 minutes before, and every 45 minutes during. What are you having for breakfast that morning? What are you having for dinner the night before? Learn about the different supplements and what they have in them. Try them out to see what works best. Remember that it takes about 100-120 calories per mile to power you through the run, so you need to be able to balance out that energy while you are running.

Course - Look over the course and try to run over the portions of the course that look tough or tricky (hills, switchbacks) figure out where the water stops and toilets will be along the course. Understanding the course can be of great value so that you aren’t surprised when you are out there. If it is an out of town course, try to hit the start or end of the course the day before so that you know what you are going to be looking at with those morning jitters or end of race legs.

Things To Figure Out In The Last Few Weeks Heading Up To The Race                    

Taper - Love and embrace the taper. The taper is what allows your body to recover and be ready. Again, follow the training schedule and don’t overdo it. You may feel like you are losing your edge (or mind) but the taper is important, you will feel like yourself once the race starts.

Start a Checklist For Race Info - Where and when is packet pick-up? Schedule the time to go get it. What time is race start and how are you getting there? What is the race policy on electronics? - many races don’t let you use your iPod.

Start a Checklist For Your Race Day Needs - Energy, Hydration, Body Glide, Band-Aids, spare socks, sunscreen, clothes and shoes you know, extra safety pins, fuel belt. You might also consider a shirt, gloves, and a hat that you can chuck if it is a cold morning. Trim those toes nails about a week before.

Start a Checklist For What Goes in Your Bag Check Bag - Flip Flops or post race comfy shoes, dry shirt, shorts, hat, jacket, towel, wet wipes (shower in a pouch), phone. Don’t put anything in the bag check that you can’t stand to lose.

Spectators - Do you have friends and family watching for you on the course? Figure out where they are going to be, what side of the road? Are they holding anything for you? Are they running with you? Where will you find them after the race? Sit down with them and the course map and figure out what will make the most sense for both of you.

Weather - Check it out the final few days leading up to the race. Make sure that you are prepared to run in whatever conditions are out there, but pay close attention to the temperature. A hot day can really affect how you feel and may demand that you make adjustments to your strategy and expectations.

Stay Healthy - Pay attention to any potential injuries. If it hurts, figure out what it is and make provisions on your training to deal with it properly. Practice good hydration, lots of water through the days, proper hydration during workouts. Stretching and icing to help keep injuries at bay.

Night Before The Race                    

Dinner - Hydration and carbs. Water/Gatorade, fruit and pasta ..... stick to things you know that fuel you well for a long run and set well with your stomach. This is not time to try that super energy meal that you read about. Try to sit down for dinner by 6 or 7 so that you can get it down and relax. You do want it to settle .... and pass. Go over your plans for the next day.

After Dinner - Check the weather one more time. Lay out what you plan to wear, pin your bib to your shirt. Put the race chip on your shoe. Lay out all of the stuff you need that morning, and will take onto the course (breakfast bar, glide, gels, etc). Pack your bag check bag, making sure you have all you need in there.

Go to Bed Early! - Plan for 8 hours if you can (try to do this for as many days prior to the race a you can). Skip that 3rd margarita and buffalo wings. Turn off the TV.

Morning Of The Race                    

Use the restroom early and often
Check the weather one last time
Eat your breakfast and down 20oz of water or Gatorade about 1.5 to 2 hours before the race start if you can
Get there early enough to make at least one more pass at the restroom if you need to
Get yourself relaxed and ready to go and drop your stuff at bag check
Line up in plenty of time, get to the corral 20-30 minutes prior to the race, stretch, run striders, visualize the race, relax and get ready to run
Hit about 8-12oz of water or sports drink about 15-20 minutes before the start

The Race                  

Start slow, take that first mile easy, find your groove and don’t waste energy weaving in and out of traffic. Find your line (perhaps to the outside) and settle into your pace and your plan. Hit the timing mats. You don’t want to finish the race to find out that they didn’t record part of your time

Hydrate and refuel. You may feel great, but you still need this stuff to keep going.

Water Stops - Stay to the center if you’re not taking water, to the edges if you are taking water. The front tables tend to be crowded, the latter ones tend to be a little easier to get to. Take your energy gels as you run up so that you can wash it down at the stop

It’s OK to walk
If you walk, stick to the outside and out of the path of the other runners. Walking even for just a few seconds can be a good break, and can actually help you keep your pace. Don’t talk yourself into walking if you are able to keep your pace up.

Remember
It is going to hurt. But everyone else out there is going to be hurting too. Just stay focused on the next mile, the next lamp post, the next runner, whatever it takes for you to keep your motivation up and keep going.

Finishing is a success. Getting out there is a success. Did you break 2hrs 30mins? Me neither, but I was out there, and that is more than most of those folks in your office will do.

Post Race                    

Refuel - As soon as your stomach can handle. Calories ingested in the first half hour to an hour are going to be vital to start the recovery process. Carbs and proteins both play an important role in this process, so try not to ignore one or the other.

Rehydrate - Beer does not count, save that for later. Water and some sort of sports drink or sports recovery drink are great options to help your system rehydrate and start to recover.

Walk It Off - Sit and rest, but make sure to get up and walk around a bit after the race. This will help flush your muscles out and make for a much better day after. Stretch lightly and ice anything that may be bothering you.

That Afternoon / Evening - EAT. Eat some more. Still hungry? Have a pizza, or a dozen donuts. You just burned through about 2,600 calories, so you have the space! DRINK. Mmmmm beer. And hey you’re in for a quick buzz after all of that effort you put in. BE MERRY. You just ran a freaking marathon...... what did your friends do today?

If You Feel Like You Ran Too Hard, Then You Did - Know your training program and schedule, write it out from now through the marathon, including the taper, all speed work, and recovery days. Judge effort on a scale of 1-10. 10 = 5K race pace. 3-5 runs a week with rest days and what type of run spelled out in the schedule. This helps you know where you are in the training and keep track of your progress. It also feels nice to check off those workouts and see how far you’ve come.

Speed Work = 9-9.5
Hill Work = 8-9
Tempo = 8
Long Run = 7
Maintenance Run = 7
Recovery = 5- 6

Tapering - A speed workout is designed to get you used to exerting out near maximum effort over more and more laps. The idea is to put up a high pace, but be able to hold it over the course of many laps, throwing in minimal recovery time between distances. These workouts increase your lactic threshold, improve your muscle endurance and train fast twitch muscles to be able to work more like slow twitch muscles.

Hill Workouts are similar to speed work in that they are designed to increase strength, and lactic threshold. They also help you become more efficient/confident when up AND DOWN hills. There are many ways to set up a hill workout, but the idea is to able to increase the laps to certain number and then be able to hold a constant, hard effort over the total workout.

A Tempo workout is a run designed to put you at a high, but not maximum or near maximum, and constant pace over a longer stretch of miles. These are meant to increase your muscle and respiratory endurance.

A Long Run is meant to help you up your mileage, increasing your endurance over time. These runs should NOT be run at or near maximum effort. At the end of any long run, you should feel tired, but not ready to collapse. It should feel like you have a mile or two left in the tank. 16 Miles at 8:30 pace

Maintenance Runs are simply runs where you are getting quality miles in without pushing the pace. These runs are generally shorter and you should feel like you can do the run again when you finish. Ex 5 Miles at 8:00 pace

Recovery Runs are runs that you take EASY. The effort is low, the pace is easy. The idea is to stay loose and not push the pace / effort at all. At the end of this sort of workout, you should feel almost as if you didn’t do a workout.

Often overlooked by recreational runners, tapering is the part of the training where you celebrate all the hard work by indulging in some controlled slacking. The final 3-4 weeks before the race, you can’t really do anything to increase your pace for your race, but you sure can slow it down. This is where you let the body heal and rest. If your last full week of training is 100%, then your taper might look something like 75%, 60%, 40%, 20%. The day before the race, go out and hit a gentle 2-3 miler to loosen up, maybe cover the beginning/end of the course. Embrace the taper and your race day will be easier and smoother for it.

HYDRATION / ENERGY: 100 Calories Per Mile Has To Come From Somewhere                    

You will burn roughly 100 calories per mile on your runs. Your muscles burn glycogen (sugar) to push you through your workouts. When the glycogen runs out, your body switches to burning fat, which it does much less efficiently. So you need to keep glycogen available for your body to burn so that you don’t hit the wall. When it comes to hydration, there are many different studies with many different conclusions. The one thing they all agree on, race day hydration starts days before the race. Make sure you are well rested and you are drinking plenty of water in the days leading up to the race. Another thing to bear in mind is when you run longer runs (1.5 hours +) you need more than water to stay hydrated on your runs. Those Gatorade commercials are right, you sweat out more than water and you need to take in more than water, or your performance and health can suffer. Also, when drinking sports drinks, don’t cut them with water, that will just wash out the electrolytes. If you don’t want the calories, look at one of the no calorie options, G2, Propel, things like that.

Carb loading
Energy Supplements
Caffeine
Protein
Carbs
Electrolytes

This is where you load up on quality carbs that your body will store as glycogen for your workout. Most folks will load up on pasta, and some lean protein the night before a long run. This should also start about 2 days earlier for really long runs and before the race. Having that glycogen already in your system will push that switch further out, and help keep even energy throughout the workout / race.

This typically comes in one of three forms: gels, chews or bars. Bars tend to be too unwieldly for the run, though they can make a nice pre-workout / pre-race snack for a boost. That leaves gels and chews as the top options. Most gels come in about 100 calorie single serving options and are recommended to be taken about every 45 minutes during the workout. This keeps energy even throughout the workout. Chews tend to come with two servings per package, also about 100 calories per serving. Either option works well, and there are many different options for both in flavor, texture and ingredients used.

Many gels and chews include caffeine in various amounts. Caffeine has a few upsides to it: If you are a coffee nut, you can get that little buzz going. Caffeine has also been shown to slow the rate that your muscles will burn the glycogen they are using, meaning that those 100 calories will last a bit longer, helping to even out your energy even more. Caffeine has also been shown to aid in muscle recovery post-workout. So go grab that reward latte you were craving.

Protein, is especially necessary post-run so that you muscles can start to repair and rebuild themselves. Protein consumed within the first 30 minutes after a workout will help you recover faster. Protein consumed in the first hour still helpful, but after that the drop off in recovery aid gets larger.

As noted above, carbs are where your body gets the glycogen it burns for the workout. Carbs are also important for post run recovery. You should be hitting up the carbs in the first half hour after the workout, and certainly in the first hour. Interestingly enough, milk has a really fine ratio of carbs to proteins (about 4:1, which is recommended), making that latte look even better.

Those wonderful little minerals that help your body absorb and process the water in the sports drink that you consume on your run. The primary electrolytes that you find most often are Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium. Electrolytes are necessary for your muscles and nerves to function properly. Electrolytes are also necessary for athletes exercising in extreme conditions (for three or more hours continuously eg. marathon or triathalon) who do not consume electrolytes, risk overhydration (or hyponatremia).