Respect the distance: the rules of marathon running

There's a lot of advice and information available out there on how to run a marathon.  Over the last few years, based on what I've read in magazines, on-line, and from my own experience, I know the rules I need to follow to run my best race, aside from (obviously) putting the miles in during training.  Unfortunately, yesterday, running my 34th race, and my 11th of marathon/ultra distance, I managed to break pretty much all of those rules, and definitely paid for it! 

I was running the Kent Coastal Marathon, which is a friendly, picturesque and well organised race along the sea front and cliff path around Margate. Although I knew it'd be hard work, and didn't expect a particularly fast time, as my training has been a little sporadic recently, and I hadn't tapered at all, I ended up having a much more difficult race than I'd hoped for, and unfortunately it's all my own fault. 

So, the rules....

Carb-load before a race

Although I was trying to carb-load in a sensible, healthy way instead of my usual, disordered, "eat as much junk as I can" way, I really didn't get the balance right.  Too obsessed at the moment about not eating too much, and trying to lose weight, I didn't start changing my diet for carb-loading until Friday, and even then didn't eat enough calories. After a pasta meal I was still hungry when I went to bed on Saturday night - although I got up and had some more to eat, by that stage it was really too late.  I didn't load up sufficiently, and suffered during the race as a result.

Get to the race early

I like to arrive at a race at least an hour before the start time - this gives me enough time to get there if the traffic is bad, or I get lost, to find the start (which is sometimes quite a way away from the parking) to generally get myself together and in the right mind-set, go to the toilet before the queues build up, and spend 15 minutes or so warming up.

Yesterday, I made the fatal mistake of only setting one alarm - it duly went off, I silenced it, and promptly went back to sleep.  When I eventually woke up, I was incredibly late and very thankful that I'd prepared my race bag and kit the night before! By the time I got to the car and turned on the satnav, it told me that my anticipated arrival time at the marathon was 9:35am...five minutes after the start!  This is the sort of thing that I, quite literally, have nightmares about.

At that time on a Sunday morning, it's generally not too difficult to beat the satnav, as the roads are so quiet, so I was determined that I could make it. Not that I'm advocating it, but I drove very much faster than I should have done...and then spotted a policeman hidden by a bridge column on the motorway, with his speed gun pointing straight at me. I was the only one there, so I know he was clocking me, and no doubt there is now a speed ticket winging it's way to me in the post with the first ever points for my license.

By the time I got to Margate, and had parked up (as close to the start line as I could) it was 9:10am.  I had 20 minutes to get vaselined, apply suncream, put on my shoes and socks, try to find a toilet, and head to the start...stressed is not the word!

As a result, I forgot to vaseline everywhere I should have done (hello chaffing!) and have patchy sunburn in the places I missed while putting on the suncream in such haste - as a result I look pretty ridiculous this morning.  Anyway, by some sort of miracle the race director delayed the start for 5 minutes, and I was able to get to a toilet and over to the start line, but with barely a minute to spare!

Stick to your plan

I knew I wasn't in shape to run a sub 4hr race, so was just aiming to beat my time from running this event last year - 4:09 - and planned to run at about 9:20 minutes/mile.  However, when the gun went off, I felt pretty good, and ignoring the plan, ran 9 out of the first 13 miles at sub 9 minutes, with a fastest mile of 8:35.  There's no excuse for this - it's such a rookie mistake - and I paid for it later on in the race, with my pace dropping off dramatically (coinciding with running out of energy from poor carb loading). Obviously, what I should have done was just enjoy feeling strong for the first half of the race, maintaining my planned pace while the course was quite hilly, and then if I still felt good later, try and run a negative split, taking advantage of the flat.

Don't try anything in a race you haven't tried in training

Now this is where it gets really stupid.  I ran with a bottle of High-5 Energy Source drink and a High-5 Energy Plus gel - two supplements I have never tried before. 

Because it was hot, I was taking water bottles from pretty much every station and forgot to drink a mouthful of the energy drink each mile too, which is how I normally fuel myself - a mouthful of Powerade or Lucozade every mile. I felt ok about my nutrition though, up until about mile 14 when I started to get hungry...which is never a good sign. I realised then that I couldn't have carb-loaded effectively enough and also that I hadn't been drinking enough of the energy drink. So, I started drinking more of that and decided that at the water station after mile 18, I'd try the Energy Plus gel.  

When I got there, I picked up a bottle of water in case I needed it to help the gel down, but that meant I had to stop as I didn't have enough hands to carry my bottle, the water bottle, and open/eat the gel.  Such a palaver.  The gel was ok though, didn't taste too sickly, and so I thought it was going to work out well.  A mile or so later, when I had some jellybabies from a marshal, the mixture of the sweets, the drink and the gel made me feel immediately very sick. My stomach didn't settle again until after the end of the race and I couldn't have any more of the Energy Source drink either.

Look after your fellow runners

I'm very pleased to be able to say this isn't a rule I broke, but one that I was really shocked to see other runners ignore.

Not sure where, but I think about mile 20, there was a runner laying, spreadeagled with his eyes closed, in the grass beside the path.  I ran over when I saw him to see if he was ok. Managed to get him talking and he said he was absolutely exhausted.  Someone else (who wasn't in the race) came over just after me and agreed to stay with him, while I ran on to the water station which was only 300 yards up the path, around the corner, where I got a marshal and a first-aider to go back to him.

I can't believe though that I saw other people run past him! Just appalling - no PB run is ever going to be worth leaving someone by the side of the road...although I suppose if you are so commited to your time, the least you should do is tell the next marshal you see that someone's in trouble. Having been at a number of races over the last couple of years where runners have died, this is something which I feel really strongly about.  I didn't have the foresight to note the runner's number, so I can't check if he was ok, but I have been thinking about him.

Don't stop running!

Now, this isn't a rule for everyone, and I know that many people find great marathon success in run/walk methods...but I don't.  I run a marathon best when I keep going. Obviously, with the ultra training and races, I've been doing a lot of run/walking (it's the only way I was ever going to get through 52 miles) but this seems to have have affected my mental strength when it comes to running the whole way through a race.  When it got hard yesterday, I stopped to stretch or to walk, which completely threw me off any rhythm.

So...I made mistakes and it wasn't a good day.  In light of all of this, I'm lucky to have come out with a 4:10 but the time is a bit irrelevant to be honest - I'm more annoyed that I ran a bad race. In hindsight, I was complacent about the marathon after the ultra, and I broke the biggest rule:

 "Respect the Distance!"

What's better than going for a run?

Yesterday, after work, I'd planned to go for a quick 4 miler at marathon pace just to remind my legs what I want them to do at Sunday's marathon.  Instead, we ended up going to the Olympic Park, on what was the second day of the Paralympics.

No tickets for any venues unfortunately, just for entry to the Park, but still had a fantastic evening which included watching some of the sport on the Park Live screens, seeing the Gold Medal presentation for Hannah Cockroft (T34 100m) and getting to wave my flag while the national anthem played.

I've been absolutely blown away by the Paralympic athletes - I really was so ignorant about how amazing they are, putting on incredible performances regardless of their various disabilities. I don't want to be clichéd but it certainly is inspiring, especially when so many of the athletes seem to have been injured later in life. Some of the stories are harrowing and I can only begin to imagine how they have had their whole world turned upside down, but then adapted and become these incredible sportsmen/women..

I'm enjoying the Paralympics as much as the Olympics...all bar the terrible TV coverage from Channel 4, with adverts every 5 minutes instead of the excellent programming from the BBC!

Wish it didn't all have to end though...maybe next up we could have the Schools Olympics....

A different kind of carb loading

On Sunday, I'm running the Kent Coastal Marathon for the second time.  As my training's been pretty minimal recently I'm not anticipating a sub 4hr, but would like to beat last year's time of 4:09. I'm really looking forward to the race, especially as quite a few people I know are running it, but also because I loved the course last year - running by the sea is something I very rarely have the chance to do, but it's wonderful.

Usually, when a marathon is coming up, even if it's not a goal race and I'm not tapering, I still carb load like crazy, using it as an excuse to overeat junk food. Instead of just changing the proportions of my diet to include more healthy carbs, I eat twice as much as I should do, and revert to my favoured crisps, chocolate, cakes and biscuits, telling myself it's ok because I'm carb loading! The lies I tell myself, and am willing to believe, are incredible!  In fairness, this has generally stood me in good stead for races, but unfortunately I always find myself weighing more after the marathon than I did the week before.

In light of my new commitment to my nutrition, this time I'm approaching my carb loading a bit differently i.e more like an athlete, less like the cookie monster!

Hopefully this will still work for me, I'll still have a good race and I wont hit the dreaded wall - something that's never happened to me before, but if I don't carb load enough I might.  It'll be an interesting experiment either way.

I found the article below, online in the Running Times, which I've found pretty useful and I'm following the advice it contains. A link to the original web page is here.

Carbo–loading Rules to Run By

Learn when and how to effectively carbo-load

By Jackie Dikos, R.D.
As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine 

“Am I eating enough or too much?” It can be nerve-wracking wondering if effective carbohydrate loading is being applied before a major race. Just because the belly is full doesn’t mean it’s full of beneficial carbohydrates that will support successful racing. Consider these basic rules in understanding where carbohydrates enter the diet, what the best carbohydrates are leading up to a race, and how to effectively carbohydrate load.

1) 90 Minutes or Longer
Carbohydrate loading is appropriate for races lasting 90 minutes or longer. Such events begin to exhaust glycogen stores. By carbohydrate loading, a runner may be able to sustain pace longer, supporting endurance performance.

2) Know Thy Carbs
Most runners know good sources of carbohydrates are bread, and, well, pasta. So that means you should eat more bread and more pasta to carb load, right?  It’s true that eating bread and pasta will support carbohydrate loading, but there are other great sources of carbohydrates to keep in mind when carbohydrate loading.

Only 252 days to go....

Just saw a video that Brathay Trust have posted of the 2012 10 marathons in 10 days event and the Windermere Marathon (which is held on the last day of the 10in10) and thought I'd share it.  I can't believe that in just 252 days...that's going to be me!! :D

Presents in the post

I never get anything in the mail.  Well, I do, but not very often, and even less often is it something I actually want! So the last couple of weeks have been a bit of a turn-up for me...I've had some presents through the post :)

The most recent is something I bought myself a while back and have been waiting in anticipation to arrive - a little Lego minifig as a memento of my ultra, from Savage Steel's Minifigs website

I've also been sent the awesome Scott Jurek's book "Eat and Run" to review, which I will be starting shortly, and plan to post about in some detail - other reviews I've seen have all said it's really interesting and Jurek is one of my inspirations, so I'm really looking forward to reading it and hopefully learning from it, especially in light of my new focus on my weight and nutrition!

Last, but not least, and in a way related, I've also been sent this amazing set of Hi-5 supplements from SportPursuit that will hopefully get me through my next ultra in even better shape!

I've never used anything like the High-5 products before - I've drunk lucozade or powerade (or just plain water) and as you'll know if you've read this blog for a while, I've also suffered quite badly from hyponatremia after races so am well aware that it's not always enough!  As much races get further and more frequent, it's high time I sorted out my running nutrition and replenishing my electrolytes properly, and so this delivery has come at just the right time.  As well as my haphazard approach to my drinks, I haven't used gels before during training (prefering mars bars) or during races, when up to marathon distance I've only ever had drinks.  In the two ultras, I did eat, and chose flapjack, salted peanuts and Rolos, but again, I need to start trying out some of the more advanced nutritional options that are out there - it might not work for me, but at least for the marathon distances, I need to make sure I'm not missing out on something that could make a real difference to my races, or to my recovery from them.

As I haven't really done any decent long runs recently, I've not tried out any of the gels yet, although when we went out on our 50 mile bike ride the other day Francis had a couple and he was really positive about their effect so, as I'm heading out for a 12 mile run tonight after work, this will be the start of my trials!