The Definitive Guide to Running a Marathon!

For those of you reading this as an instructional manual or ‘Definitive guide’ to helping you achieve the goal of ‘running a marathon’, you’re reading the wrong blog…..

...I don’t know how you would have gotten that idea?

Really, this is a blog about cupcake recipes.

Ok, It’s actually not that either. What this actually is, is a personal account of all of the advice I was given before my debut marathon in Sydney 2013, including the advice I followed, as well as everything I nodded my head at…..but ignored……….and whether any of this worked!

I cannot guarantee that any of the advice listed below is adaptable to anyone, anytime, ever.…so please seek advice outside of this blog before starting your journey.

ADVICE ONE: “Do not go out too hard! The race BEGINS at 30km!”

Every runner, or anyone who has ever heard about ‘the marathon’ will be familiar with the concept of ‘the wall’; basically the moment around 30km where a runner will reach a simultaneous crescendo of pain, complete depletion of motivation and catastrophic tantrum of emotion. This can result in one of two things;

   a)      mental tenacity, pushing through and finishing complete with slow motion high-fives and fist pumps, or

   b)      An immediate race-retirement on the footpath/gutter with a salt laden forehead and an inability to control ones bowels.

The most logical causes for an athlete hitting ‘the wall’ is simply that they have not prepared adequately, have fuelled inefficiently, or that they have run the first 30kms of the race far too fast!

With this in mind the #1 piece of advice I was given by practically EVERYONE, is to run the first half of the race (at least) CONSERVATIVELY!

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

Short answer….no.

Long answer….no with a ‘but’. You see in this particular Marathon a large portion of the first half of the race included lengthy sections of steady downhill running, to the point that if I had slowed to my ‘race pace’ I would have been using more energy braking than I actually used focusing on ‘comfortably floating’ down the hills.

With that in mind I certainly didn’t run a PB over the shorter distances, and I was very, very aware of maintaining a pace I felt I could manage (with a small blowout later) without ruining my race goal.

Luckily, I didn’t blow out in the later portions, AND I’d added a couple of ‘minutes in the bank’ in the process.

Yay me….sorry advisors!

 ADVICE TWO: “Be sure to eat PLENTY of pasta before the Race! CARB LOAD man!!!”

It’s one of the simple joys of the sport, and for some of us the very reason why we got into the sport in the first place! Of course I’m talking about the guilt free consumption of mass quantities of Spaghetti and Carbonara before a big race!

But the thing is….does it matter? Obviously before a workout of 60minutes or longer your body will deplete itself of glycogen stores…which isn’t good….so using your lead-up to carbo-load is a handy idea. However you need to be careful of quantities and the manner in which you do this.

It’s complicated. I’ll blog about it later.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

Short answer….kind of.

During my training in the lead up to the race I had read a million blogs and race recounts on line, where countless runners found themselves in the eighth layer of hell at the 32km mark and attributed this solely to a lack of quality lasagne in the lead up stages. I was quite concerned.

So the day before the race I found myself on a dedicated quest to locate a decent red-pasta dish for lunch.  After arriving a little late to the city centre this casual mission began turning into a frantic search for ANY inner city establishment willing to sell pasta in the awkward serving lull between lunch and dinner.

Finally I settled for a food court bain-marie container of a soggy mixture of doughy substance that (perhaps a few hours ago) was at least gluten based. I would have urban-spooned the establishment, but for the fact that there are no options to rate in the ‘less than Zero stars’, as well as the fact that I’d be embarrassed to have my name associated with the place at all! It was not pretty.

When I met up with my other QLD runners and my coach Matt for dinner a few hours later I was very surprised to see none of them opting for deliberate carb loading! In fact, the advice they gave me, and the best advice I’d had in a while on the topic of nutrition was ‘Eat whatever will not upset your stomach, and is as little processed food as possible’. 

We had a grilled chicken burger with a small side order of fries from a pub-like establishment.  Very fresh, very neatly presented, affordable, and delicious.

It worked perfectly, we all slept well, and come race day we all felt great too!

ADVICE THREE: “Taper down in the week prior (No more than 75% of your kms!)”

It makes sense that a runner about to attempt the self-inflicted abuse of a marathon should enter such an endeavour with healthy and well rested muscles. It’s also a no-brainer that he/she should also try to avoid the risk of injury by doing something as stupid as running ‘Heartbreak Hill Repeats with Burpee intervals and a 16minute plank’ the day before the race.

But the cruel irony is that in the lead up to the race, with training going to plan the body will slowly be renovated from a clapped out Datsun 180Y to one of those ridiculous ‘Fast and the Furious’ cars with the novelty oversized engines and flames that shoot out the exhaust. With this transformation runs become easier, confidence improves, you begin to feel great, and you feel the pull to lace-up and scorch the sidewalks growing deafeningly louder!

Add to that, the fact that the majority of runners never feel truly prepared for a race, and the temptation to squeeze in a few extra km’s to ‘condition the legs’ is another annoying concern.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

I’m delighted to say, with my coach Matt knowing my penchant for doing the EXACT OPPOSITE to what I should be doing during most training cycles; he beat me to the punch by planning a very strict plan for every day leading to the start and threatening physical violence if I didn’t abide (In a very 'Soviet style' of athlete management).

And for the first time in my life, I followed the training plan religiously. To the amusement of my friends and utter disdain of my wife I spent every waking moment with the training plan in one hand constantly glimpsing at my watch, not wanting to miss a second or single step, obsessively not wanting to do too little, or too much.  

ADVICE FOUR: Make sure you have run at least 32km prior to race day!

It is a common rule of thumb that runners need to run at least 75% of the race distance prior to the actual race day. It is so widely accepted that when I told running buddies that my goal time was 2hrs 35min and that my longest run so far was 27km they seriously told me I was being a bit overly ambitious.

“You’ll know it around the 30km mark!” they warned.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

Unfortunately for Matt and I, we only really had 3 weeks to prepare for the marathon, with one of those being a taper, not a lot of time to ramp up the km’s suddenly!

Luckily, my training was already sitting comfortably at 7 sessions a week, averaging 16kms each. With some subtle manipulation I was able to subtly push the kms to 21km per day, including longer recoveries after speed sessions and hill repeats.

So whilst my ‘long run’ never got further than 27kms, it was preceded by 21kms the day before, and the day after, etc.

Do you need to run 32km prior to a marathon?....In my (completely untrained and with no medical backing) opinion…no. You need to be fit, you need to be healthy and you need to be Cardio-solid.

ADVICE FIVE: Practice with Gels! Make sure you’re confident so you can fuel on course!

It absolutely makes sense to not introduce new food, shoes or any change to routine on race day. The idea of running past the 10km marker of a 42km race with blisters, cramping and choking back vomit is the stuff of nightmares, especially after months of dedicated training.

I do remember my first half marathon in Victoria Canada. I was completely new to the sport and was attempting the run in the most social of senses, however I was advised by friends to take some Coffee Gels to help me out along the way.

Long story short, with a few minutes to race start a group of us tore the tops off our gels and pushed the gooey, mess into our mouths. It was disgusting, and the taste was overpowering and I found it hard to swallow between breaths. Immediately my hands were sticky and I felt terrible. This sensation lasted for the first 5kms of the run before I managed to wash enough of the residue away at a water station.

However, in spite of how utterly counterproductive my first experience with gels was, in that VERY SAME RACE, as I rounded the 15km mark I was handed an Orange Gel at a drinks station. With the words of my friends at the start still in my ear I grabbed it, and promised myself that when things ‘got real’, I would have it on hand.

As it turns out, I didn’t use it.

Things did indeed ‘get real’; however I pushed on, and survived. After crossing the line I threw the unopened and squished gel packet into a bin.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

fool me once…fool me twice…..

Thankfully this time around I had the experience of a well-established and proven race diet and I was confident that enough opportunities to consume water and electrolytes would be made available on course.

So I didn’t prepare my own. I took sips from every drink station, and when Matt yelled at me to grab a gel at the 27km Hydration table I did. I even tore the top off the chocolate pack and took a sip of it.

But as I ran again, I realised that that day…I didn’t need it. I tossed the remainder of the gel pack into a bin on course and I continued my routine of hitting the water stations and sipping what was on offer instead.

 ADVICE SIX: ‘I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’.

Goes without saying.

ADVICE SEVEN: Use bandaids and Anti-chafe creams…..liberally.

A friend once told me with a wry smile, of his running team, called ‘The Red Elevens’.

When I queried him why this was such an amusing name he simply asked;

“You haven’t run a marathon before have you?” and pointed at his nipples, drawing two imaginary ones downward.

Ouch!

The marathon is especially taxing on muscles and joints, and at times emotional barriers, however a much neglected aspect of the event is the constant rubbing of wet fabric on sensitive skin and the inevitable friction based consequences of this.

Chaffing. It sucks.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

I religiously use ‘Body Glide’…a anti-friction balm prior to the race after a couple of ‘close calls’ during training in the especially hot and humid Queensland heat.  This marathon prep was no different, to the point that I put the ‘Body Glide’ balm into my shoes to avoid missing putting it on race morning.

I rubbed it on my under-arms, on my nipples and everywhere, to the point that it felt like I was wearing a wet-suit made of the stuff!  I put it EVERYWHERE…..

….or so I thought.

Without going into too much details, I did neglect to recognise the fact that the true nature of running means that the upper thighs of each athlete inevitably come into contact with every step.

I spent the next two days walking with gritted teeth, like a cautious child on tiptoe through a park full of Bindi’s. 

Tears shed.

Lesson learnt.

ADVICE EIGHT: A slice of toast and a banana for breakfast on race morning.

The one constant in the folk-lore of Marathon race-day diet seems to always contain either a slice of toast, or a banana…often both.

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

My regular routine is to consume a banana, choc-chip muffin and Gatorade before every race (from 5km to 50km). It agrees with me, and doesn’t seem to surprise many.

Plus it works.

ADVICE NINE: Take some time to visualize the race. Get in the zone!

A lot of professional athletes have spoken of the power of positive affirmations, mantras, and taking time to ‘get in the zone’ prior to an event.

It’s an interesting process, and probably really hard to analyse the benefits of. Also to the outsider it very much seems a bit weird and left-of-left-of-center.  

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

This is something I try to do as often as possible.

I’ve always had to excuse myself from friends, or sneak away often at given times prior to races in order to avoid ridicule when I ‘get a bit spiritual’ before a race.

I’m certainly not contacting the dead former Olympic champions as a psychic medium, or burning candles or ritualistically sacrificing animals….but I do try to take 5 minutes to zone-out from the real world and visualise the race and the feeling of being ‘in the race’.

But is seems to calm me and focus my energy on the things I have to do, and NOT the things that could go wrong.

Luckily for me, my room-mate and team-mate Mathew suggested taking 5 minutes on race morning. It seems he does the same thing...and he’s fast. You do the math.

ADVICE TEN: Enjoy yourself!

It seems quite laughably ridiculous to suggest to someone that they should ‘enjoy’ torturing themselves by

running 42kms at a given point for nothing other than ‘fun’.

But it seems like a pre-requisite for marathoning. Otherwise, who would do it?

DID I FOLLOW THE ADVICE?

I was initially quite nervous before the run; I always seem to put pressure on myself to the point that it is quite difficult to really enjoy the lead-up to a race. However, this time I made a concerted effort to take in the spectacle of the event, the strange new city, the Expo, Elite runners, television cameras and supporters.

It was actually calming and helped my journey to the start-line, when I opened my eyes up to what was going on around me, and not just inside my exclusive ‘bubble’.

I found the race itself fun too, knowing the whole time that I was achieving something very difficult, and that I was strong and healthy.

How did the race go?

In spite of all of the advice that was given (with good intentions) that I didn’t follow…. I not only met my goal debut time of 2hours 35mins for the 42.195kms, but SMASHED it with a final time of

2 hours 32 minutes and 08 seconds!

I am very much aware that this is my only experience with the distance, and that my next 1, 2 or 50 runs could potentially be horribly worse, but I think by setting realistic goals of myself and using passion and dedication to drive my prep, the once seemingly impossible task of running a marathon became a reality.

I hope many of you experience this feeling in some capacity, be it finishing a 5km walk, or doing anything better and stronger than you could yesterday.

We will always beat the version of us who never tries in the first place right?

 

Till next time.

Clay Dawson

Marathoner….and proud of it.

(Also a proud InTraining Athlete)

Yay! Let's all go to InTraining!