First marathon coming up...any tips?

[carerra g tea]

Getting a little apprehensive about my first full marathon this weekend. I run and bike regularly (6-10 miles) and the most I have ever run is 16 miles before this. I did that just once, a couple of months ago, and apart from severe fatigue for a couple of hours afterwards, it was ok.

To make things worse, the marathon is at an altitude of 6,500 ft at Lake Tahoe, California. And there is a massive climb for 1.5 miles at 18.5 miles. On a positive note, after 20 miles, it's all downhill.

After the first 10 miles, I am going to tackle it in 5 mile segments, I think. Is this a reasonable strategy? Anything I should watch out for?

I am quite worried about glycogen depletion, and I am afraid I don't really understand how it all works. If I keep eating oranges, bananas, energy bars, and electrolyte drinks, will it prevent this, or is it something like VO2 max that has to be built up over time and training, so once I am out of energy and willpower, I should just stop before I collapse?

I have heard about "the wall"...is there anything I can do to prevent it or any strategies for overcoming it?

Here's the elevation guide http://www.marathonguide.com/coursemaps/elevationc...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

[ewenm]

Make sure you fuel during the race. There will be lots of food/drink points so use them and before you feel tired. If possible find out what will be available at the food stops and do a couple of longer training runs eating some of that product during the run (to make sure you don't react badly to it).

Lots more tips on the Running thread in the sports forum.

[ady_GTi]

Dont know anything about marathons, but i would be concerned about the elevation.

Was recently in Albuquerque (5300ft) i could barely cycle more than 10 mins without getting totally out of breath, im not particularly unfit either.

How you are you going to have to acclimatise?

[Cara Van Man]

Advice?

Dont.

[carerra g tea]

ady_GTi said:

Dont know anything about marathons, but i would be concerned about the elevation.

Was recently in Albuquerque (5300ft) i could barely cycle more than 10 mins without getting totally out of breath, im not particularly unfit either.

How you are you going to have to acclimatise?

Planning on getting there 12 hours before and doing a gentle run and drinking lots of water. Other than that, nothing really, as I can't get there any earlier.

[carerra g tea]

ewenm said:

Make sure you fuel during the race. There will be lots of food/drink points so use them and before you feel tired. If possible find out what will be available at the food stops and do a couple of longer training runs eating some of that product during the run (to make sure you don't react badly to it).

Lots more tips on the Running thread in the sports forum.

Thanks, I did check before posting but didn't scroll far enough, only saw the biker banter forum so posted on here.

What is "the wall" and how do you beat it?

Is this glycogen business anything to be worried about? How does one prepare?

[ewenm]

carerra g tea said:

ewenm said:

Make sure you fuel during the race. There will be lots of food/drink points so use them and before you feel tired. If possible find out what will be available at the food stops and do a couple of longer training runs eating some of that product during the run (to make sure you don't react badly to it).

Lots more tips on the Running thread in the sports forum.

Thanks, I did check before posting but didn't scroll far enough, only saw the biker banter forum so posted on here.

What is "the wall" and how do you beat it?

Is this glycogen business anything to be worried about? How does one prepare?

The wall is when you run out of energy. How to beat it? Fuel well during the race and don't set off too fast.

Glycogen is your body's quick-access energy store (fat being the long term store). Lots of carbohydrates help to maximise your glycogen levels. Again, make sure you fuel during the race (not just water!).

[carerra g tea]

Many thanks. I am working my way through the running thread as well.

Getting a little worried about the altitude too...

[anonymous-user]

Start off slowly. Slower than you think you should. Dont get carried away. You'll be glad you did after 20+ miles! Also go steady on the carbo-loading & energy gels. On my last one I paid too much attention to that carb-loading nonsense & felt like Mr blobby at the start line. I was 15 minutes quicker on a normal diet, just turned up like it was a regular Sunday morning run.

[Tunku]

carerra g tea said:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Take a taxi.

[nlldavies]

After succesful completion of a few half marathons I've got my first full marathon this weekend so know what your going through.

Small steps on the climbs and start off slowly would be my general advice.

Depending on your training and diet your liver stores approx. 100g of glycogen and you will consume approx. 60g per hour during your run, so your body will run out in about 100 minutes of running. The amount of glycogen stored can increase with your training and diet by about 50g, but I'd imagine you would have to be a athlete to achieve this!

Some poeple rely on the glycogen store in muscles as it is much higher than the what is stored in the liver, the problem is that this is used directly by the muscles and will not replace low blood sugar when your liver runs out. Personally I plan to take energy gels every 30 to 40 minutes during my run to try and top up my liver stores. I've also been told that the gels work their best if mixed with water, I am unable to confirm this.

Speaking fo water, make sure you are well hydrated as the amount of glycogen your body stores increases with hydration.

I seem to remember that there was more to above when I did research but knowing the above really got me on the right track for endurance .... now speed is another story and at 19 stone this is a big fight at the moment.

P.S - Good luck on your run

Edited by nlldavies on Wednesday 24th September 22:26

[carerra g tea]

Many thanks for all the excellent advice.

I am well into my taper, so went for a simple 5 mile run today but was still too sore and tight from the 10 miler two days ago so just ended up walking for most of it. Almost considered dropping out of the marathon on Sunday, but I am still doing it.

Conditioning-wise, I am as ready as I am going to be. The most I have done is 16 miles. That time, I didn't hydrate properly, and did not replenish my glycogen store...it was a disaster after the run. I didn't even have the energy to hold my head up. Lesson learned, keep taking sugar in over the course of the run. And hydrate properly. I have just never understood the biology behind it, especially whether this is a tolerance that I build up over time, or if it's some chemical level I can simply keep topped off during the run.

I am fairly active (run 6-12 miles or bike 20-30 miles every day, lots of pressups, yoga 3 times a week, soccer twice a week, lots of other physical stuff), so I would think my liver is at least at the 130 grams of glycogen mark, but who knows? I will certainly be taking the advice here to heart and eating bananas and oranges and drinking energy gels and water/gatorade every 5 miles.

My favourite trainers seem to have started bothering one of my toes and have a lot of miles on them, so I suspect they won't be the best choice. I have three other pairs, all worn in, so I am rotating those to see which ones will be best for the run. I wish it was tomorrow as I am sick of being nervous by now and I just want to get it over with without losing any more conditioning by tapering my workouts. I can't concentrate on anything!

I have the following packing list:
Waist pack (considering carrying a little bit of my own fruit/energy bars, and it's where I will put my shell, sleeves, etc. as I warm up)
Fruit bars, gels
Light shell jacket
Cycling sleeves (seems it's very cold in the mornings up in Tahoe)
iPod
Sunglasses
Plasters (to stop nipples from being rubbed raw by shirt)

Anything else? Should I take a cap/beanie to keep my head warm? Do any of you wear a sweatband? They give me a headache, but sweat dripping into my eyes is a problem...

Best of luck on your marathon too, mate. Let's compare notes next week.

Edited by carerra g tea on Thursday 25th September 07:30

[rebelstar]

Don't forget the sun tan lotion. You'll burn easily at altitude.

[alfa phil]

Good luck mate , I think you may need it, never done a marathon at altitude before ,but the ones i have done have consisted of longtraining runs up to 22miles , having only run 16miles, start off slow and then run slower, plenty of sports drinks before during and after ,get some thing to eat as soon as you finnish even though you may not feel like it, rest plenty 3/4 days before the run ,ie nothing you have more to loose now if do anything more than 3mile loosen up ,you may be lucky but im sure you will be very tired at around 20mile were the wall may be lurking, let us know how you get on

[skylinecrazy]

Don't fall over.

HTH


Oh, and good luck

[carerra g tea]

skylinecrazy said:

Don't fall over.

HTH


Oh, and good luck

Lol, will try not to!

[carerra g tea]

Excellent point about the suntan lotion...just concerned that it may interfere with the sweating, or that the sweat might carry it into my eyes. Suntan lotion stings for hours if it gets into the eyes. But I will put some on, many thanks for the reminder.

[carerra g tea]

This taper business really gets on my tits. I am used to a lot of exercise every day, and it's doing my head in sitting around "saving" my energy. I have had trouble sleeping and felt a bit bloated from all the pasta and rice dinners. So I did a nice 30 mile bike ride today. Nothing strenuous except the last two hills. But I feel so much better now. I just don't feel as if the day is complete unless I have done some exercise.

And, err, should one abstain from sex the night before? Morning of? Halfway through?

[Muzzer]

You sound fairly active and if you run regularly you shouldn't have any trouble completing it.

Put it this way: If you can run 12 miles regularly, you can run 26 once. It just depends on how fast you want to do it

Relaxation is the key. Don't get too worked up over your diet; Have I taken this that or the other. Just use common sense. Hydrate and fuel properly, pace yourself and (most importantly) believe you can do it.

[carerra g tea]

Muzzer, thanks. I have noticed that 12 miles are painless, but the 16 hurt. A lot. Something started acting up in one knee and it was a burning sensation that got more and more pronounced. I hope it's not a lurking problem, but a one-time thing due to not stretching properly or something. I am actually more concerned about the cold and altitude. So, I am going in with a good attitude and I should be able to finish (completely unconcerned about the time), but if not, no pressure (at least, not too much)--I will just do the next marathon after perhaps training a bit more conscientiously.