Question:I am planning to run in my second marathon (5 days away) and am
interested to hear what diets other experience marathoners have found to
be successful in the few days leading up to, and including marathon
day.
Answer:
Drink the sports drinks as early as possible in the marathon. Start
carbo loading a few days before rather than just the night before....
Train yourself during the week before the marathon to continue to hydrate
so your urine is clear. Remember it takes 3 grams of water to store one
gram of glycogen. You can carboload but the folklore is that unless you
continue to drink fluids, you can be carboloaded but dehydrated.
Get into the rhythm of your breathing.
A sense of your rhythm can keep you running smoothly so that you do not
strain nor tighten up muscles not involved in your smooth running form.
Terms to say to yourself and to picture as you train and during your
marathon:
1. Relax my shoulders
2. Relax my jaw
3. My running style is smooth like cycling over the earth. Lift my
knees a quarter of an inch (1/4 ") each stride, not my body. I am pedaling
over the earth's surface- smooth and easily.
4. Breathe smoothly like a hospital respirator.
5. Scan the body and relax those muscles: tongue, jaw, neck, shoulder
blades, lower back, diaphragm, quads, hams, calves, toes.
Go over the course in your mind.
Remember should anything happen that you need to walk more than expected,
do not lose concentration. Walk in good form and style. More often than
not you will be back running in several minutes because you have
maintained your inner spirit of doing the marathon well.
Locking In Your Marathon's First 10 Miles:
On your long runs of 15, 13, and 10, run the first 3 miles a minute/mile
slower than your normal marathon speed. From mile 4 onward, run your
normal marathon speed. It is important to use the 1st 3 miles to warm up.
Remember on marathon day, you will be full of energy. By running the first
3 miles slower 30 seconds to 1 minute slower than marathon pace, you will
be ready to settle into your marathon pace. Should you go out 30 seconds
to a minute a mile faster than your marathon pace, you will finish the
marathon 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes slower than you expected.
Since you are well rested, don't let the excitement and adrenaline affect
your first 3 miles which are 30 seconds to 1 minute slower than your
marathon pace. Do not waste any glycogen storage by going out faster than
race pace those first 4 to 8 miles.
Carboloading the right way:
By eating normally on days 5, 4 & 3 before the marathon plus hydrating
well, you will have stored the energy needed to complete the marathon. Eat
early the night before the marathon so that you have enough time to have a
good bowel movement. Make sure that you have plenty of bulk/roughage in
your meal so it is digested and you are ready to have a good bowel
movement several hours before the marathon.
Sleep-Get It Early:
The sleep you get on days 5, 4 and 3 before the marathon, especially days
5 and 5 will get you through the marathon. Even if you were to be up all
night before the marathon or even if you only get 3 to 5 hours of sleep,
it will be due to the energy your body has stored by your minimal running
4 days before the marathon. Knowing the body is on a 36 hour cycle, will
allow you to run the marathon no matter how little sleep you had the night
before the marathon. That is one less worry you have the night before.
Kevin McCarey had one of his best marathons with no sleep the night before
the race.
Hydrate! It Needs Repeating: Hydrate!
Knowing it takes 3 grams of water to store 1 gram of carbohydrate in your
liver and the muscles, the water you drink on days 5, 4 and 3 before the
marathon is very important. Should you not drink enough water, your body
will use water from the body to store the carbohydrates. So it would be
possible to be carbohydrate-loaded but not well hydrated. If you are
flying to your marathon, bring a liter of water for every 2 hours of
flight time. Even then that might not be enough, but it will keep you from
getting too dehydrated from being in a pressurized cabin.
The Day Before:
The day before the marathon, you will do nothing but hang around. Remember
that if you go sightseeing by walking around , each mile you walk is
costing you 100 calories. Should you walk 8 or 10 miles, you will not be
able to replenish your energy stores in your legs by next day. Even then
you possibly wouldn't feel it until the last 4 to 6 miles in the marathon.
Post Marathon Training:
Do easy running for 3 to 4 weeks after the Marathon. After such an effort
to achieve such a goal, there will be a letdown. Expect it, as it is
normal. It is extremely important at this point to set a new goal for
yourself. The goal might be another marathon in 6 months; or the ability
to have a base mileage so that you can prepare for a marathon with a 16
week program; or a marathon a yea for life; or assisting someone else
prepare and train for a marathon. Remember the marathon is a metaphor of a
lifestyle. You have proved to yourself that you could achieve a goal. You
achieved something that takes effort, time, commitment, focus and
determination. You now have a standard to measure yourself against when
you are confronted by the goals and challenges of life. You not have the
experience of having trained to accomplish what needed to be accomplished
to do what needed to be done.
Read George Leonard, on Mastery. Read George Sheehan's Personal Best. Your
marathon has prepared you to live your life. Life, Be in it. Life, live it
to the fullest and share what you have learned along the way. Goethe's
wisdom heard twenty years ago continues to alter my perception of time:
Life is the childhood of our immortality.
Remember you are using the marathon to see where you are not only
physically but also mentally. If you have listened to your body, you will
find that the training you have used for running a marathon: scheduled
training, pacing, hard/easy days, long/short days,--all apply to the
Marathon we all run--LIFE. During these training sessions, if all goes
according to plan, there will be nothing unexpected during your Marathon.
Well, almost nothing except what your mind can create to distract you.
