Question:I am a 19 year-old college student who ran cross-country in highschool
and have been training since Thanksgiving, 11/02 (That's roughly 26
weeks) for the Lakeshore Chicago Marathon. I feel prepared, have read
boat-loads of information on carbo-loading, dieting, training,
cross-training, and tapering. However, I have not found any
information regarding the "actual running of a marathon". Are there
any resources out there for running a marathon? In other words, how
should you split up the miles? Is there some formula for making it
more manageable? My body feels prepared, but my mind is hesitant,
because I don't want to show up on race day (T-minus 5 days, Sunday,
May 25) without a clue on how I plan to run the Marathon.
Does anyone have any advice or references to the actual "running" of
the 26.2 miles?
Answer:
Well, learning to run a marathon is like learning to play the piano :) You can
read a lot of books about playing the piano, but ultimately you have to get your
hands on the keyboards to learn how to play.
I have a read a few books about running like "Advance Marathoning","Lore of Running",
"Running with the Legends","Guide to Road Racing", etc. In my opinion, there is no
general formula or one-size-fits-all model for running a marathon. You always learn
and try to improve next time.
If this is your first marathon I would simply focus on finishing (eg, sub 4hrs etc.)
and try holding the pace. It is also important to focus on the breathing otherwise
you can get stitches and those can carry through the whole run. I usually take three
gels, the first one at 15km, the second at 25km and the last one at 35km. I split up
the miles 10-10-6. Means, (ideally) I can do 10 miles the first hour,another 10 in
the second hour and then the last 6.2 miles. (Again ideally) I try to run the first
18 miles as ergonomic as possible. I try to avoid running in a group. Though drafting
can help, but usually there is some chatting going on, which can distract in
my opinion.
The last 6.2 miles are really crucial and require full concentration. When
fatigue sets in you will or can get slack.
Would also be interested in other's marathon strategy.
The most important thing is pacing. 10 or 15 seconds/mile under pace
early can cost minutes/mile over the last few miles. Use one of the
online pace calculators to estimate your marathon time from a recent
10K time. This is a rough estimate but it should be close enough to
figure a good pace, do not exceed this unless you feel pretty good
late in the race. It takes a lot of discipline but it really pays off.
Any time before 20 miles if you are feeling that you have to push a
little to maintain pace then back off some. My last marathon (3:08)
was a PR with my 1/2 marathon pace within 3 seconds/mile of my overall
time.
