Marathon thread

[steph08]

I am running my first marathon on January 13th! Eek!

They usually have water stations strategically placed throughout the marathon. I know my marathon is going to have 20 water stations over the course of the 26.2 mile race, so not quite every mile.

I always read 2-4 ounces every 2 miles or so. I just drink to thirst, usually about an ounce a mile if it is just training and I have water with me, or I have a cup of water around every water station or every other. It just depends how I feel.

If you have to stop and pee during a race, you have drank or are drinking too much.

[Deleted]

I am going to be running my first marathon at the end of May. I am just starting to train now. I was talking with my running partner (his first marathon too) about having to figure out water and nutrition during the race. I have run a couple of 1/2 marathons, during which I drank a few times, but I didn't eat anything. That worked fine for me , but I don't think it will be enough for 4 hours.

[NancysSummerSip]

I've done both 1/2 and full marathons, and don't eat at all during either. I have used the gel packs and also used liquid shot-type additives to water during the races. Both seem to work without any stomach upset. I cannot imagine eating solid food during a race. Then again, I don't carbo-load beforehand, either. I don't get the point of it. I do eat some plain carbs a few hours before - plain hot oatmeal seems to work just fine. I boost my carb intake a bit the week leading up to the race, but I don't consume a huge extra amount. I know I'll just eliminate it, anyway.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...we figured out our "water stops" needs on the practice runs, for the most part... those 10, 15, 20milers leading up to race day help you work out the kinks of your own plumbing, you know?

...we also run with fuel belts so that we don't have to rely on water stops... because not every water stop is stocked, or accessible, or whatever... and if you're running against the clock, you don't want to get waylaid by a water stop traffic jam or a porta-john pitstop...






edited typo

[steph08]

I use Jelly Belly sport beans for my fuel - I don't really like the gels - so I use beans or some sort of bloks. I take one serving every 5 miles or so.

I carry water on my training runs, but I don't plan to for the marathon.

[Deleted]

A friend of mine qualified and will be running the Boston Marathon. And, i have a cousin who is a long distance runner as well. As an observer, i really don't understand the appeal of long distance running! Obviously it is a great sport and i am athletic and play and enjoy sports but i cannot even picture myself doing a marathon. How do you do it and keep going?

[steph08]

Dec 30, 2012 6:56:39 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Thanks for all the responses...been trying to get as mch information or opinions as possible. It never bother me much before not having water, even on a 10 mile run, but did 13.1 last wek and I was really thirsty by the end of it. I don't like running with somethign in my hand (like a water bottle or Ipod) so was thinking maybe during those longer runs I could set a water bottle out on the course somewhere and grab it for a drink when I run by...as long as some good samaritan doesn't throw it away or something LoL .

I'm sure like BTDT said, the more of those long runs you do the more you'll know what is appropriate too.

I am not a big water drinker while running, usually one bottle (16 ounces) lasts me through a long run - especially when it is cold out. (On my 20 mile run, I drank maybe 10 ounces during it - it was also about 18º). When it is hot, I need a lot more.

I wear an iFitness neoprene double pouch belt that holds my phone and sport beans while running (http://www.ifitnessinc.com/neoprene-double-pouch.html), and I added the hydration add-ons (http://www.ifitnessinc.com/hydration-add-on-8oz.html) to always have water with me.

They also make a designated hydration belt. I like it because 1. I worry about stashing a water bottle - no matter how well it is hidden, I worry someone is going to spike it (semi-nice-looking female running alone ). 2. Water fountains on the trail I run are 6 miles apart and while I don't drink a lot, I do need water more often than that.

I wear my belt for races but don't take the water bottles. There are usually enough water stops on the race that I don't need them. I just drink to thirst and drink when I eat my sport beans.

It doesn't bounce up and down once you figure out how tight it needs to be, the position it needs to be in, etc. I like it more than running with a water bottle in my hand, but everyone is different.

Two weeks until my marathon! Yikes!

[Jake 48]

I have done several half marathons back in my day stretching is so important!! As for water, I would water load for a day or 2 before the race, hour before race time, bottle of water, pee prior to race and just grab a cup at each water station. These cups are only 2-4 oz, so crush the cup to a narrow opening and more will go in your mouth rather than the front of your shirt. Good Luck!!!!

[steph08]

Dec 30, 2012 8:25:59 GMT -5 @shooby said:

A friend of mine qualified and will be running the Boston Marathon. And, i have a cousin who is a long distance runner as well. As an observer, i really don't understand the appeal of long distance running! Obviously it is a great sport and i am athletic and play and enjoy sports but i cannot even picture myself doing a marathon. How do you do it and keep going?

I never pictured myself doing a marathon either.

Here is how my journey started.

Last Christmas, I ate a bunch of Christmas cookies and gained like 4 pounds. I also got a treadmill. So I started the Couch to 5k running program because I always wanted to run a 5k but never did. So I did that program and could run 3 miles three times a week. Then I wanted to advance more, so I started doing Bob Glover's build-up to running 20 miles/week. (These are all like 12 week programs).

In the middle of building my miles, I somehow stumbled across the Walt Disney World Marathon online. I thought "Man, I would love to do that someday!"

So I signed up for my first race - a 10k! It was the first one available. haha I ran it a lot faster than I had anticipated! So then I signed up for a 5k, then another 5k, then a 15k, then a 7k.

Then I discovered that this is the Disney Marathon's 20th anniversary and they are giving out this great medal that I really love...and they did a registration price reduction...so I signed up! I signed up without having run more than 10 miles at one time.

So I started Hal Higdon's Novice 2 marathon training plan. I ran two half marathons in the fall. And I have run long runs every Saturday between 12-20 miles. And I like it.

I don't know - my DH plays video games for 2/3 hours at a time, it's the same as doing a long run. If you just take it easy and don't exhaust yourself every time you run, it is fun and you are less prone to injury and get better at building endurance.

I break up my running, and I only run 4 days/week. I run 2 days over my lunch hour at work. One night a week I run with the local running club. Then on Saturday mornings, I do a long run on the local trail. For me, moderation is the key.

[grits]

Jake, is snoopy bitterly shooting at young runners with fit bodies pointing, and laughing at him?

[Deleted]

Dec 30, 2012 9:56:02 GMT -5 steph08 said:

Dec 30, 2012 8:25:59 GMT -5 @shooby said:

A friend of mine qualified and will be running the Boston Marathon. And, i have a cousin who is a long distance runner as well. As an observer, i really don't understand the appeal of long distance running! Obviously it is a great sport and i am athletic and play and enjoy sports but i cannot even picture myself doing a marathon. How do you do it and keep going?

I never pictured myself doing a marathon either.

Here is how my journey started.

Last Christmas, I ate a bunch of Christmas cookies and gained like 4 pounds. I also got a treadmill. So I started the Couch to 5k running program because I always wanted to run a 5k but never did. So I did that program and could run 3 miles three times a week. Then I wanted to advance more, so I started doing Bob Glover's build-up to running 20 miles/week. (These are all like 12 week programs).

In the middle of building my miles, I somehow stumbled across the Walt Disney World Marathon online. I thought "Man, I would love to do that someday!"

So I signed up for my first race - a 10k! It was the first one available. haha I ran it a lot faster than I had anticipated! So then I signed up for a 5k, then another 5k, then a 15k, then a 7k.

Then I discovered that this is the Disney Marathon's 20th anniversary and they are giving out this great medal that I really love...and they did a registration price reduction...so I signed up! I signed up without having run more than 10 miles at one time.

So I started Hal Higdon's Novice 2 marathon training plan. I ran two half marathons in the fall. And I have run long runs every Saturday between 12-20 miles. And I like it.

I don't know - my DH plays video games for 2/3 hours at a time, it's the same as doing a long run. If you just take it easy and don't exhaust yourself every time you run, it is fun and you are less prone to injury and get better at building endurance.

I break up my running, and I only run 4 days/week. I run 2 days over my lunch hour at work. One night a week I run with the local running club. Then on Saturday mornings, I do a long run on the local trail. For me, moderation is the key.

Wow! That is great steph! Btw, how do you keep yourself going? What do you think about? Do you try not think about the actual running or how do you do it? I just picture myself doing it. I do all kinds of sports from basketball, skiing , softball and so forth and have done some 1 or 2 mile runs as part of working out, but i truly cannot imagine running continuously for 3 hours! And, now i hear about these Ultra marathons where people run 100 miles. It just seems incredible.

[steph08]

I don't know - I just plod along. I don't listen to music or anything when I run (it just distracts me - oh another song done, that was only 3 minutes of running, etc.). I just think about random stuff and enjoy the alone time away from DH and the dogs. I imagine that I am actually running the marathon - places along the course, Disney characters, the finish line, etc. I also like to do math because it keeps my mind busy. Oh, I'm running a 10:45 minute mile right now...if I ran 10:45 for every mile of the marathon, what time would I finish, etc. It just keeps my mind busy. I think about other people I see on the trail - why are those people wearing dark hooded sweatshirts, don't they know it is the first day of doe season...oh look, a dog, what kind of dog is that, I hope that isn't the dog who pooped on the trail back there and their owner didn't clean it up...

Yeah, I'm strange!

[Malarky]

I'm not a runner. At all. Someone needs to drink beer and cheer you on. ;D

Anyone running in the Boston Marathon can pm me and I'll have a sign, a water bottle and anything else you need available just for you at the about the 11 mile mark.

I haven't missed a year as a spectator for decades.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...fwiw, I like music on an elliptical since I can control my stride's BPMs better... t-mill or trail is too varied a stride for me with the music... let alone keeping my ears open for obstacles... to each his own, though...

[Deleted]

I would be afraid to jog along the road or sidewalks with any type of music or headphones. Maybe in one ear. I just think that looks dangerous and you never know along the road. I would think you want to make sure you can always hear everything.

[weltschmerz]

I'm not a runner. At all. Someone needs to drink beer and cheer you on.
---------------
I'll only run if someone is chasing me with an axe.

[Deleted]

Here's Johnny!!!!!

[Deleted]

That's good. When my son got his first pair of Dr Dre Beats headphones, i told him not to walk around with them in both ears.

[Deleted]

Well,you know how teens are! Actually they sounded so good, i bought myself a pair. But, i only walk on the treadmill or at the HS track.

[beags]

I can't run anymore.

Damaged my ankle a couple of years back and now I have nerve damage, one working tendon and this thing called drop foot. (the foot lifts up on an angle) Yup lifelong thing, have to wear a brace to keep the ankle from rolling over. Not much to help with the drop foot. It still lifts (not correctly), and I can do other things, I just can't run.

[seriousthistime]

I'm late to this thread. I've done half marathons (ran them until my knees were ruined; now I walk them), and have a number of friends/family who are endurance athletes.

Google hyponatremia. One friend almost died from this during a marathon. If it's hot out and you're sweating and drinking lots of water, your sodium can drop to dangerous levels. For my first half marathon, they handed out salt packets and suggested we put a packet into a water cup about halfway through. I did that and also alternated between water stops and sports drink stops. You can also do the gels (experiment with them beforehand so you'll know how they affect your stomach) or sports beans.

[genericname]

Steph - how did your marathon go? I'm curious - I'm doing Hal Higdon's Novice 1 for a marathon in May. I'm older (over 40) and attempting my first one. I have always had a thing in my mind itching me to run a marathon. I've been a jogger off and on for years, and finally got serious. I'm on my 4th week, a stepback to a 5 miler for the long run on Saturday. So far, I'm happy with the program's balance of run/rest/cross days. I'm not dead yet, at least!!

I love listening to music or to a couple of the talk show hosts from around the country that engage me. I keep the tunes low enough to hear traffic, as I generally run on the streets during lunch when I'm working, and a combo of streets and trails on Saturdays. Sometimes the music or the talk show runs out before the end of the run, and then it is a nice break just to listen to silence. I will be happy when it gets a bit warmer - it was 22 degrees and felt like 11 degrees with windchill outside yesterday! I have a couple of times run on the treadmill, but I feel like I'm cheating the training program when I do. I set the incline to 2 to compensate for the moving belt. 

The advice about hydration and eating on this thread has been good - keep it coming!

[Deleted]

I was just googling "what pace should I run my first marathon" and I was reading some of the articles and blogs about and they all say the same thing. GO SLOW. The last 6 miles are harder than you think and if you go out too fast you will be slowing down to nothing in those last miles. I have to admit it has me a little worried. My initial conservative goal was a 4:00 marathon and my aggressive goal was 3:30. Now I am thinking both are too aggressive. Maybe aiming for a 4:15 or 4:30 would be better.

Also I think I am going to try and up my weekly mileage to try and get a better base. But I am getting nervous now!

[genericname]

What marathon are you running, Archie? If you have a timeframe, you could schedule a 5 or 10K to correspond to one of your training runs and use that time to estimate your marathon pace. Most everything I have read suggests you run your first one with a goal of simply finishing, and worry about your time for subsequent races.

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2013 15:44:52 GMT -5 genericname said:

What marathon are you running, Archie? If you have a timeframe, you could schedule a 5 or 10K to correspond to one of your training runs and use that time to estimate your marathon pace. Most everything I have read suggests you run your first one with a goal of simply finishing, and worry about your time for subsequent races.

I am running the KeyBank Vermont City (Burlington) marathon in May.    That is what I keep reading as well.   I was feeling great about my training up until now but all of the sudden I am very nervous!   Must run more.

[genericname]

Don't burn out by forcing too much mileage! Get on a coaching program - a couple of good ones are Hal Higdon or Jeff Galloway. They both suggest realistic training intervals/mileages that will get you to the starting line without injury. I'm enjoying the Higdon schedule very much. I'm running the Colfax marathon, which is in May as well. Good luck to you and me!!

[Malarky]

Dec 30, 2012 11:17:39 GMT -5 Malarky said:

I'm not a runner. At all. Someone needs to drink beer and cheer you on.

Anyone running in the Boston Marathon can pm me and I'll have a sign, a water bottle and anything else you need available just for you at the about the 11 mile mark.

I haven't missed a year as a spectator for decades.

I have to renege on my offer. 

DD and I will be on a trip.  I haven't told her yet that she's going to miss the marathon for the first time in her life.    She's gonna be upset.

[Deleted]

I am mostly following the Hal Hidgon Marathon 3 training plan. That plan has biking on Wed night and I have mostly been running instead. There is also a cross train day on Sunday, which I have been doing fast circuit training on weight machine, but I may run some of those as well. I have a 13 mile run on Saturday.

Good luck with the training.

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2013 15:57:42 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

I am mostly following the Hal Hidgon Marathon 3 training plan. That plan has biking on Wed night and I have mostly been running instead. There is also a cross train day on Sunday, which I have been doing fast circuit training on weight machine, but I may run some of those as well. I have a 13 mile run on Saturday.

Good luck with the training.

Hi Archie and any other runners.
I just signed up for my first marathon, its a bit daunting.
The training is through a running clinic and seems to be very well organized.
I am only in my second week but the classes are moving slowly and surely towards our 10K run in April.
I am not a runner, I just needed a new challenge and this is proving to be one.

[steph08]

Archie - I know that a lot of sites say that calculators don't work, but McMillan estimated my half marathon time within 6 seconds based off of the 10k time I put in.

www.mcmillanrunning.com/calculator

I would say, enter a half marathon time to get a better estimate of marathon pace. Then add another 10-15 minutes onto the marathon finish time and calculate pace from there.  You want to start so slow that it feels stupid easy for the first few miles. Otherwise you get caught up in the adrenaline and just take off (which happened to me at races a lot, until I got my GPS watch).

Of course, my marathon was way off, but I was sick and also stopped for 45 minutes worth of pictures throughout the race.

genericname - I posted my marathon race report over in the status updates thread.  Basically, I was running on Sunday, and on Thursday (when I flew down to Florida) I got the flu and a terrible head cold.  When I should have been carbo-loading, I was eating a piece of toast and half a waffle. I probably only ate 1,500 calories over the entire 3 days before the marathon.    It was also hot as the dickens in Florida. But I decided to run and have fun - it was Disney after all.   I wanted to run a sub-5.  Instead I ran a 6:42:53 (with 45 minutes of non-moving time - stopping for pictures). I had a great time so no complaints.

I did Higdon Novice 2.  I did get exhausted around week 11/12 when I was doing two 5-milers, one 8-miler, and then a 17 or 18 miler.  It just wore my body out.

I want to run Pittsburgh in May, but I am having a hard time getting back at it. I ran for the first time this week (finally kicked the cold and only have a slight cough left) and my legs felt heavy. And the weather has been terrible. I know they are all excuses.

And I am eating like I am still marathon training, but running 3 miles in a week does not burn calories like running 30 miles in a week!

You can't tell me this isn't fun! It was worth every hour I finished over my goal time.

Here is me (face and bib number obscured to protect the innocent!) around mile 14:



Mile 24: