Fall Marathon Cycle 2010 - Let the Goodness Begin

[burgrunner]

After reading Daniel (The Champ) DeWitt's article, I will start a thread like he requested. What he failed to mention in his write-up is that after he smirked at the idea of themed runs, he went directly home and started to pick out his "outfits" which I'm sure include a myriad of bright and quite frankly offensive color combinations that have no business going together! He blames that on being color blind while the rest of us just attribute it to bad taste. However, I do share in his excitement about the upcoming months and look forward to us pushing each above and beyond where we have previously been.

Train Hard!

[frojoe23]

It will be nice to train hard and to improve our previous times, but there also plenty of first-time or second-time marathoners running MCM this year. I view this as an opportunity that benefits those marathoners greatly because those of us experienced marathoners can give plenty of insight and support into the detailed minutia that marathoning can be.

The first thing we need to do on this topic is set up our summer running schedule. It will start in less than a month. These runs are open to anyone and we'd really like a large group out on these runs. Our schedule usually includes two runs during the week and a long run on the weekend.

[Justin]

I can't wait, but first things first for me...

[ericjoe]

I am going to state my fall goal as two main things:

• Run sub 3:10
  
• Work hard to figure out why I seem to bonk (at least to some degree) almost every time I run a marathon.
  

I have to say I trained hard this cycle, harder than ever before and in my mind I was in 3:12-3:13 shape. I have bonked in all but one of my marathons and I know if I can control this issue, I can run under 3:10 this fall. I am always good until about mile 22-23 and then I start falling apart. (Disoriented, dizzy, major fatigue, seeing spots, etc)

[jordan]

sounds like a fueling issue. if your glycogen storage runs out your body starts burning protein (i.e. muscle) once that happens it is a quick road down fall apart lane. not enough carbohydrates=falling apart the last 5k or so.

what was your diet like 2-3 days before? enough carbs?
what about fueling during the race?

[Justin]

I may be weird and I know I've talked to some people here about this, but I never use the gels or any of the fuel stuff during my long training runs. If I am pushing longer distances than I have in a while I will hit some bonking, like for our 18 miler up the trail this past early spring I was hitting some low blood sugar for the last 2 miles. I really think this is a good training stimulus. It may effect my average pace for the long runs this happens in, but I seem to get a boost physically not too long after these runs, like the body overcompensates so it doesn't bonk again and burns the fuel it has more efficiently.

[ericjoe]

Jordan

I try to keep my normal diet going even the week of the race. I generally eat a lot of carbs anyway so other than some pasta the night before the race, I generally don't change my diet much. I did take gels. Generally I try to take one every 6-7 miles. At Pittsburgh (the only race I didn't bonk) I took gels at 6, 12, and 18. (I had a fourth one but didn't take it). For Toronto I did the same thing and I bonked at like mile 22. For Boston, I had one at 7 and 14, but I took a lot more Gatorade than I usually do. Usually I have a hard time late in the race getting those things down. I think for MCM I am going to train for 1 gel every 5 miles and see how that works.

[frojoe23]

Justin,

This is exactly what I used to do. I hated to take gels on runs and never took any fluids. It was only in the past year or two that we have started to carry gels on runs. That has more to do with the fact that we got a giant supply of them off of Spinnler more than the fueling benefits.

I know that Spinnler even used to do his real long runs leading up to JFK without any fuel. He and I both believe that it is a mental boost to suffer in training like you would without any fuel on a long run. It definitely comes closer to simulating the late stages of a marathon than anything else. It might be something that I change up about my training. Of course, with Jeremy off of the bike from last summer and fall, I doubt we even have anybody gracious enough to either stash or hand out fluids.

[Justin]

I'd take water if it was warm/hot for long runs, but that's all. If I was going to practice taking gels and fuel it would be during long tempo runs, that way it's practice handling that stuff while moving at race pace.
Some of my runs were even meant to bonk during the later stages. This marathon cycle I did a Friday evening 10 mile tempo run followed by an early Saturday morning 20 miler. Those last 4 miles of the 20 were rough, but I concentrated on holding a solid pace and focusing.

[frojoe23]

Eric,

I actually think in this case, less is more. If you are taking Gatorade or whatever Sports Drink at the marathon and a gel every 5-6 miles, you likely are either going to have some GI distress or your stomach will not empty fast enough because its too concentrated with sugar. This is why some marathoners propose diluting sports drink. A slightly sugary/salty fluid will empty faster than one filled with those things.

I guess I have never explained why I take gels without any fluid. It is the reason stated above. At most marathons, I always take the gel in between water stops or in the case of Marine Corps where the gel comes right before the fluid, I'll just skip that stop. Of course, the best thing is to take water with the gel, that way you get some fluid in you and you dilute the sugars in the gel, but water and I just don't mix.

[rider]

I'd ask a favor: please post any early morning runs taking place in Frostburg......I'd like to join in.