Well another marathon trained, raced and completed. It has been a long year regarding the long runs after Londons disastrous time I wanted to do much better (and not be ill) our training has gone well and to plan mostly, but never having done two marathons in a year we hoping things would go well for us considering my heal and shoe problem I am pleased with my time of 359.37. I was hoping for around 350. Liz and I went down Saturday morning to check things out, with Hazel and Meg following that evening, thanks to Liz &Chris we stayed at the holiday inn which was ideal being only a mile away from the start/finish , four in a room Hazel's cough, trains and Liz, Hazel & me needing the loo so we didn't get much sleep and up early with Hazel strapping her feet (I don't know how she managed it I'm sure I would have lost mine in my shoes).
This race in my opinion is not as well organised as London,the loos were at the far end of the park not near the start area, plenty of lucazade though! I lost Hazel & Liz just before the start but saw Karl & David lined up so decided to start with them my plan was 9min miles or at least half way by 155, I was determined to set off slowly and not get carried away this first half is quiet hilly in parts, Karl and David started to get away about 3m so music on I just trotted on , 5m in 45Min's 7m in 63Mins then I missed a few markers, 10m was 1.30 at mile 12 it was like a stampede with the half marathoners racing for their times ,ready for my second gel I started them at 6m and thought I'd do every 6m ,got to 13m at 1.55 bang on schedule feeling fine , as we left everyone to go on the waterside it was very windy and lonely but I kept my pace going gelling every 6miles I quite liked the second half but for the wind around the lake it was a head wind and it felt cold adding 9Min's onto my time in my head at every mile was my calculation I needed to be under 3hr at 20m i did 2.58 , at this point my quads were burning, heal was fine though.
The wind was particularly bad about 21m and I'm getting tired so I have lucazade & water in each hand, water for my thighs! I reached 24m in 3.35 at this point was still thinking a Pb was on made it to 25m in 3.46 at this point I think you could say I hit the wall cramp in my foot and dizziness's I had to stop (twice ) but I could see the park and finish . Why did this have to happen now I was nearly home, I thought I was running fast through the gates into the park but it took me 13Min's to do that last mile , apparently I looked bu****d and felt it , I am so glad meg was there she was a life saver for us all I didn't know what planet I was on but 20Min's later had recovered enough to hold Liz up walking back to the hotel.
So would I do this again ? prob not .
Does anyone know why I hit the wall and what can I do to avoid it next time.
hitting the wall is an unfortunate side effect of marathon running. some runners never hit the wall whilst other's it happens every time. you could try taking 3 or 4 energy gels half hour before the race. then just take on fluids when needed during the race.
ReplyDeleteJackie,
ReplyDeleteWhen we run we use 2 fuels: glycogen and fat. Converting glycogen to energy in your legs is easy and quick. Converting fat into energy is slow. We usually have enough glycogen for about 18 miles and this is often when people hit the wall. All of a sudden your body realises there is no glycogen left and starts to look to its fat reserves but this takes a while before it kicks in hence you feel like you have no energy. There are 2 approaches to help with this:
1) Give yourself more glycogen. You can do this by carbo-loading before the race (eating lots of carobohydrate the week or two before the marathon), or by taking "energy on just before the race or during). A good breakfast with lots of slow release energy (e.g. porridge) will help. Or as you did, energy bars, drinks etc.. If you hit the wall at 24 miles then it doesn't sound like you are far off. Working on 100 calories per mile, you should have taken 200 more calories on.
2) You can also teach your body to be better at converting fat into energy. To do this you need to ensure that your long runs are done at a very slow pace - the slower the better.
Hope this helps
Vic
Thanks Vic yeah I do normally burn 100 cals per mile on long runs also had porridge and 2 bananas and we stuffed our faces the days before , Im not entirly convinced about the gels for me I think I will stick to the bananas for london, also the physio has said he didn't know how i managed to run 26miles with the heal injury perhaps it was taking more effort than i thought hence not able to run now until my scan in two weeks.
ReplyDelete