first marathon any tips.

MichelleWithMoxie

You've gotten some great advice here, I don't have anything to add. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes - good luck!

bendyourkneekatie

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

Actually, ignore the race predictors. Most of them assume you're running 70 miles per week and have been running consistently for several years. That doesn't apply.

I agree. I've completed 2 marathons and am 3 weeks off my third and the race predictors haven't been right yet. My hm pr is 1:35 and the calculators think I should be doing a marathon in 3:19, but it's been 3:42 and 3:32 so far. I think I've been training pretty well and haven't had any niggles, but I still don't expect to get sub 3:20. Hell , if I get sub 3:30 I'll be pretty stoked

TavistockToad

How's your training going @lsutton484 ?

curlsintherack

good. I feel pretty good. ran 35 miles last week. Not nearly enough but I'm trying hard to get to the starting line in good shape. Got a stick of bodyglide and a can of tri spray(suggested for feet and preventing blisters) tried them. Found another fresh pair of the socks I wear to run in my drawer so I'm gonna cycle them through this week on a short run to make sure they don't bother my feet. Weather forecast is cool and rainy so my usual running gear will work. Got the same vanilla bean gu packs they have at the race just happened to be what I've tried in the past so that worked out good for me. Finished my cycle of 5/3/1 and have a deload week this week so no really heavy lifting before the marathon.

I'm trying to organize my week at this point I'm going to take a 8 mile run on some hilly terrain tonight, do my benchpress and overhead press workout in the morning, squats and deadlifts on Tuesday, short run Wednesday(4 miles or so) maybe repeat on Thursday if I feel good then rest and carb up for race day on Sunday.

My biggest battle will be my brain on the starting line and trying to force my feet to run a much slower pace than I normally run. tried to pull my pace back but keeping a pace less than 10:00 has been harder for me to do than I ever expected. I'm having serious doubts about my ability to run further slower than 10:00 as it feels like some sort of shuffling power walk rather than a nice easy jogging pace. So I'm debating between just sticking to that 10:00 pace group like glue until I can't hold it anymore and doing my own run/walk with my Garmin. I haven't done a ton of run/walk and it always sems odd to me to cycle back up to that running pace again.

When I first began running and left the c25k plan I forced myself to run time or distance without walking because I thought that was right. so for the longest time stopping in the middle of my run or walking in the middle would throw off my concentration enough that catching that rythem again was hard. I have thrown in random walk beaks to break me of this habbit so I hope it works.

curlsintherack

Day before race day. feeling pretty good. Gonna take it easy today a walk this evening and a good carb loading dinner with my family. Thanks again everyone for all the advice and I'll be back with a full report sometime early in the week.

spiriteagle99

Have fun!

curlsintherack

I'll be back in the morning to write a more detailed writeup but for now here it goes. a finishing time of 5:01 on the timer but probably closer to 4:59 based on getting of the starting corral. first half was gravy and went by at around 2:10. The second half the wheels fell off with terrible leg cramps, and my own doubts. I would like to thank my friend Heather for taking me and refusing to leave me behind. She was there every step of the way even after repeatedly telling her to leave.

bendyourkneekatie

Well done! I'm super glad to be proven wrong

I'm not sure how to put this without coming across as a backdoor brag, but: as someone who does 3.30ish marathons, I am always in awe of people who do 4 hours or longer. I can't imagine the mental discipline to keep going that long, I'd be on the roadside crying.

Hope your recovery is swift! Well done again

jenilla1

Based on my personal experience, if you can run a half-marathon without trouble, you can survive a full. It will probably be a little rough, though. Pace yourself (go slow.) If I can finish, YOU can finish. Good luck!

RavenLibra

Run?

lorrpb

lsutton484 wrote: »

I'll be back in the morning to write a more detailed writeup but for now here it goes. a finishing time of 5:01 on the timer but probably closer to 4:59 based on getting of the starting corral. first half was gravy and went by at around 2:10. The second half the wheels fell off with terrible leg cramps, and my own doubts. I would like to thank my friend Heather for taking me and refusing to leave me behind. She was there every step of the way even after repeatedly telling her to leave.

That's really great. TBH I was a little worried for you. You rocked it out! Well done.

curlsintherack

I'm gonna lay out my race the best I can for now. we started in the corral near the back and set our own pace. Never having run together before we were both fairly comfortable around 10:00 pace. 4 miles in I past the furst puking runners including 1 man who said he was done. 8 miles in my garmin decided to die of low battery even though it had been fully charged before I put it in my bag. We finished the first lap of the 2 lap course in around 2:10 according to the timer at the start/finish line. I've never run further than a half marathon before in my life. about 2 miles after that mark I started having calf cramps. This i believe was a lack of me just not having the knowledge I needed to fuel properly. I was eating candy and trying to choke down gu for the first 3 hours but after that even the thoughts of putting any more gu in my mouth caused my guts to rebel. We ran walked in short intervals for the next few miles but the run intervals became shorter and shorter while the walk intervals became longer. At mile 24 my left quad started cramping and locking up. I had to sit down didn't want to but had no choice but to bend that leg up and rest for a minute. I got up and that had helped enough that we ran the majority of the last 2.2 miles. We crossed the finish line together.

I'd like to thank my friend Heather for first of all pushing me into the marathon because its honestly not a step that I probably would have taken for myself. Yes it wasn't enough notice and I told her this repeatedly as she did all she could short of shoving or dragging me along the course.

Now for the post race review. I suffered 1 blister on my left foot and the liner of my shorts that I've worn for half marathons destroyed the skin on my upper thighs. I'm stiff this morning but otherwise I feel pretty good and am looking forward to getting out and active again in the next couple days.

Will I do it again? fy first reaction is NO but that 5 hour mark wasn't what I wanted and I think with good training, proper fueling, and good friends I could get that time down a bit.

MeanderingMammal

Well done.

gexking

when you are out of gas, physically and mentally...do not think of how many miles you have left...think only of that next step...make it perfect...make the next step perfect too. And so on,

MeanderingMammal

And fwiw I struggle to stomach more than 4 gels, but recently switched to Tailwind. Very easy on the stomach and 400 calories of that got me through each of my marathons at the weekend without an issue.

timtam163

Don't injure yourself. I did a half easily, coming in at 2:00:48, but the two full marathons I did were torture. The first one was alright, I think we came in around 4:12 with consistent training and a focus on nutrition, but the second one was 4:35 because I didn't take training as seriously/consistently. There was an enormous difference. The risk of injury goes up exponentially once you pass your longest long run distance: I trained to 22 miles so the last 4 were horrible, and if you've only done 13/15 (assuming) you'll be putting yourself at risk of injury for the last >10 miles.

But you do you, and we'll cheer you on; stay hydrated, stay loose, aim for a negative split.

TavistockToad

timtam163 wrote: »

Don't injure yourself. I did a half easily, coming in at 2:00:48, but the two full marathons I did were torture. The first one was alright, I think we came in around 4:12 with consistent training and a focus on nutrition, but the second one was 4:35 because I didn't take training as seriously/consistently. There was an enormous difference. The risk of injury goes up exponentially once you pass your longest long run distance: I trained to 22 miles so the last 4 were horrible, and if you've only done 13/15 (assuming) you'll be putting yourself at risk of injury for the last >10 miles.

But you do you, and we'll cheer you on; stay hydrated, stay loose, aim for a negative split.

OP has already done the race...

rybo

timtam163 wrote: »

Don't injure yourself. I did a half easily, coming in at 2:00:48, but the two full marathons I did were torture. The first one was alright, I think we came in around 4:12 with consistent training and a focus on nutrition, but the second one was 4:35 because I didn't take training as seriously/consistently. There was an enormous difference. The risk of injury goes up exponentially once you pass your longest long run distance: I trained to 22 miles so the last 4 were horrible, and if you've only done 13/15 (assuming) you'll be putting yourself at risk of injury for the last >10 miles.

But you do you, and we'll cheer you on; stay hydrated, stay loose, aim for a negative split.

Exponentially increased injury past your longest run? That's not how it works. Plus the vast majority of marathon programs only go to 20 miles. That's pretty standard.

Most interesting, and what is actually horrible horrible advice for the person in the the given situation is suggesting they aim for a negative split. That's almost as bad as saying start out as fast as you can & hope for the best. In order for a negative split, you've got to be pretty well trained and have an idea of pacing, and what you are capable of. A 1st time marathoner who's severely undertrained has 0 chance of a negative split unless they walk the 1st half.

curlsintherack

sitting here today I've got some time to think and I've been doing just that. I have no choice but to go back there next year and run the race I wanted to run. I ran the race I deserved this year and my friend had to run the race she deserved for throwing me into this with no prep time but next year we're both gonna have our race even if I have to drag her with me.

shaunshaikh

Thanks for checking back in and telling us how it went. Congratulations on completing the marathon, something 99.5% of us will never do.