The output of my GPS watch makes it look good. It says I ran 34Km in 3 hours 34mins. If only it was true. Read on for the worst sporting activity of my life…
I ran 14Km a couple of days ago, so my legs were a bit stiff. Added to that the fact that it was 25 degrees and you can understand that the first 10Km was not much fun. I felt like giving up a few times, but with the race only 16 days away, I wanted to get some real millage under my belt.
I knew I could handle a half marathon without too much problem, but wanted to try and step it up to around 30Km. One reason for this is to see when I would hit “The Wall”. The wall is something I have heard about when people do marathon running. Simply put, it’s when you run out of Glycogen in your body and your body try’s to get energy from elsewhere. For most good runners, this would happen about the 30-35Km stage. For me it was a lot earlier.
I had ran a good half marathon distance in under 2 hours, but the heat was getting to me. When I got to 25Km, I had to start walking and then I didn’t feel good at all. I was looking around for somewhere to take a seat and when my watch beeped the 26th Km, I decided that the nearest tree beside the road was as good a point as any.
As soon as my body hit the ground, all energy was gone and I passed out. I lay there completely star-shaped with my arms and legs in a X formation and just slept. I was woken about half an hour later by some teenagers poking me with a stick to see if I was still alive.
Problem was that I was in the middle of Djurgården, no phone, no money, no buss ticket, so I just had to get back up and jog/walk/limp home.
My total time was 4 hours 10 minutes, but my watch stops counting the time after you lose consciousness until you get back up, so it just says 3:34. That’s a very nice feature.
All of this was painfully reminiscent of the infamous Lidingöloppet fiasco of a few years ago except this time I have another 50% longer to go to cross the line.
This has been a wake up call. A moment of clarity.
Out goes my secretly held idea that actually I would be able to somehow sneak over the line within 4 hours. No way. Time is not a factor here, purely finishing is the goal.
I’ve realised that the marathon isn’t a sporting event, it’s a beast. It’s cold mathematical brain knows no mercy. It won’t go easy on you if you look a little tired. You either cross the finish line at 42.2Km or you lose.
I’m locked in an almighty battle against the marathon. There can only be one victor.
Did you do the run without water? Without energy bars or something equivalent? If so, this outcome isn’t very surprising. Remember to eat plenty the 3 days before the race. Also drink and ‘eat’ during the race!
niklas
I did have some water with me, one of those coke bottles, about 500ml. I even went into the bathrooms at the Tallink ferry terminal to replenish my stash.
After the little sleep, I was able to get more water from the drinking fountains on Strandvägen and again on Karlavägen, but I agree, more water was needed on such a hot day.
I had even taken with me a nature trail-mix bar for a bit of energy. It had a picture of a mountain on the front, so should have been enough.
This is a good article:
http://www.runningplanet.com/training/marathon-wall-how-to-beat-it.html
What I’m worried about is that i talks about hitting the wall at 35Km, for me it was 26Km.
At this rate, I’ll need to get through two walls before I finish.
You’ll be fine. Trust me, I’m a ………. runner too.
Many of my best races have been shortly after seemingly disasterous training runs. Could give you a long list but will limit it to a couple: a reasonably strong Comrades performance (sprinted last few of the 89km), on the back of a 6 mile training run the previous week (had hoped to do 13 but felt I no energy in my legs). Only sub 24 WHWR was on the back of my shortest training programme out of the 5 I’ve done.
Plenty of other times you feel much better trained, but perform worse on the day. Don’t be downheartened, you have done only 5 miles short of a marathon, and two weeks in advance, doesn’t matter if it was slower than planned. On the day, the crowd will carry you that last 5 miles. When I did my first marathon my longest training run was 13 miles. I was running with Robert and his longest training was 8 miles. You are well ahead of the game!
Hydration is important of course, really important to be well hydrated before hand as well. I made that mistake recently. However equally as important, nay- more so, is to make sure you dont get into thinking that lack of fluid is the problem and go the other way. Exercise induced hyponatraemia (drinking too much watter when running) is dangerous. Just start well hydrated and drink to thirst throughout and you won’t go far wrong.
As I said above; You’ll be fine!
(and anyway, its all good training for the Gax trans scania)
We want to see the photo of Gary after the Lidingoloppet! The mythical so-far unpublished one!
@Graeme: Never! That photo is safely stored in my underground vaults and will never see the light of day!
@Neil: Thanks for the positive comment. With 14 days to go, should I be looking at one more 30Km distance run? Maybe early next week, like Tuesday or Wednesday? That would leave me with 10 days left to pick myself up, or should I be looking at just smaller runs?
Also Neil, I think Niklas’ point about eating during the race is a good one. Do you stick with water, or do you use some kind of sports drink. What do you eat? Chocolate?
Hi Gary,
Glad to hear you sounding a little more optomistic!
There is no right or wrong answers about what sort of training runs you should do next week. How are you feeling today? If you feel that you have recovered pretty quickly from the long run, then perhaps it would be good to do another 30k. If you still feel pretty stiff and sore then maybe a couple of shorter (up to 20 k) runs would be more productve instead.
Regarding nutrition; what is on offer to you at refreshment tables? You don’t want to be carrying more that just a boottle and a few sweets around with you if you can avoid it.
The one bit of advice that is for certain is don’t do anything on race day that you haven’t done in training. There are plenty of things that will agree with some runners and act as an emetic to others. Some runners swear by gels, I can’t stand them. Generally, my favorite is jelly babies, but tend only to use them on only on longer runs (ie >30miles). Having said that on the weekend’s race (on the way to securing the position as the current lead male runner in the Scottish Ultra Marathon Series) I forwent them and had 4 bottles of lucozade sport, 4 rolls on cold meat (Bernard Matthew’s Turkey Ham!), tomato and salad cream, 1 packet of Highlander Sea salt & Vinegar crisps, and 12 squares of fruit & nut. In summary: doesn’t matter what you eat on a race, as long as you have tried it in training and know it agrees with you.
Good luck, and remember……. YOU’LL BE FINE.
Haha! Congrats! That’s more food than I eat in a week. Seems to have worked though!
From the Stockholm Marathons website:
“Under loppet bör du dricka en eller två muggar vid varje vätskekontroll (alltså var tredje kilometer). Även här är det viktigt att du får i dig sportdryck.
Vid Stockholm Marathon serveras vanligt vatten samt Maxim sportdryck. Testa gärna Maxim Electrolyte Orange & Lemon vid dina långpass innan Stockholm Marathon så att du vet hur magen reagerar på sportdrycken.”
Basically: During the race you should drink 1 or 2 mugs at every liquid stop (every third kilometer) (does that mean they have a water point every three kilometers?). It’s also important that you take in some sport-drink.
The Stockholm Marathon serves plain water and sports drink Maxim. Please try Maxim Electrolyte Orange & Lemon during your long distance training before the Stockholm Marathon so that you know how your stomach reacts to sports drinks.
According to the website this is what is available. Think I would probably personally forgo the pickled Gherkins and the Stock cubes!
Refreshment stations
Refreshment stations are positioned about every third kilometre (about every 2 miles) along the route. The first lap has 6 stations and the second lap 10 stations. See map.
At three refreshment stations (3 km, 16 km and 41 km) only water is served. At all other refreshment stations the sport energy drink Maxim Electrolyte Orange & Lemon flavour is served on the first set of tables. On the second set of tables, water is served.
Extra energy
There will be energy stations along the course provided by race sponsors. Pickled gherkins from Brinks (17 km), Maxim energy bars (28 km), Knorr vegetable stock (32 km), a cola soft drink (36 km) and Dextro Energy dextrose (39 km) are provided at these extra stations.
At three of the refreshment stations you can also pick up Chiquita bananas (20, 32 and 37 km).