'Tis done! 5hrs 2mins. Baking hot day and a real positive atmosphere!

 

24th June 2012

Here's a bit of a blogette - including marathon tips from an extreme novice and a flapjack recipe that may have special powers.

 

Marathon training tips...

 

 

This is what worked for me. The pointers here are my personal opinion. You may follow them, ignore them or embellish them if you wish, all at your own risk.

 

For most people reading this you are considering a fun event .Challenging, yes but enjoyment in what you get back from the process is important. Keep that in mind.

 

Three chunks…

 

1. Goals and motivation
2. Preparation
3. Fuel (food), hydration (water) and electrolytes (quarks)

 

Chunk one – Goals and motivation. “Get in the zone. It’s your race, your body and your training plan. You’re responsible for all of that. So set a challenging but realistic goal for you.”

 

1. For me the process started with a mix of turning-50, bravado and a little too much alcohol at my 50 birthday gathering.
2. Give yourself a cooling-off period! Ok. I didn’t. We signed up for the Edinburgh marathon, on-line, at the birthday bash, the die was cast. Sometimes you just have to jump and see what happens – especially if you’re 50!
3. Starting the process is actually no bad thing, it will get you off your butt and you can stop at any point; take up fishing or choose to do 10k’s or half-marathons instead.
4. Signing up to the process actually made it make more sense. I had a great running partner and my wife (who very quickly decided her goal was not to run a marathon) began to enjoy the routine and structure of long slow bike rides where she would drink coffee, rubber-neck over hedgerows, flatten nettle patches along grassy canal tow-paths and give pace and distance reports from her iphone.
5. Key elements to motivation where doing it for Alzheimer’s, setting up the JustGiving site, booking hotel accommodation in Edinburgh, telling friends. It all started to build a picture that this was going to happen.
6. I decided to run a marathon. That is get round in under five hours without breaking into a walk.
7. This put me in the zone of a training programme that would take at least 16 weeks. It would involve running perhaps 35 miles per week (that’s at least 6 hours running per week)
8. There are some very good week-by-week training plans offered by the Alzheimer’s Society. One for a walk/run get-you-round race plan; one for a sub-five hour race plan and one, a fast plan. I chose the middle plan.
9. You will find out lots about your levels of stamina and motivation as you run in the 17 to 22 miles zone. You will probably do three to four runs of this distance in your training plan.
10. The motivation and feel good factor of race day is wonderful. Sometimes you may be presented with a medal that just caps it all. Google the Edinburgh Marathon Festival medal.

 

Chunk two – Preparation. “Train in good time. Don’t strain.”

 

1. Consider your starting point. This process is going to put strain on your heart, your lungs, your knees, your shins, your ankles, your brain.
2. Go out for a short run. Establish what you can do comfortably now. Then think, “If I can increase this by 10% per week will that meet with the training plan and my goal of covering 26 miles in 4 hours 30?”
3. Check your heart rate in these early stages (with one of those monitors – or your finger and a watch). Well into my programme I was running comfortably at a heart rate of 153. I think the general perception is that during a good workout you should be at 85% of 220 minus your age. This is 145 for me. If you are concerned at this stage (at any stage) of undue breathlessness or too fast a heart-rate or palpitations then slow down (remember if you are reading this you have chosen the fun zone – you are doing this for enjoyment!) and go and have a word with your doctor. Let them know what you are doing and how you are going about it and look carefully at their expression. Chances are you are going to be raising a serious amount of money for something of real importance so they are going to be interested. You are also taking a serious interest in your health so that’s a positive for them.
4. Believe me, if done properly, your heart and head will feel better for this.
5. Your knees, legs, feet, ankles, back….
6. Ok; so you will feel some discomfort. Again, listen to your body and also your doctor (or a physio) if you feel it’s gone over the line.
7. Best thing is to build-up gradually. Long-run increase of no more than 10% per week. Let your joints accommodate to this new pressure. They were probably numbed out of earshot when your head signed up for this thing on your birthday.
8. Use rest days for some cross-training in the gym. Gentle weights and some cycling, swimming or badminton. This builds up the muscle groups that will support your joints from all angles. It also helps build up core body strength (you’re going to have to take your whole body round the course not just your legs). You don’t want unilateral muscle development. You may turn yourself into an athlete that can jump very high but not run for any length of time and pogo round the course looking like a punk springbok.
9. Fartlek (Swedish for speed play) training is good. This is based on short bursts of high power exercise followed by a short recovery period. 2mins fast 1 min recovery; repeat. This is good for building cardiovascular capacity and teaches the brain that the legs etc can cope with the extra exertion. However it is not a substitute for the long lonely runs where you must teach yourself how to overcome the challenge of four more hours running after you have already been out for an hour.
10. Be careful of the development of shin splints. More likely inflammation of tendon groups and soft tissue just around the shin bone or less likely but more serious micro bone fractures. Pull back and rest – it’s the only way. This is why it’s good to increase your weekly mileage slowly and to give time in your training plan for maybe one or two weeks off the running. (Doesn’t mean to say you can’t train in other ways!). I found that it was some of the fartlek sprinting that started an onset of shin splints in my left leg. I pulled back from that and reconciled to go for distance and let the speed develop organically.
11. Change the running surface occasionally. Canal tow paths are good (and level!).
12. Get some good running shoes. Far more important than colour-coordinated vest and shorts. Go to a shop like Up and Running in Shrewsbury. Excellent service. Will recommend shoes with insole support for over pronators like me.
13. Socks are important. I found knee-length Saucony compression socks were great for the longer runs (and race day). This compression material really does improve the recovery time of big muscle groups. Perhaps it’s something about maintaining blood and waste-product flow throughout the training session rather than having a lot to work on at the end. Long, lightweight compression running trousers may also be a good idea. Bit hot on occasions (Marathon day in Edinburgh was 26 degrees).
14. Experiment with different amounts of gear and kit throughout your training.
15. Don’t forget to go out well-fluorescent and lit up if you are running on roads in the dark evenings. Better try and avoid busy roads with no footpaths in the dark evenings (or completely).
16. Make sure you enter each training session slowly. Give yourself chance to warm up. You wouldn’t start a car and rev it to 3000 before the oil had properly circulated. Some gentle stretching exercises beforehand also helped. Quads, hamstrings, calf muscles.
17. Stretch afterwards. Sometimes (even with the good socks on) I found this painful after long training sessions so take it easy.  This is not part of the race. Stiff right knee and tender muscles sometimes benefited from a cold bath for 10 mins to reduce swelling and ease muscles. The combination of when to apply cold, when to apply warmth and when to apply stretching and massage is probably one for further questions if you have trouble with this.
18. The only professional attention for the whole training was for a leg massage on the it bands about two days after the race.
19. Towards RACE DAY your training programme will take you through this but rest before the race is important. Very little running in the last week. Concentrate on diet and rest. Load up with good quality simple carbs (brown rice, veg, chicken). Get those glycogen levels up (stored in the skeletal muscles and liver).
20. It is recommended that you eat soon after training to restore glycogen levels in the tired muscles.

 

Chunk three - Fuel (food), hydration (water) and electrolytes (salts). I’m sure this is the most individualistic part of the training schedule.

1. Chances are you are going to eat during the marathon race. Some more than others. Me (probably) more than most.
2. Whatever you plan to eat (flapjack, grapefruit, isogels) make sure you have practiced eating exactly that in training.
3. Over 5 hours you are probably going to burn 5 times 600 Calories (3000 Cals).
4. The ‘wall’ is largely linked to your muscles running out of fuel.
5. You can take on 60g of carb per hour or about 240 Cals at 4 Cals per gram of Carb. Any more than that and you will feel sick.
6. For the race I carried five pieces of flapjack (20g/ 60 Cals each), three Isogels (90 Cals each) and three pieces of grapefruit. I didn’t start eating anything until well into the second hour. Then small pieces (before) I felt I needed it.
7. Total carried Cals approx 600.
8. Your body finds it more difficult to burn fat than simple carbs. A certain amount of caffeine can improve access to fat by up to 40%. This is why some gels and some electrolyte tablets also contain caffeine. However, caffeine can increase the heart rate and you may not want that.
9. I made do with a cup of decent coffee with breakfast on race day (I would do that anyway); along with scrambled egg, toast, some porridge, orange juice and a sweet pastry at 0845 for a 1000 race start.
10. Carb loading for a couple of days before is also a good idea. Eat sensibly. Brown rice, veggies, some pasta. The night before the Edinburgh marathon I had Cairngorm red deer steaks with chocolate oil and dauphenoise potatoes at the Wychery restaurant. Excellent. No alcohol though, this time.
11. Drink! The body can absorb 250ml of water every 20 mins. There are water stations (offering 250ml bottles) every 2.5 miles or at 20-25 minutes intervals for the average marathon runner.
12. We raced on a very hot day but I reckon to slug a full bottle at each station would over hydrate you or more accurately over dilute you. This, I understand, can be dangerous. You need to balance fluid intake with the correct concentration of salts or electrolytes (salts of sodium, potassium, magnesium etc). You are losing these by sweating. You need to take on more than just water.
13. I started the race fairly well hydrated (sipping 250ml of water and Borocca since 0800). I also carried a 250ml running bottle with half of an electrolyte tablet dissolved in it.
14. Throughout the race I used station water to top up my running bottle and douse myself to stave off sunstroke! I used a further two halves of electrolyte tablets dissolved in water throughout the race. Total water consumption approx 1 litre.
15. Immediately after the race I drank 500ml with an electrolyte tablet and ate flapjack whilst deciding exactly from which angle my medal did not look like a penis.

 

Flapjack is the key….the perfect marathon and mountain food

 

As a special reward for having read this far and in the vain hope that you may or may have already contributed to my fundraising total for the Alzheimer’s Society please have a go with the ultimate flapjack recipe which originated via a friend from Helen of Bredwardine. Maybe she exists. If you do, “Hello Helen and thanks for all the flapjack.”

 

Helen of Bredwardine’s (modified) flapjack recipe.

Wet ingredients…

Seven and a half ounces of salted butter (melted – but not too hot)

Two tablespoons of golden syrup

 

Dry ingredients

Eight ounces of brown sugar (ligh sift)

Six ounces of oats

Four ounces of self raising flour

Four ounces of coco pops

Six ounces of muesli/ cranberries/ seeds/ nuts/ tropical island mix (gets a bit ad lib here)

Dark chocolate pieces

 

Mix the dry, mix the wet, combine and mix

Line a tin with greased baking paper, spread it out and bake at 190 for 15-20 mins.

 

 

 

 

 

Previously on this page....

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I haven't done a marathon before. The challenge was laid down on my 50th birthday - perhaps a cocktail of drink and post 50 bravado. That was October. This is May and the two remaining contestants are up to 22 (.2) miles in 4hr 20!

 

I'm running for the Alzheimers Society.

  

The Alzheimers Society http://alzheimers.org.uk/ is dedicated to supporting those who live with dementia and to researching the condition. I find it incredible how this condition slowly and relentlessly steals the character and lives of sufferers and their carers. My mother is a retired teacher, artist and keep fit fanatic; now advanced dementia sufferer. My training sessions on cold wet mornings are a tribute to my father who inspirationally and with tremendous spirit, has turned his life around and absolutely not given up.

 

Thanks for your support. It is really appreciated and it makes the miles mean more.