my intermittent blog about training and racing

You know enough to know that training doesn't go away just because of a bad race. You basically ran a great 20 miles, and then like most marathoners, you could wish that Pheidippedes died at mile 20 rather than mile 26 (I know the story is mythic). As to nutrition, I actually think that a marathon is an ultradistance race (anything over two hours) and thus must be run as such. Knowing what one's body does from 2-4 hours as far as nutrition intake and needs is essential. Also as you mentioned, sleep, stress, sickness, worries, all play a part on performance, especially long-distance performance. You still have future running highs ahead of you, including marathon highlights, no doubt about it.

25 mile long run can do it. I have had some fun with 24 mile long runs which resulted in a 2:49 in Boise Great Potato 1999. When you go beyond 22 in training, you need to be a super-runner to not experience measurable damage.

Sorry your race didn't go as planned. You know you are definitely fit, though. Try your best to brush it off. You'll tear it up for the next one.

So many factors contribute to marathon performance. Being sick may have really affected you.

I think it's very important to begin taking fluids and calories early on in a marathon (a lot earlier than you did for this race). And, I know, there's a chance you'll have to pee later. But, what's the big deal about taking 30 seconds to pee, compared to not taking enough fluids and calories, and risking the bomb? In my opinion, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Of course, this needs to be practiced in training.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone. I think you are right Matt that I need to take in fluids earlier even if it means stopping to pee.

Certainly the sickness and fueling likely hurt but I am guessing a bigger base would have helped a lot. You're just getting out of the injury cycle and building back up and if you keep it up this race will be a distant memory soon.

Nate:

I would like to put in a plug for posting every workout and tracking your miles on the blog. This way if something like this happens, people can look at it and help you figure out what exactly went wrong. Better yet, people can look at it and learn from your mistakes. When you run well, on the other hand, they can learn from your successes.

Sorry the race didn't go as planned. It sounds like you had prepared well so it must have had something to do with nutrition, the allergies or the cold. I suspect there is something to learn which will make you stronger next time.

More thoughts on the drinking/eating. It is my opinion that when you are in your true top marathon shape (speaking of a sub-2:30 guy), you must be able to get through the distance if the temperatures are not too warm without any fuel or liquid intake not any more than 2 minutes slower than you would have with the ideal nutrition/hydration strategy. If you cannot, the problem is the fitness. Granted, this level of fitness is difficult to attain and very easy to lose. I've been able to get there only twice in my life - 2003 and 2007, and I have been bitten thinking I still had it when I did not. I have a public log of everything I did over the last 15 years if you want the details, but the basic idea is consistent high mileage properly adapted for your body and recovery opportunities, maximizing the recovery opportunities, the right amount of speed, and doing workouts that make you run faster than you think you can without breaking you down.

If liquid intake makes you pee, you are likely overhydrated already, and if you experience problems later it is likely not related to hydration. I remember being paranoid about it after my Boise 1999 experience and drinking like crazy on the bus before Top of Utah the same year. Then I had to ask the bus driver to stop due to an urgent need - other runners found it rather entertaining. In 2003 my intake was soymilk with oats and bananas at 13, then again some time in the second half, I think around 16, and a sip of water at 23. Because of my success in that race I thought I had found a magic formula, but I later understood that I was simply fit, and it did not matter what if anything went it.

When the fitness lacks, your glycogen storage is low, and your fat efficiency is reduced as well. To make things worse, the muscle fibers tear faster on impact. All those things combined can create a miserable marathon experience. On the positive side, it can teach you how to pray in faith, and learn how to be patient waiting for answers.

Very interesting Sasha, so fitness combined with the body's efficiency in nutrition intake grants success. I personally think that anything over 2 hours is getting into the realm of ultradistance training. The body's capacity to take in calories and use them is key. So 2-4 hour runs at extremely slow pace (10+ minutes/mile) help the body to adapt to this. This is not something the fast marathon guy wants to do. In this case it's not about developing speed, it's about developing the body's ability to deal with calories. That's why the guys running 2:10 marathons are on the knife edge, but their crashes aren't as blown out, they're only running for 2 hours anyway. It's in the 2:30 to 3 hour range that more crashes can happen. The joggers running 4+ hours for the marathon should already be doing training runs of 3 or more hours so they've adapted to nutrient intake more often.

Jesse - yes, you are right about that. If you are fast, you can finish before you run out of fast fuel. A competitive marathoner should never find himself in a situation where he is running on fat alone - that is when he stops being competitive. But we do need to work on offloading some of the energy expenses to the fat account, so to speak, or maybe we should calling billing Mr. Fat for short, while going at a good speed. I believe that is why pacing in the marathon for a lot of runners plays a critical role. There is a magic pace range that is quite narrow where a trained runner can bill Mr. Fat extensively, but if he speeds up just a bit, as little maybe as 5 seconds per mile, all of a sudden Mr. Carb starts getting the invoices. The following should help keeping the bills going to the Mr. Fat account:

- aerobic base

- biomechanical/neuromuscular efficiency

- avoid surges

- being mentally relaxed while running so the adrenaline does not shift the metabolism the wrong way