Ok since there has been some talk about hitting the wall, what does hitting the wall for you feel like? Is it a cardiovascular wall or do the legs just stop working (ie cramping) where you feel ok breathing wise?
Ok since there has been some talk about hitting the wall, what does hitting the wall for you feel like? Is it a cardiovascular wall or do the legs just stop working (ie cramping) where you feel ok breathing wise?
The latter, of course.
Much like a mind-blowing orgasm while in the throes of an amyl nitrate fugue, only different.
I feel fine cardio-wise, but my legs feel extremely heavy (not cramping, they just feel like they are cement pillars or something) and I cannot force myself to run, no matter how much I want to. This has only happened to me in hot-weather marathons; otherwise, if you train properly, you can get through without hitting the wall.
Just enter and run a marathon and feel it for yourself, then blog it here! Simple!
There is a video of a guy running a 3:02 or so who literally just stops moving at all about 50 meters from the finish line. He tries to jog it in and gets like 2 strides before stoping. Thats the wall. It's much worse when you're still 8-10k out.
It's complete and utter exhaustion. Not so much cramping, it's just that suddenly you are running in cement, the legs just- wont- go. It's like a car running out of gas, it's not that you aren't tough, it's not mental, your body just will not move.
Also you will be some what delusional and "out of it" mentally. I know I was used to running at around 640 per mile, had fell into the well and was Gallowalking for a few miles BUT I was looking at my watch and thinking I should be past the next mile marker in around 7 min even though I was 10-11:00 at that point. I was convinced they didnt have the mile marker for mile 24.
Aquafina wrote:
It's complete and utter exhaustion. Not so much cramping,
Huh? The cramping is the wall. It's when your legs no longer work.
legs don't move when you tell them to. it really isn't a toughness thing or anything, its just that your legs are shutting down.
Since the marathon is as much head as legs, maybe his head shut down first so he missed the part where legs cramp up and you feel like Vito is hammering them with a jagged baseball bat.malmo wrote:
Aquafina wrote:It's complete and utter exhaustion. Not so much cramping,
Huh? The cramping is the wall. It's when your legs no longer work.
If you are referring to bonking (running out of glycogen etc.) your ability to run ceases. There is no anxiety to get going, because you feel like a walk is all you can manage. Its only happened once to me.
As for the cramping and such, that'd probably be from lack of training, not enuf long runs.
Kenyano wrote:
Just enter and run a marathon and feel it for yourself, then blog it here! Simple!
1st of all, blog is a noun, not a verb.
2nd of all, this is not a blog. This is a message board. You post on a message board. This is web 1.0 stuff, man. Welcome to 1993.
About the wall...
I am not sure it is always cramping, malmo. Sure, cramping sucks. I happened to me in a recent marathon around 23 and I was so pissed. I was on pace to break 2:30 for the first time and my calf started to cramp. Then my hamstring. I felt okay, it was just cramping. Maddening.
otherwise, i am usually good in my races. That said, I have hit a wall in long runs before, especially uptempo longruns. One happened about a year ago. I was going to 20 miles at 6:00 pace. Around 18, my body just couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't cramping and it wasn't really fitness related (or it wasn't apparent that it was fitness related). It was like the weight just hit me and I had to stop. I sat on the ground for about 5 minutes and then finished my run at 7:30 pace.
Keith Stone wrote:Since the marathon is as much head as legs
Huh?
malmo wrote:
Keith Stone wrote:Since the marathon is as much head as legsHuh?
What don't you understand about this?
You do not think a marathon is mental?
Yeah, for me there are two kinds of wall - the one where you give up mentally, giving in to the "why am I doing this?", "what would happen if I just stopped?" second guessing kind of crap. The second is physical where your legs wont move any faster and you cant seem to lift your feet off the ground. The second version seems to happen more gradually, late in the race to me, no so much a wall as a very steep hill. I find that eating a brain or two will get me past both.
Wonder as I Wander wrote:
What don't you understand about this?
You do not think a marathon is mental?
I think you're mental.
The marathon is an fuel/energy equation.
malmo wrote:
I think you're mental.
The marathon is an fuel/energy equation.
Hahaha. Well, you might be right.
That said, I think people with an iron will often do better at challenges like a Marathon.
malmo wrote:I think you're mental.
The marathon is an fuel/energy equation.
I'll disagree. Sure, the marathon is a fuel/energy situation. That's like saying buying a car is a money/credit situation. You know as well as I do that's just part of the story and more than a fair share of properly physically trained runners have talked themselves out of a good race or into a bad one because their head's not screwed in straight.
So sure, to run a good marathon you have to go in with enough fuel, and manage the energy supply wisely throughout. Traditionally that comes from using your head wisely also, but perhaps there are gonads or other body paths I've overlooked.
i hit the wall once....got a bloody nose and a real bad headache afterward. The thing just came out of no where...
Keith Stone wrote: You know as well as I do that's just part of the story and more than a fair share of properly physically trained runners have talked themselves out of a good race or into a bad one because their head's not screwed in straight.
I strongly disagree with that ridiculous statement.
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There is nothing difficult about marathoning except for the time that you run out of fuel. A marathoner is never anywhere near the edge during the race -- so far away that he should feel like he's dragging his feet on the ground until the lack of "hi-test fuel" (glycogen) wreaks havoc with his body.