Why do I hit the wall at mile 18 in marathons?

Wow, that's a tough one. You seem to be doing so many things right.

All I can think of is race day hydration/nutrition. Are you getting enough calories and fluid, beginning early enough in the race? Might you need a different mix of calories - perhaps including some protein?

Oh, when you say you get "sore," what is getting sore? Some specific body part or muscle group? For me, the hips tighten up before I'm "tired," so I'm doing some focused hip and leg stretching and strengthening.

Ok, here's a reach. Are you sure your long runs at long enough - that you're not mis-measuring them? (I've done that.) Perhaps should be three 21-22 milers, rather than three 18-21 milers.

Are you getting enough sleep the two nights before the race? That killed me last year at CIM. If you could possibly find a place to stay in Folsom and avoid the early morning bus ride, you'll be so much happier.

CIM has good pace groups. Be sure to use those.

Good luck.

Turn your 3 18-21 milers into 5-6 20-22 milers. On every other long run, do the last 8-10 miles at marathon pace, taking fluids, etc. You mentioned carbo loading, but didn't say anything about fueling during the race. I find a gel every 50 minutes makes a huge difference in getting out past 2 hours, which is probably right around where you're falling apart. Take that 60 mpw to 65-75 for about 6-8 weeks before your taper.

Finally, if you take my advice and increase as much as I said, make sure there's rest in there as well. I find when I'm hitting near my max, I do best if I take a down week at about 60% mileage or so once every 3-4 weeks.

Do all that and I'd be surprised if you didn't hit your goal within two attempts, probably on the first one.

How to BQ wrote:

More miles? More miles at Marathon pace?

This is the answer. I'm sure plenty of people can run whatever time you're trying to run off of 60 miles per week. You are apparently not one of them. You are doing 18-20 mile long runs, then doing 40 miles over the course of the next 6 days? You're just not in good shape. You can't use gels, sleep, nutrition, etc to make up for not being in good shape. Sorry. The only answer is train more.

I agree with the advice about adding more miles, but NOT at marathon race pace. Very few, if any, of the miles during your long runs should be a marathon pace. Each week you should be doing hills or speedwork and tempo runs. This is where your speed will come from. All other miles should be slow. Your endurance will come from adding overall weekly miles, and as someone else mentioned, your long runs should be longer. I've BQ'd with 10 minutes to spare so believe me, I practice what I preach.

Another thing that helped me was losing weight. A couple of years ago when I got serious about qualifying for Boston, I decided to go to Weight Watchers even though I wasn't overweight to begin with. I lost 20 lbs and my running improved exponentially.

Nobody mentioned the obvious - your MP isn't what you think it is. As in you're running at a pace you can't sustain for 26.2 miles. Even adding 10s per mile will help out a lot for your overall time.

mjm wrote:

Nobody mentioned the obvious - your MP isn't what you think it is. As in you're running at a pace you can't sustain for 26.2 miles. Even adding 10s per mile will help out a lot for your overall time.

Ba-da-bing!

Go slower

YOu mentioned running at MP but I didnt see anything about faster than MP like tempos or intervals. In order to improve Lactate Threshold, anaerobic capacity and running economy, ALL of which are needed to run your best marathon, you need to do TEMPO runs and INTERVALS.

You are training to run 15 miles at MP, and that is exactly what you are achieving on race day.

Go pick up a copy of Pfitz Advanced Marathon Training book or Jack Daniels Training Formula, and if you follow their advise, I guarantee you a BQ unless you are physiologically incapable which I really doubt.