Marathon in less than 2 weeks, Forecast calls for 82F (65% humidity), Advice?

start slow, seems like it would cool off in the late miles of the race as it gets dark.

What marathon starts at 7 pm? I've always been interested in running evening road races.

They have 12 and 24hr ultras starting at the same time. That's probably why they are at night.

http://www.srr.org/events/annual_events/24hour/index.php

give up

Yay! We've got a winner here. Wow, have you been on letsrun before? Not too original there.

Try glycerol loading for hyper-hydration.

I've heard about glycerol, but I wonder about the safety.

Nice publication on the topic:

http://www.sportsci.org/traintech/glycerol/rar.htm

Might be a little bit too much intervention for me. I love the comment about side effects being shrinking of the brain and eyes..hmm.

the 65% humidity = a dew point of 69! that's the real reading you need to pay attention to. Here is my fomula for the dew point:

60 = minor

65 = moderate

70 = major

75 = danger

in The last Olympics - the marathon was run with a dew point of 61...it did not end up greatly affecting the race pace, but was a factor (and talked about a lot). What you could be facing is so much worse!

If that dew point is closer to 65, you might still pull off a decent race, but anything close to 70 is going to be miserable and tough on the body...a race that long with a high dew point and you are going to be losing so much fluid that the effect on performance will be major. Staying hydrated is going to be the key to just finishing.

Really if the dew point is high, it may not even be worth running. Running for time will be difficult.

Best advice. Think like a triathlete. Notice how much emphasis they put on nutrition - getting enough fluid and calories as they run. Start doing this in pratice. Also run at that time of the day - so you start to see what it is going to feel like.

Skip it.

In addition to what others say about hydration, keep a positive outlook at this point because 10 days out the forecast is going to fluctuate quite a bit. Be relaxed, control what you can and go easy if the heat surges again next week. Right now the forecast for Somerville the day before is quite a bit more bearable.

Another wrote:

Skip it.

Well that would be a jolly way to do the marathon

Why sign up for a summer marathon with a hard and fast goal time? You knew when you signed up for a summer race that the temps would be far from ideal so any real goal would be extremely arbitrary.

Go run for fun, drink a lot and slow your roll. That's really all you can do in the heat.

Don't listen to the trolls here. You don't need to hydrate for a friggin' 26 mile race, no matter how hot it is. Geesh, it's like I'm in a room of nincompoop "Team in Training" feebles. Run like you've trained for it. Oh, and you're welcome.

Bag it and train for a November marathon instead, noob.

Lexmark, I got injuried Feb 2010 training for Boston. I didn't start running again until Feb 2011. Now that Boston Registration will fill up in the beginning of Sept, my only option was to run a summer marathon or wait until 2013. I was not in shape in the spring to run one then. I'm getting old fast so want to do what I can to run the 2012 race. That's why.

Thanks to others for your opinions, even those who are telling me to skip it. I don't think it's going to be so bad that I'll have to skip it. If it were in the mid 90s I probably would though.

So to clarify, assuming that I am not skipping it. What do you think my chances of running Sub 2:50? Sub 3:00? Sub 3:10? What's the best goal time in these conditions? Do you think Boston will fill up with people all >10min under the qualifying time?

You sound like a p*ssy. I say 3:17, unless you DNF at mile 17.

How important to you is running this race versus qualifying for Boston? Is it worth, say $700, to BQ? If so, just find another certified marathon between now and the opening signup date for Boston. Spring for a cheap airline ticket on priceline and a hotel on hotwire and you're in.

You've already said you don't handle heat well, so why risk the BQ if that is your main goal? I checked Marathon Guide and you have a couple of cool weather possibilities in August. There's a certified BQ marathon in Wisconsin in August on a point to point converted railroad pathway, so it's flat and early morning is usually cool in Wisconsin in summer.

If Boston were my goal, I'd show up at the start of your planned marathon to see what the weather is like. You never know. The forecast could be wrong and the weather could be nice, but I'd bag the race if it was over 80 degrees and go with another marathon as Plan B. If you race it and then try to do another BQ race in August, you won't have time to recover. That's what I would do, but it's your nickel... good luck.

If the goal is really a BQ, then he should aim just for that. He doesn't need a 2:45 to qualify. Even a 2:50 will allow him to sign up in the first wave of registration, and starting at that pace will help him avoid the crash and burn that could happen by chasing a faster time. Heck, a 3:00 would still allow him to sign up in the second wave of registration, and would probably put him in one of the first 3 or 4 corrals.

My advice is to go out @ 6:30 pace and walk through every other water stations to drink + pour water over your head. This should put you sub 3 and will be enough to get you to Boston. Good luck!