Do you agree with the following. I base this on my discussions I've had with successful finishers and not from my personal success. I have been told read and understand the stages described below in order to have success in the marathon. Enjoy...
1st Mile - You should approach the first mile mark with the feeling that you've gone out WAY to slow. You should almost feel ridiculous with a dangerous urge to speed up. At the split you should be very surprised to clock about 10 or more seconds faster than your planned pace. Settle down, enjoy the moment, and re-focus on your game plan.
8K - At this point you have crossed enough splits to establish and somewhat settle into your pace. There should not be much changes of place amunst the experienced runners around you. It is possible to have had a "moment" where the pace felt uncomfortable. However, this moment should have passed quickley as your body continued to warm up.
6-7 miles - Passing these splits, you are still a little excited, but in a good way, and are maintaining an even effort and feeling great. Thoughts of huge success and possible negative splitting fill your head as you silently smile to yourself. "I can't wait to start passing these mo-fo's" rings in your head as you imagine yourself as having superior preparation and fitness compared to the other runners. For some reason you cannot see that everyone around you is feeling the same.
13 miles - The miles have clicked off effortlessly, you are in cruise control. The only thing that snaps you out of it is the digital clock at the 13.2 mark and the larger than normal crowd at this location. At this point, if you are truely prepared and have run a smart race, you should have a feeling of total control. In your mind you believe you could maintain this effort, even speed up, and repeat the task for another 13.2. Again, it is possible to have felt a few very brief moments of stress that completely pass. If the stress does not pass this is a very good chance to adjust. It is not normal to feel any sort of trouble at this point. If you are having trouble you need to slow down AND you should be prepared for a very difficult race.
14-16+ mile splits - If you have been running close to but not exceeding your maximum potential this is the point at which the race starts to feel a little intense. Brief moments of stress start blending into a continuous mild stress. Lack of concentration or purtibations such as wind, high temps, or hills could knock you into a downward spiral. It is essential to remain relaxed, focus on your form and maintainance of a good effort, and most importantly to accept this stress as natural and expected. The honeymoon is over and the race should now begin to feel "hard". You will start to notice a dramatic change in the field as those around you who are over their heads quickly come off pace. Be prepared to run alone.
20 miles - For most competitive to champion level runners, the 20 mile mark represents the real start of the race. Anyone who should not be here has long ago dropped back. Any gaps you are closing are with runners who will quickly disintegrate. Anyone gaining on you has run below thier potential, let them go. The race, as they say, has truely begun. The feeling of intensity and stress is now very high. YOU MUST FIGHT AS HARD AS YOU CAN TO NOT SLOW DOWN. NEVER SLOW DOWN. Experience is the key here. Although your body is sending signals in all directions that the pace cannot be maintained, you know from dozens of marathons that you can do it. The pain will not get any worse (for now) and no matter how bad it feels, your next two splits should come in favorably. Even if you were to slow down it is likely that you will finish feeling just as bad, if not worse, than if you continue your pace. FIGHT!
Last 8K - You have been successfully moving forward under great stress. Pace may have dropped a bit (5-15 seconds), and that is OK. Most likely you are running all by yourself down a street with no crowd. Fatique now adds to your misery. There are a little more than 4 miles to go and you have to fight with all your might to resist the temptation to head towards the sidewalk, rip off your number, and say "f*ck this, I don't know why I even do this sh*t". You start feeling those twitches in your hamstrings and calves indicating that the slightest misstep or overstride will bring on a devastating cramp. The last thing that could be possibly on your mind is to speed up. BUT - THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. Slightly shorten your stride, increase your turnover, USE YOUR ARMS, and dig deep. Your slow twitch muscles are toast but there is some gas left in the fast twitch guys. Recruit them, think grand thoughts of a huge PR, or better yet, getting this dreadful task over with as soon as possible. If you do cramp DO NOT STOP UNLESS IT MAKES YOU FALL DOWN (which it might). You cannot cure a cramp by stopping, your only hope is to short stride and hope it passes. If things are going well you will successfully recruit fresher muscles and increase pace. Sadly, this will not make you feel better.
The home stretch - All systems are reaching complete failure. Breathing is labored. You feel as though you cannot get a full lung of air. Your form is not what it should be, one leg strides farther than the other, you have a limp in your gait, you are crooked and somewhat awkward looking. It takes everything you have left to maintain even splits. What felt like a jog two hours ago feels like the last rep of a high school interval workout gone bad. However, the crowd is growing and you start recognizing landmarks indicating the finish is near. Staying in control is not an option, there is no control, you are fighting for your life to finish what you started. AGAIN - THIS IS NORMAL. DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!
The Finish Line - You did it. A huge PR and who knows, there may even be a little finish line tape stuck to your sweaty singlet. Congratulations! Take some time to walk it off and to replay the various feelings you had. It is important to remember how hard it was and what you were still capable of when feeling wrecked. This is the biggest factor for more success aside from your training.
It is amazing how far you can go with a feeling of being totally beyond the breaking point. In all likelyhood you have run hard for at least 25 minutes being completely wasted. What is more amazing is the instant loss of control when you cross that line. At that point you cannot take another step at pace, and sometimes are so out of it you do not even look up at the clock to see your time or stop your watch, requiring you to ask incoherently if anyone knows your time. Have a good brunch and start planning the attack on your next great marathon.