What Does it Feel Like to RACE a Marathon?

Posts above were accurate for me. My mantra was to get to mile 20 on pace, don't do anything stupid. Every crash and burn marathon story starts with, 'well, I was feeling good so I went out a little ahead of pace'. You want to get to 20 miles expending the least amount of energy possible. At the same time you want to eat and drink as much as you comfortably can while staying on pace. Plan how much you are going to eat and drink. Don't think you are going to eat and drink when you are hungry/thirsty. By then it is too late. Your last 10k depends on your training and your fuel intake.

After 20 miles, the race starts. Gather yourself and race.

runningart2004 wrote:

Find a group or a partner to race with. Its easy to end up in no man's land. 5:50s with a group is ten times easier than 6:00 alone. Run on feel. Be loose thru 13 then start making decisions. I've run pretty much all of my marathons hitting halfway between 1:14-16 and finished anywhere between 2:32 to 2:47. Ive run 8 marathons. You will slow down and at some point the marathon creep will get you. Aim for sub 6:00. Get in a groove clicking away 5:55, 5:58, 5:56, 6:01...find that rythem.

Alan

But 5:50s burns a lot more carbs than 6:00s. Why are you suggesting the OP go out faster than goal pace when you've blown up in every marathon you've done that in? All that protein is getting to your brain!

LOL Wut wrote:

runningart2004 wrote:

Find a group or a partner to race with. Its easy to end up in no man's land. 5:50s with a group is ten times easier than 6:00 alone. Run on feel. Be loose thru 13 then start making decisions. I've run pretty much all of my marathons hitting halfway between 1:14-16 and finished anywhere between 2:32 to 2:47. Ive run 8 marathons. You will slow down and at some point the marathon creep will get you. Aim for sub 6:00. Get in a groove clicking away 5:55, 5:58, 5:56, 6:01...find that rythem.

Alan

But 5:50s burns a lot more carbs than 6:00s. Why are you suggesting the OP go out faster than goal pace when you've blown up in every marathon you've done that in? All that protein is getting to your brain!

This is a fair point, but I don't think he just means 5:50 in a group is mentally easier. It's also physically easier, which can make the pace difference vanishingly small in practice. Also, while it's true that you torch carbs as you approach anaerobic threshold, unless you're exceedingly well trained, your marathon race pace is probably a good deal below LT. Those few seconds matter much more for elites who have a very narrow window race pace and LT.

agip wrote:

So your point about the math is right, but my point about elite's amazing ability to hold fast paces for hours is still correct.

No, it's not an amazing ability. It's just that they're true slow twitchers. 6:05 pace is roughly a 2:40 marathon. The equivalent performance level is a 4:53 mile. A slow twitch guy/gal who runs a 2:40 marathon will be close to 5:00 for the mile.

The elites' racing profiles aren't very different from slower runners who have come close to their potential. They're just much faster.

haven't done as many as some of the other replies but my thoughts have always been just go out and run. i watch the first mile split to make sure i'm not too fast or too slow and double check on the second but other than that haven't really had any time plans. i just kind of go out at a effort that feels hard but sustainable and let the race unfold. i have come through and set my half marathon pr in the first half (though this was mostly from lack of half marathon races) and just keep pressing on. when you get tired stay mentally tough at the end i usually find that with some really concentrated effort i can pick it up to a faster pace than the one i let myself settle to.

dont get too up or too down good miles come and go like bad miles will

and fuel well, start early stay consistent.

good luck

not first timer wrote:

Miles 1-10: this is too easy.

Miles 10-18: this is about right.

Miles 18-22: this is too hard.

Miles 22-26: why am I doing this? is the finish ever going to get here?

pretty close, but I'd revise it slightly.

Miles 1-10: this is too easy.

Miles 10-18: this is about right.

Miles 18-22: this is too hard.

Miles 22-26: there is no god

Stay focused you want to race. Keep telling yourself this and enjoy the pain.

It's what we do

All being equal, it comes down to who slows down the least. A boatload will go out at 6 min pace, then the 5:30 guys will kick it in and then the surges will come and then the crying/vomiting begins. Then you wonder who is going to come back or do you have to dig deep and catch up and hold on hoping they blew their wad.

Sub 2:25 guy

I agree with the negative split. Go out in 2:42, its more of a mental advantage but it is an advantage. There is no such thing as banking time in the marathon.

But to directly answer your question, it feels terrible to race the marathon from the gun. Like another poster said its not like an jaw breaking uppercut kind of pain but repeated body shots that by the time you feel the damage its overwhelming you from head to toe.

Just bc I have not had a great marathon yet, each one has felt easy until my legs just locked up.

My first marathon, I was on pace for a 2:42 the first 23 miles. It felt fun and fairly relaxing up until mile 20. From there I started noticing I was needing to work hard. I maintained my pace until mile 23 but then came to a standstill all the sudden as my legs cramped up. After that I was walking and hobbling my way in to a 2:54.

Fueling might have been my problem or wearing shoes that were too light weight for my build. Even though I trained in them (brooks t6), i think in those last 3 or 4 miles after trying to maintain my best pace, my quads took a big hit from the pounding.

my second marathon had many similarities.

for my next ones (and potentially advice for you)

if you are a slightly larger framed runner, be cautious with your shoe choice, and perhaps add a few ounces in return for extra support. while the t6s made the first 20 of my marathon feel easy easy, i paid for it in the last couple miles.

i still havent figured out fueling.

besides that, just be conservative for the first 18 or so. in retrospect, i might have gotten excited around mile 13 or 14 and started pushing the pace bc it felt easy. if you get to the half and feel real good. it might be best to continue to hold off a bit until you get to mile 18 or so.

in any case, these kind of feelings in your legs and general effort might vary from person to person or from race day to race day, so you might be able to read your body signs differently.

I just know that in my next marathon, i will be more conservative in a lot of respects, and I think it should land me a pr in the 2:40s.

When would you recommend starting to fuel? Does it depend on your size for how many calories to eat during the marathon?

http://bit.ly/onyouwares

feafsd

These are great responses. Thanks everyone. My original word choice was probably poor. So just to clarify when I said racing, I really meant running close to the fastest time you're currently capable of. Maybe it's called time trialing and not racing. That's another debate. I'm sure everyone that reads this board and has run, or will run, a marathon is after the same goal. Running as fast as they are capable, whether the goal is 2:10, 3:10, or 4:10.

Pretty easy at first. A slightly faster than normal long run. Then you start getting a little sore, but you can hang in there for quite a while, definitely another hour. Then at some point you reach the limit of your endurance, your form starts getting shaky, your legs start hurting, like they won't function. Then you start really hurting. At this point you're just thinking about finishing the dam thing; you've given up on passing anyone. You tell yourself 5 more minutes at this pace, another 5, ok 3 more, alright I'll run until 2:10, how about 2:12 and so on until you are close enough to the finish line to turn it back into a respectable effort and know you can just give it what you have left because you don't have to run again until tomorrow. Sometimes its all you can do to just keep moving along through the finish line though. I've raced a couple 30ks, done plenty of 20+ mile long runs. At one time I was averaging 24 miles for my long runs for months with some 27+ mile runs thrown in and have never felt like I could maintain "marathon pace" for the whole distance. The best thing to do is train yourself to die less. Race to 20 miles or so then just focus on not dying.

I'f you've trained sensibly and specificaly for the marathon it should fee like:

0 - 30km = steady pace, feels like a relaxed tempo run

30 - 40km = hard effort

40 - 42.2km = mentally tough but your legs should have no problem getting you to the finish

sub02:30:00orbust wrote:

I'f you've trained sensibly and specificaly for the marathon it should fee like:

0 - 30km = steady pace, feels like a relaxed tempo run

30 - 40km = hard effort

40 - 42.2km = mentally tough but your legs should have no problem getting you to the finish

Can you do that in miles? I have no idea what that means? It's like you said

0 - 94543 = piece of cake!

94544 - 14534 = ok, this is good

14534 - 18952 = oh no, this is not good

18987 - 23302 = kill me now

This sounds silly, but I think a good trick is to figure out a good pace (probably goal pace) and hit it for 16.2 miles, then reset your watch and race the last 10 miles -- can trick the mind a bit if you think you're only racing 10 miles. Some runners, I think, get intimidated when they look down and realize they've already run 19 miles -- it makes them feel more tired than they would if they thought they were 3 miles into a 10 mile race.

Again, a small thing, but I've found it works well