Running a marathon overseas tips

Stay the hell away from me and my house

I do a ton of international travel for work and run everywhere I go. Mostly training but have done ultras and marathons while on the road as well.

All the anti jet lag fad stuff (like starving yourself) doesn’t work. Going to Europe the best thing is to stay up and watch movies on the flight and then stay up as long as you can when you get there. Then your first night you’ll sleep like a log. Then get up in the morning and do an easy run for a few miles. Your body will react to the morning sun and you’ll be more-or-less adjusted. Same thing on the second day and night, but it’ll be a little harder to sleep, but do that same short running in the morning. The 3rd day you’ll be ready to do the marathon.

You can do the marathon sooner, but your legs may not be under you yet so ya might not get that PR.

Good luck.

Sleep or don’t sleep on the plane, it doesn’t matter. Just stay up till at least 7pm when you arrive.

Night 2 is always the worst. It getting exercise during the day will help. Also being out in the sun will help.

By night 3 you should be ok.

Compression socks during the flight over

Circulation wrote:

Compression socks during the flight over

So you can take a dump in them when you land?

You are probably going to utilize the race as a day of touring. Bring your camera along and meet individuals on the course from various nations. It is all piece of the experience.

Do the Generali Breakfast run... Super easy run with controlled pace topping at 10 min/miles finishing next to the historic Berlin's 1936 Olympic stadium with a free breakfast at the finish... Lots of people, great fun, and a nice easy warm up before the race...

Don’t drink tap water.

Bring Imodium AD because you’ll probably get sick from drinking tap water.

Flounder wrote:

Don’t drink tap water.

Bring Imodium AD because you’ll probably get sick from drinking tap water.

LOL... It's in Berlin, Germany, not in Berlin, India... LOL

KawauchiFTW wrote:

Flounder wrote:

Don’t drink tap water.

Bring Imodium AD because you’ll probably get sick from drinking tap water.

LOL... It's in Berlin, Germany, not in Berlin, India... LOL

You realize that the entire reason Germans invented beer was that their drinking water is unsafe, and alcohol needed to be added to make it potable, right?

Elvin wrote:

KawauchiFTW wrote:

LOL... It's in Berlin, Germany, not in Berlin, India... LOL

You realize that the entire reason Germans invented beer was that their drinking water is unsafe, and alcohol needed to be added to make it potable, right?

Yeah, in medieval times, or even before... Germany kinda moved on from there... You need to... lol

BTW, beer was invented way before Germany was even a thing:

It’s called travelers diarrhea because nearly all travelers get it from drinking local tap water that has bacteria variants that the traveler has yet to develop a resistance to. In most cases it clears up in a day. It even happens when traveling in the US but most people figure they ate something that was off.

I usually suggest that marathon runners take an Imodium the morning of the race just to help keep shlt where it belongs.

Played a doctor in Utah for 2 years wrote:

It’s called travelers diarrhea because nearly all travelers get it from drinking local tap water that has bacteria variants that the traveler has yet to develop a resistance to. In most cases it clears up in a day. It even happens when traveling in the US but most people figure they ate something that was off.

I usually suggest that marathon runners take an Imodium the morning of the race just to help keep sh*t where it belongs.

You guys have some weak immune systems, just saying... I traveled all over Europe and Asia (South, Northeast, Southeast, less developed, more developed, big cities, forgotten villages in the middle of nowhere) for the past 20-25 years, I guess that "fortified" my stomach a bit better;) Only had problems in India and China on my first visits... After that, it seems, I was "immunized" as I never experienced it again on my subsequent visits, and there were many... LOL

So, the takeaway: If it's your first time in Europe, or you aren't a frequent traveler, take some Imodium with you;)