Marathon and Half-Marathon (12 page)

• Your event practice session is a good chance for you to practice refueling and rehydrating as you walk. It’s a good idea to review the section in this book on hydration and overhydration. You want to take in enough liquid, but it’s also dangerous to take in too much.

• Take time to treat yourself. Indulge yourself after your successful long session each week. After all, every building week is a milestone. Celebrate after your long run with a massage, glass of wine, or piece of chocolate cake, and have some fun. Moderation is the key, but at the end of every training week, you deserve a mini-celebration!

• Map out a course over 10 miles (16 kilometers), with an “official” start and finish time.

• Imagine yourself on event day, and go through the practice session over 10 miles as though it were race day. Encourage your friends and family members to be there for you at the “start” and maybe along the course and at the finish.

• Refer to the next section in this chapter on race-day preparation, and try to treat this day in a similar manner.

• Do some research on the course you will be completing in a few weeks by reviewing the organizers’ Web site. Find out the number of water stations they are planning to set up along the route and the approximate distance between each station.

• Chart out the water stations, which will give you a focus while you jog, just as they will during your event. Try to start with a plan to jog from one station to the next, with your walk breaks at each station. Maintain your focus on running for as long as possible.

• The official event Web site should list what will be provided at the water stations. Some, for example, offer water or sport drinks and occasionally some sort of fuel-replacement bar.

• Try not to feel pressure, and remember that it’s only about covering the distance. If you find you need to walk sooner than the water station, take your breaks when necessary.

• To this point in your preparation, you have been alternating jogging stints of 10, 15, 20, and 30 minutes, so you can be relaxed and run for the duration that is most comfortable.

• Sometimes you will go through periods where you feel great and jog for 30 minutes; at other times you may have a stint of running that doesn’t feel great, and you would be better off taking a walk break.

• Some of you will take a very methodical approach, sticking to a set amount of running, say 10-, 15-, 20, or 30-minute stints with a 1-minute walk break. What’s important is finding what works best for you. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to approach the finish line.

Phase 7:Weeks 25–26

Every person needs to have their moment in the sun, when
they raise their arms in victory, knowing that on this day,
at this hour, they were at their very best.
—H. Jackson Brown Jr., American author

You’ve made it! Only 2 weeks to go before the big event. At this point the hard work is finished. Your final training days are simply fine-tuning. Enjoy yourself, and congratulations.

Goals for phase 7

1. To safely complete your half- or full-marathon event, using whatever walk/run pattern you feel is best for you

Phase 7 Programs

How you might feel during this phase

Race day is looming, and it’s likely you’re feeling anxious and possibly a little nervous. Try to focus on enjoying your last few workouts and the extra time you have off from training. This is your taper period where your workouts are shorter and less demanding.

Coaching tips: Don’t change anything just before race day

Good planning includes not just good training, but putting all the pieces in place: physical and mental well-being, nutrition, hydration, and equipment. In the last 2 weeks before your event, it’s not a good idea to introduce anything new to your training or your diet. To help you prepare for race day, review the following commonly asked questions for all of the last-minute advice you will need for a great marathon or half-marathon day.

Common Questions

How do I mentally prepare myself for my event?

During your last few workouts, visualize yourself on race day, at the start, feeling confident and strong. Think about how you will choose your combinations of 10, 15-, 20-, or 30-minute stints of running followed by 1 minute of walking. You’ve done this routine many times before, so it will come naturally on race day. Don’t forget imagining your exhilaration as you cross the finish line, with your arms in the air and a smile on your face!

How can I feel more confident for race day?

Review your logbook and reflect upon your experience over the past 26 weeks or so, and recall all that you have learned and accomplished over the course of your training program. You’ve had 26 weeks of physical and mental preparation and significant lifestyle changes, and you’ve adjusted to the tremendous demands on your body. In truth, you already know how it is going to feel on race day, and familiarity is a huge part of making your dream a reality. You’ve established personal patterns that have worked to get you through all the workouts, including learning to run and completing all of your peak mileage sessions. Remind yourself: if you were able to complete all of your long runs before the marathon, you can also do it on race day.

Should I estimate how long it will take to complete
my event?

As you progress through your training program and become more confident and comfortable with the run/walk combinations, it can be motivating to monitor your run/walk pace. Use your long-run completion time to estimate your pace per mile or kilometer. If you want to estimate your approximate event finishing time, use the Event-Day Pace Chart on the following page: find your pace per mile or kilometer, and extrapolate the finishing time for a marathon or half marathon. Keep in mind that you’re improving and doing more running every week, so your pace will change over the months of training. Also, it’s a good idea for beginning distance runners to add 5 to 10 minutes to their estimated half-marathon finishing time and 10 to 15 minutes to their approximate marathon finishing time.

Table 8

Is it important to know my pace?

The specific pace, whether it’s 10-minute miles or 12-minute miles, is not important, but it is useful information for several reasons. If you know your running pace, it will help you to stay relaxed and avoid the common mistake of starting your race too fast, which can often result in problems later in an event. Also, establishing your long-run pace enables you to estimate the finishing time of your long runs and these 2-, 3-, and sometimes 4-hour runs so that you are better able to organize the other areas of your life.

What are some other reasons for knowing my
pace time?

Establishing an approximate finishing time for your event will give your support people an idea of where you will be at different points on the course. This information will also allow you to plan your transportation and post-race festivities.

5
Fueling the Athlete

Meal planning does not take time away from your training—it is part
of your training.
—Dallas Parsons, registered sport dietitian

MARATHON RUNNERS GET HUNGRY. THEY NEED FOOD—A lot of it. But not just any food will fuel you to the finish line. Optimal nutrition and hydration are key players in enhancing your athletic performance. A car won’t go without the proper fuel in its tank; nor will your body.

Marathon running places significant demands on your body. If you ignore your body’s need for proper fuel, you will put yourself at increased risk for fatigue, injury, and illness. By giving your diet the attention it deserves, your training sessions will be more productive, your recovery time will be shorter, and, most importantly, you will feel better.

The Runner’s Training Diet

The three keys to healthy eating are balance, variety, and moderation. A fourth key can be added in these times of highly processed “fast foods”—namely, that food should be as close to natural as possible.

Balance is about eating from all the main food categories, including fruits, vegetables, grains, meat alternatives, meat, and dairy products—with exceptions, of course, for those who choose to follow a form of vegetarian diet. Remember that no one food group can provide you with all the nutrients you need. A slab of steak with a few peas on the side is not a balanced meal; nor is pasta every day for a month, supplemented by the occasional trip to the salad bar.

Variety means choosing a selection of foods from each main food group every day to ensure a healthy diet. No single food, no matter how nutritious, should dominate your diet or even your intake from one group. Oranges, for example, provide a lot of vitamin C, but eating oranges to the exclusion of other wonderful fruits such as apples, pears, melons, and bananas—each of which has different nutritional strengths—will not result in optimum health.

Moderation ensures that you eat neither too much nor too little. Dietitians suggest at least four servings of grain products and seven servings of fruits and vegetables every day. If milk products are part of your diet, dietitians suggest at least two servings of them per day (three to four for adolescents and pregnant or nursing women). As well, each person should eat two servings of meat or alternative sources of protein (for example, tofu or baked beans) per day.

“Natural foods” might conjure up images of health food stores, but the phrase really just means foods that either are not processed or are processed as little as possible. Such foods tend to be better for you, because they generally contain more nutrients and fewer additives (such as fats) than foods that have been more heavily processed. For example, potatoes are better for you than potato chips, bread made from whole wheat flour is better than bread made from enriched white flour, and apples are better than apple juice. This is not to say that junk food must never pass your lips, just that it should play a minor role in your diet.

So, what’s a serving?