You hear a lot of
stories about people who have just completed their first marathon: People
hitting the "wall" during the race. Runners having to go down stairs backwards
after they've finished. Runners having to walk much of the last 6 miles of the
marathon. These stories all concern the high stress and negative effects of a marathon, and the
stories are true for many marathoners.
A Personal Example
Let me give a
personal example to illustrate that there is a lot of stress connected with a
marathon. I ran my first marathon after I had been running for eight years. Even
though I was only running about 45 miles per week before that first marathon, I was
pretty fast for a recreational runner who didn't train for speed. My speed came as a result of my doing a lot of miles during those eight years. I ran a
weekly 15-mile long run year around at a comfortable pace of 7 minute miles. In
fact I could run up to 18 miles at that pace. I was 46 when I ran my first
marathon.
As I neared my
marathon, I realized that I had only run 20 miles one time as my longest training run and that I would probably slow down as I went past that point. I decided
that I would run the marathon at an 8:30 pace, because I thought that by slowing
down a minute and a half, I would have a margin of energy that would carry me
through to the finish. So, I started the marathon at an 8:30 pace. This was in
1981, and timing chips and GPS watches hadn't been invented. I did have a stop watch, but my watch didn't time laps. So, I
resorted to the high-tech solution of writing on my hand my times for various
miles, and as I passed each mile marker, I would look at my hand and adjust my
pace accordingly. As a result, I maintained my 8:30 pace for 18 miles.
Then it happened.
At 20 miles, I stopped running. I had run into the infamous "wall" and
had run
out of energy. I didn't experience any pain. I just stopped running and started
walking. I walked/jogged the next six miles to the finish.
My paces
illustrate the stress and negative effect of the marathon and were as follows.
| Distance |
Pace |
| Miles 1-18 |
8:30 |
| Mile 20-26 |
Walking & Jogging |
| Average Pace |
9:00 |
|
I could run 18 miles at a 7 minute pace and did run it at a 8:30 pace. At 20 miles I was reduced to
walking/jogging. I finished the marathon with a 9 minute pace. Such is the stress
of the marathon. I was well trained for 18 miles but poorly trained for greater
distances.
The good
news is that I didn't experience any pain before or after the marathon, and I
never had to go down stairs backwards. In fact, I was back on the roads two days
later. On the first day of running after the race, I only went half a mile before my body said,
"That's enough!". By the end of the first week I was up to a mile and a half, and
by the end the first month, I was back to my normal training. All without injury
or pain.
My experience
illustrates both the good and the bad of a marathon. Let's look at the marathon
and understand why it has such high stress, and then let's look at ways that we
can overcome that stress and have a great experience in our first marathon.
The Wall
As explained in
Wikipedia,
Carbohydrates that a person eats are
converted by the liver and muscles into
glycogen
for storage. Glycogen burns quickly to provide quick energy. Runners can store
about 8 MJ or
2,000 kcal
worth of glycogen in their bodies, enough for about 30 km or 20 miles of
running.
When I reached 20 miles and was reduced to running, I had exhausted my supply
of glycogen, and my body started to burn fat for energy. This depletion of
energy is probably the most significant cause of marathon stress.
Other Sources of Stress
The distance of
the marathon, 26 miles 385 yards, is another significant source of stress. Many
beginners aren't used to walking or running distances more than a few hundred
feet. They struggle to develop the muscular and aerobic strength to go longer
distances. During a marathon, their feet will pound the road about 69,000 times,
and each step shocks their body with a force that is about 2.5 times their
body-weight. That is a lot of stress on their body!
Another source of
stress during the marathon that many runners don't understand is water -- either
too much or too little. Too much water means the runner's body salts are
diluted, and this can cause serious problems, including death. Too little water
means the runners become dehydrated, and this means their body temperature will
rise, possibly leading to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. This problem is
complex since it is affected by the climatic conditions during the race
and by the characteristics of the body of each runner.
Yet another
source of stress that is controversial but, I believe, does exist, is improper
training for the marathon. Many runners enter a marathon without being prepared
for the negative effects of the stress, and their lack of training compounds the effects of the stress.
There are many training plans that are published in books and on the Internet to
guide people in their training. These plans vary in their
characteristics such as number of weeks encompassed by the plans, the length of
the runs specified by the plans, the intensity of the runs, and the amount of
rest specified by the plans.
Finally, a
significant source of stress is the public conception of the marathon as a
grueling time of pain, sweat, and suffering. A runner told me that "I
just assumed that [pain] was part of the package."
Ok, What do We Do?
The stress
of a marathon can be minimized, so let's look at ways of reducing the stress.
Avoiding the Wall
Runners hit the
wall when the glycogen stored in their cells is depleted. Thus, the obvious
solution to this problem is to store more glycogen in their cells. If the cells
can hold 2700 calories instead of 2000 calories, the marathon will end before
the glycogen is exhausted. Think of the wall as an object. By storing at least
2700 calories in the cells, the runner has pushed the wall out beyond the end of
the race and thus never hits the wall. A runner can do this by training over
distances that approach the length of the marathon. The runner can also consume
energy snacks and gels during the marathon to supplement the energy in the
cells. The training runs of
distances greater than 20 miles must occur a number of times since our bodies
are slow to adapt to new conditions.
Developing Greater Muscular and Aerobic Strength
There is only one
way to develop muscular and aerobic strength. The runner must stress the muscles
and aerobic system, which will cause damage to the body cells, and then rest
while the body repairs the cell damage and becomes stronger. If the runner wants
to develop strength to run 15 miles, the runner must run distances that approach
15 miles. If the runner wants to develop the endurance to run 26 miles, the
runner must run distances that approach 26 miles. These training runs don't have
to be fast. In fact, endurance is best developed by the running of Long Slow
Distance or LSD.
The good news is
that these training runs also cause your body to develop the ability to provide
the oxygen necessary for the marathon. Running a marathon should be an aerobic
activity in which your body gets sufficient oxygen during the race.
Running a
marathon is this simple. You train for the marathon distance, and you repeat
that training until you no longer hit the wall and you no longer suffer from the
impact of stress on your muscular and aerobic systems.
Getting the Right Amount of Water
Runners have a
problem knowing how much water to drink, because the amount varies with the
climatic conditions and with individual body characteristics. The hotter the
day, the more a runner sweats, and the more water is needed to replace the sweat.
The more a runner sweats, the more body salts are lost, and the more a runner
needs to replace those salts. Here are a few guidelines.
