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Running the Marathon

The Cabl3 GuyThe Cabl3 Guy Elite Ranger
in Zocalo v2.0
Well I signed up for the NYC marathon & the Albany (upstate ny) Marathon. Next year Im doing the Boston Marathon & the Long Island Marathon. It will be my first time running one. The farthest I've run up to this point is about 15-20 miles, my knees collapsed & I couldn't go any further. Just wondering if anyone out there has had any experience doing a marathon. That pain in the knees is the only thing I can't deal with other than that I have great stamina.

Comments

  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    While I don't run I do bike racing and there are a lot of similarities. Train A LOT, if you can't do it in practice don't expect to be able to do it in the race and hope that somehow you'll find the extra energy. If you don't have it you just don't have it. There's a saying in racing that the last 5 miles are not the same as the first 20. Once you're tired every extra mile gets exponentially tougher. Racing also plays tricks on your mind.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Vorlons in my Head [/i]
    [B]There's a saying in racing that the last 5 miles are not the same as the first 20.[/B][/QUOTE]
    Well, isn't everything little like that?
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    My roommate has run two marathons; after the second, he was pretty much unable to do anything at all the next day. Your body starts digesting your muscle tissue towards the end of it; marathons can do nasty things to you.
  • AlaricAlaric Damn kids! Get off my island!
    I've only attempted a 1/2 marathon. At the 6 mile point the pain in my knees had slowed me down to the point where old women were overtaking me and encouraging me to keep going!

    I gave up running at that point.
    :o
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Go for it!

    I'm going to take a 200km bicycle trip on friday/saturday :)
  • The Cabl3 GuyThe Cabl3 Guy Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bekenn [/i]
    [B]My roommate has run two marathons; after the second, he was pretty much unable to do anything at all the next day. Your body starts digesting your muscle tissue towards the end of it; marathons can do nasty things to you. [/B][/QUOTE] Guess I should eat a few steaks before I storm the front.
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by The Cabl3 Guy [/i]
    [B]Guess I should eat a few steaks before I storm the front. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Actually you want to eat high carb foods (pasta, pizza, etc) the night before and days leading up to it and drinks lots of water the week before so you're fully hydrated. Your body will burn up all the carbs in your system which are far more efficient as fuel before it starts processing protein and fat which provide virtually no usefull fuel to burn during exercise.
  • The Cabl3 GuyThe Cabl3 Guy Elite Ranger
    Well I haven't hit the 20 mile mark the farthest I've gone non stop is about 15 miles up to that point my knees gave in & I couldn't go any further besides that I was absolutely starving. I went into a local diner ate there when I got up to run the knee pain was too much. I should be running 15 mile runs everyweek in preparation. Wish there was a way to deal with that pain though maybe go for some sort of drug? Don't like the idea of something foreign in my body who knows what could happen.
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    Be careful with the pain. Running is pretty hard on the knee's and that COULD be a sign of trouble. There is no magic drug to cure that. With enough practice you'll strengthen those muscles and the pain should become less over time. Like I said, this is the kind of sport where its all about training and preparation. If you don't prepare you can't expect to accomplish it on sheer will power or hope to have a "good day". If your body can't do it, it just wont. Unlike other physical activities where skill is very important running is pretty much entirely physical conditioning. In such long runs you need to eat and drink in between. You will typically exhaust the energy stored in your muscles after about 45 minutes after which your performance will start droping and it will start using stored energy (those carbs I talked about) you need to eat to replenish those BEFORE they are exhausted. Once you've exhausted all your reserves thats typically called bonking (at least in cycling) and if you get to that point you're done for pretty much. You'll know because thats when you feel you've just had it and can't take even one more step do exhaustion. Also drink a sports drink such as gatorade (coke with no gas can also do the trick but its nastier) diluted with some water. Plain water will not replace all the lost minerals you sweat and pure sports drink will actually work against you as its too strong to fully hydrate you. I'm sure there should be feed zones throughout the course. Otherwise carry a couple of power bars, fig bars or something like that, during practice too. You will do more harm than good if you train without doing that.

    BTW, a marathon is like 26 miles if I remember correctly right?
  • AlaricAlaric Damn kids! Get off my island!
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Vorlons in my Head [/i]
    [B]
    BTW, a marathon is like 26 miles if I remember correctly right? [/B][/QUOTE]

    26 miles 385 yards

    According to an article I saw most people fail in the last stages, within sight of the finish line because mentally they've made it to the finish line and their bodies go "oh, ok I'll shut down then"
  • The Cabl3 GuyThe Cabl3 Guy Elite Ranger
    They do have Powerade & water along most marathons. (or so I've read.) No food till the end though. The problem I had when running that long distance was stopping(had to stop for lights &* traffic) if you stop your body will begin to shut down as you said. Its to painful to go on if you stop to much. Id probably do ok if I did 50 miles a week with a 10-15 mile run at the end of the week. Which was what I was doing before I went naked. Even then I still had the knee problem. Maybe its because Im short & the impact from going so fast screws with my knees?

    Out here in London though I have no route really just sorta wonder around without any idea of how far I go. Guess I could use a tread but I've also read that on a treadmill(don't use one yet) in order to make up for the lack of wind, rain, or other elements. You should set the tread to Incline at 1.5.
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