A Marathon Survival Guide

26.2 AND YOU

Are you thinking about running a marathon? If your answer is yes that's an amazing goal, so lets talk about COMPLETING a marathon. A marathon is a long race that consist of 26.2 miles.

My wife and I set a goal of completing the Bayshore marathon in November of 2023. The Bayshore marathon is a local marathon here in Traverse City during Memorial weekend that goes 13.1 miles on the pennisula and back for a total of 26.2 miles of our beautiful and breath taking Grand Traverse Bay.

What is also breath taking is the 6 month timeline we gave ourselves to complete this monstrous feat. My wife was running roughly 15 minute miles, and here ability to recover was less than optimal. Essence would overheat and feel nauseous anytime her heart rate would reach 160-180 bpm. Preparing to run a marathon was a big task we needed to accomplish. I'm going to give you 10 tips on how to complete your marathon with confidence.

TIP ONE

Establish a timeline in months and weeks

Creating a timeline in months and weeks is honestly overlooked and undervalued. We need to know where we're starting, and where the finish line is. I recommend getting yourself a big calendar so you can visualize your timeline. This Step is kind of like your compass. We can use this calendar later in tip #3 to help us with our training.

TIP TWO

Create a training routine you can adhere to

After you establish a timeline, it's time to create a training schedule or routine. I'm a huge advocate for creating a routine that is unique to you. By creating a routine it takes all the guess work out of your training. For example if you decide to run every Monday/Wednesday/Friday you'll always schedule things around your training because it's a consistent routine you have created. When things are random it's very difficult to prioritize your training.

I would also recommend in this step to undulate training days around your most hectic or chaotic days of your life. All this means is you change up your training intensity and volume. for example if Monday is a really long work day, and you have a ton of other commitments you need to do a shorter recovery run may be the answer to keep a consistent training schedule.

If your schedule is less chaotic on the weekends, then save your longer or harder runs when you can really focus on maximal intent. I found this to be the best approach to adherence because I was able to regulate my stress throughout the week. You don't need to stress too much about undulating, because your schedule will change, evolve, and grow as you do moving further along in your journey.

TIP THREE

Use Devices that can track and Benchmark your sessions

As you become more dedicated to completing a marathon, the miles will become easier to run. Having a device that can track your run can show just how much progress you've made with every session you track.

We tracked our sessions with a Polar heart rate strap. You can use whatever device you'd like, just stick with it to be as consistent as possible. The Polar heart strap has many functions to help us benchmark our sessions. We used the data to once again auto-regulate our training days.

The strap had a GPS so we could map out the run. I could see my average heart rate, my maximal heart rate, and my heart rate recovery. I could see estimated calories burned, and what zone I was in the most for the duration of my run. I also saw any fluctuations that occured during the run. Say I was running flat land and came up to a hill, my heart rate strap would show the changes in elevation.

All these changes I could compare to a week to week basis, and a month to month basis. This is where the calendar becomes useful. We can track how many miles we have accomplished from a weekly and monthly basis to see improvements or stagnation in any metric. I even noticed if my resting heart rate was higher, that it was a pretty good indicator of a need to rest. These metrics are so valuable to you as a runner to make sure you train smart and hard for the long haul.

TIP FOUR

Manage your miles/Recovery

This step is a game changer if your goal is to complete a marathon. Longevity is key, and if you stay in the race longer while tracking you get an early notice to nagging injuries, fatigue, or a decline in performance.

If you're tracking your performance you will have a tally going on how many miles a week you ran. I noticed at about 25 miles a week my feet had really reached their upper limit threshold. If I pulled back to about 18-20 miles a week, I could sustain those numbers for a few consecutive weeks until my feet were able to tolerate more miles.

My feet became highest priority, because I identified them as my rate limitor. I started doing prehab/Rehab work in the warm-up. I started rolling them out, or massage gun them before bed to help the healing process. The most important thing to understand is no matter how good training goes, shit is going to start to hurt. Identify it early and start to manage it so it can recover.

You're going to go through a plethora of ups and downs in training. This is all apart of Periodizing your training, and purposely overreaching. I recommend that you try to deload roughly every 5-6 weeks if it's necessary. A deload is a week of tapered volume and intensity, that allows the body to fully repair from intensive bouts of training. Your body is a machine equipped to carry out any task asked of it if the dosage is right.

TIP FIVE

Proper Equipment

The body is equipped to do so many task. Running a marathon without proper equipment is a big no no. Proper foot maintenace is having excellent running shoes. Running shoes provide a protective barrier between the ground and your feet. When I got running shoes, I felt like I was floating acrossed the ground on a cloud. There was almost no resistance or friction.

When we run we want to be comfortable as much as possible. If you are running a lot odds are you're going to chafe. When the chafing gets bad, it makes running that much worse. I recommend investing in some body Glide. Body Glide provides a barrier between your clothes and your skin. This is a big must if you want to keep the skin happy,and your clothes off your thighs.

Clothes are also a hot topic in the running world. Remember we want to be as consistent as possible training for the big race, and that goes for the clothes you train in. Make sure whatever you decide to wear, it provides a ton of comfort. You'll be racing in these clothes, so it needs to check all the boxes of cold days, rain days, hot days,and windy days. There's nothing worse than running in your cold attire,when it's hot so keep a rotation of clothes for different environments.

TIP SIX

Find A Nutrition/Hydration stratgey and keep with it

Environment absolutely has an effect on your attire. Environment also has a direct relationship with your nutrition and hydration process too. Essence and I would top off with water at the beginning of every mile, and use a Huma packet every 2 miles. Huma is essentially a carb supplement that digest quickly to provide us with sugar needed for long bouts of exercise. There's a term in the running world called bonking. Bonking refers to a huge decline in performance due to either dehydration or insufficient energy expenditure or both.

Guu packets are going to be your own personal preference. You'll want to experiment with different brands, and see how your stomach responds to them. A word of caution when using GUU is drink water with them. They even recommend it on most packets, and this helps drive them into the system. Remember you're going to go through a ton of these packets, so make sure they're tolerable.

Rehydration strategies are probably one of the most controversial/individualized topic I've experienced when I was looking for advice. Do we use a Fanny pack with portable water bottles? Do we use a vest with 2 liter bladder? Should we Use a water bottle that straps to our hand? I say try a few options and try them out for a few weeks.

Each option has pro's and cons. If you use the Vest you add extra weight, but you have a lot more water and storage. If you use a belt it may mess up your natural gait process running as it sits on the hips with some restriction. You still get more storage and water,than one water bottle strapped to your hand. Whatever you do you want to be able to race with it.

TIP SEVEN

Compete in Pre competetion races

Racing is a skill. The racing environment is so invigorating. The energy is high, and your adrenaline is peaking. This all sounds so promising right? While these are tools we can use to help us race day, some people buy in too fast and start way to hard in the beginning of a race. I recommend doing as many races as you can safely, to help acclimate to the pre race jitters.

I also believe that pre race jitters can be managed by a good routine before the race. Show up early and perform a warm up, go to the bathroom, and assess the track. The more races you do the more benchmarking you can do too. If you ran your last 5k at 30 minutes, and you just ran your current 5k at 28 minutes, you get live feedback on your performance and see your placement in your age group as well as overall.

TIP EIGHT

Join your local running club

Running races is an amazing experience. Especially seeing how you stack up in your age group, and overall. You'll find people from all walks of life absolutely successful in running. That's why joining your local track/running club is a great idea. You will meet a ton of new people who all came together with the love of running. I think having a group of people to be accountable too is a huge motivation factor. The group will meet you where you are, while having a standard you yourself will eventually surpass. Never doubt the power of a groups energy and what they can accomplish together. Go join the group and start learning new perspectives.

TIP NINE

Treat the last 2 weeks before the race like race week

From my food, to the time I woke up and went to bed everything was the same for 2 weeks. Think of the benefit you have knowing exactly how you feel every morning, what each meal does to your performance, and how many hours of sleep you need to be clear headed waking up. That's the beauty of treating the last 2 weeks like race week. Any and all adjustments can be made to optimize your success. Put stock into familiarity, and watch how you flourish on race day. The advantage you have is huge, and should not be taking lightly. You don't have to wait until Peak week to make adjustments.

TIP TEN

Have Fun

We're obviously chasing the finish line in a marathon. The end goal can overshadow all the personal growth we have had, and take all the fun out of the process. You'll be more invested and more likely to finish if you can find joy out of your training. Allow yourself to be proud of your accomplishments like your first 5k/10k/half/20 miles, and last completing a marathon. You worked so hard to check the box off, embrace the journey and I have no doubt you'll finish this all the way through.

These ten tips I gave you are all the lessons I learned in my journey towards a completion of a marathon. As a coach my dream is to help pave the way for others, and reach back to help as many people as possible. The first step of a marathon is to get started, and go 1 mile at a time. Keep getting in your reps AMRAP as many reps as possible.

-Coach Austin -