Calling JDF (Read 1026 times)

If only that was my 1st marathon. It was actually my 5th marathon! I have crashed and burned in 4 of them and I ran a 3:20:53 in the other. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I can do a 1:33 half and then I absolutely fall apart after that. I tried taking it easy on the first half this year and I ran a 1:38. However, I finished with my slowest time ever(4:17). I just cannot figure the marathon out. I am taking a break from running/racing for awhile just to figure out what is really important to me. Enough about me though. This is Kimmie’s thread to shine in. She absolutely rocked it! Keep up the good work and I will see you guys out there again someday.

I didn't want to hijack Kimmie's thread. You were very right about that. So I started a new one. I hope you don't mind. Onto you. I bet as you watch the rest of us try for our BQ's you will see a lot of people just like you. A good chance I will be one of them. I crashed and burned at Columbus two years ago. The marathon is so long and hard that you can make a different mistake every year and still fail. One year it could be an injury, next year it could be that you didn't intake enough energy. I hate to see you give it up. You have worked so hard. Maybe if you give us some of the details some of the guru's on here can help you figure out what went wrong. With that note I also believe that you have to figure out what works for you. Everyone on here told me not to take more then 5 gu's during my last marathon and I took 8 and wish I had one more at the end. It was my best marathon and best marathon experience. Your a great runner. Anyone who can do a 3:20 marathon is a great runner in my book.

I find the marathon one of the most strategic races. Many ways to get it wrong, but only a few ways to get it right. Three keys to a good marathon: 1) Training - You have to experiment with what the right training is for you - Miles, intensity, etc - You have to train to be successful 2) The last week before the marathon (Really last 2 or 3, but the last week in key) - Nutrition, Hydration, Sleep and taper your training. Some people taper almost to no activity, others run 50+ miles before a marathon. Some do no hard workouts, some keep intesity, just shorten the duration. The Nutrition, Hydration and Sleep is the part many peeople fog. 3) The race itself. All runners seem to have an active fantasy life and dream about the big break through race ... Unless you want to put it all on the line are carry a high risk of failure (Maybe to BQ or OTQ) you need to take a big reality pill before you toe the line. If you have a lot of mileage under your belt, you can get away with a pace that is 10-15 seconds too fast, still back off and not melt down ... a sub optimal marathon and a bigger possitive split (5+ minutes) but not a melt down. If your mileage is a little lower, it is harder to hand on and force the turnover. So the question is #1, #2 or #3 Usually its #1 or #3, but my spidey senses are telling me it might me #2 in this case. Once you run out of glycogen, running on fat only can be 2-3 minute per mile slow down and a just a 3% loss of hydration can cause a 5% decline in performance. JDF you are beat up right now ... relax, reflect, recover.

I've been wondering why I wasn't seeing a JDF Myrtle Beach RR - should have figured its absence meant a bad day. Sorry to hear that. I don't want to belabor the obvious, but it sounds like you've had one marathon experience that you are reasonably satisfied with. That would make a great starting point for your self-reflection. What was different about it compared to the other four - besides your finishing time, of course. More miles per week during training? Less? A different mix of volume and intensity? Different strategy? Better pre-race sleep/eat/hydration? One thing to consider - what time of year was it and what was your race schedule like before that race? The fall racing season is by far our biggest locally, and you seem to have this tendency that if there's a race available, you're in. Plus, didn't you just run Thunder Road in December? That gives you, what, 10 weeks maybe to recover? While the shorter races may not have been run all-out (although I'm not sure you can run any other way), that Thunder Road was probably an all-out effort. That's a lot of hard running. There's a reason the elites are very selective about the FEW races they enter. (Even the marathon maniacs don't race most of the marathons they enter. The one's I've met at the end of different races have looked like they just completed a training run and could still go for more. Of course I've met them at our local marathon and other small races - I'm sure they'd put more effort into say Boston, NYC, Chicago, etc.) A reduced race schedule would also help the mental outlook,especially since you're putting so much pressure on yourself to BQ. (Not that I'm all that qualified to give advice. Even when I was young and invincible I wasn't in your league. Right now I'd be happy to stay within sight of Ed Harris or Neville Wood.) Have you considered the possibility that you've become too dependent on that stroller? Maybe you could borrow a light kid for you next marathon to see if that's true.

Have you considered the possibility that you've become too dependent on that stroller? Maybe you could borrow a light kid for you next marathon to see if that's true.

I had not thought of that. That could have been the problem.

And I don't use gels at all, for training or racing. You can race without them.

I agree, but you can also race marathons with them ... If I have eaten well, I tend not to use them in training, but if I am light on glycogen, I carry them. I always carry them on 50k to 50 mile training runs. Now for ultras ... I need some sort of fuel and gels work well for me ... but for 24 hour I will add some succeed clip 2 and Endurox R4 and a load of S-caps or E-caps.

The last thing that JDF (or any of us) needs is more analysis. Or to "figure out what works for him." I feel like Allen Iverson. Gu's? Are we talking about Gu's?

I can eat 50 gels.

Nobody can eat 50 gels.

I can eat 50 gels.

But the time spent in the bathroom following this feat would negate any possible benefits.