Are ya'll talking about pooping?

 

Only twice?

Only twice?

Twice more before you head downstairs to the main floor. 

Okay smart ass 

Look both ways before crossing the street.

Never run with scissors.

Chew your food thoroughly before swallowing.

Don't talk with your mouth full.

Think before you act.

 

Well in theory you don't have to do any of them, many people don't and do just fine.  I however, am not one of those people.  lol

It also depends on the time you start running.  A 6am race?  Hell no, I will not wake up before 4:30am.  Most of my races start before 7am.  I am barely awake at that time, least of all hungry.  If I do eat, I find that my reflux gets worse (I guess with the stress of the race), so it's better if I just eat nothing or something if hungry (but very light).

Everybody is different, yes, Andrea, and you need to (1) find what works for you, and (2) practice it with your LRs.

Hell, I probably have 5-8 potty breaks before a race, within 2 hours before the start so I've got that down. I actually do a lot better now than I was in 2011, 2012 and early 2013.

Nutrition will definitely be a top priority for me, as I am not very good at it lol.

A few things:

1) As people have talked about, it is important to mitigate the small/medium aches and pains when they start.  Losing a day, or even two, to let something wonky recover isn't the end of the world.  Losing a week or two because you were a slave to the plan becomes a more serious detriment, especially going into your first marathon.

2) The marathon is a race, just like a 5K or a half.  If all your long runs are "easy", you'll only be able to run easy come race day.  The amount you run at MP is highly dependent on your goal, but try to do at least portions of some of your LRs at MP.

3) The more miles you run during training, the less your race will hurt.

This "have fun with it" shit applies if you want to hobby jog a marathon.  It does not apply if you want to lay yourself out for the best possible time.  If you want to do the latter, then your training needs to keep you on the razor's edge of injury without pushing you over it and the race itself is a miserable suckfest for the last 5-6 miles.

 

BTW, I agree with Jay.  The marathon is a race no different from any other race.  However, I disagree that more mileage makes it hurt less.  More mileage just means you can run it faster.  It probably hurts more.

Like masochism a bit there LtH?

I have a great damned time training hard.  Yes, it hurts, it is work, but if I didn't enjoy it and "have fun with it" I would go do something else more rewarding.

Now, one of the big differences between us is where we started and have been relatively healthy my entire life.