Marathon runners, what are your top tips?

Oh crap! Sorry everyone, thought thus was the half marathon thread.

Ignore me -other than thus comment when I say how much I respect those who do twice as much as I ever plan to!

Just creeping in to lurk for a while.

I've signed up for a half next year, thinking about doing a 10 miler before Xmas. Furthest I've run in training so far 8.75

I was hoping there was a thread like this when I was suffering on my long run on Sunday. I've got my first marathon in 7 weeks and completely fucked up my 18 miles. I ran out of water at about mile 11 and forgot to put cash in my belt to pick more up. That, the hot sun and mental leg cramps has kind of knocked my confidence. I am taking solice in the fact that I recovered really quickly. Sis recovery protein drink and a sit in a cold bath of water and I felt like I hadn't run anything. Even the next day the only thing that hurt was a chafed bit of my bingo wing.

Thanks for starting this thread and thanks for all the advise.

Apologises, such a long winded place marking

Oh, and my second toe toenails are still wrecked. I'm on baby new ones now, but every long run seems to make them hurt. I suspect the nail bed is permanently damaged (the marathon isn't the first time I've lost both of these nails).

Run/walk was, for me, a game changer. Physically, it was easier to drink/eat without choking. The 'rest' was always welcome (although you're actually speed walking...). Psychologically, being able to work in 10 min blocks was a revelation. If the previous block was bad, then this one will be better, knowing that you have three songs before you can switch off for a minute etc.

I ran my long training runs continuously, and by the time I was at 18 mile distance, I didn't think I could mentally do it (I never doubted myself physically). Someone suggested the run/walk thing and I know it's bad to switch plan so late on (a week before) but it felt right.

I worked out my ratio of run/walk, based on my desired finish time (sub 4:30), my conversational/easy effort run pace (6 min km) and my walk pace (8:30 min km). It took a few scribbling calculations to get to 9/1, but it was a good one because it was easy to know when my walking minute was due - whenever my watch said 9/19/29/39 etc mins.

I finished in 4:27 and still had a sprint finish in me. And really no after effects. I feel worse after an hour of weights than I did after that marathon. Average pace was exactly 6:15 min kms, which is a slightly faster average than I was hitting on long training runs (6:20-6:30 min kms), even with the added walking sections.

Oh, probably the most important bit - I ran/walked on a 9/1 min interval. Only decided to take that strategy in the half distance the week before and felt so good, I knew it would work on the day.

My pace was 6 min km running and 8:30 min km walking.

I ran my first in April with zero after effects/pain/barely any muscle soreness. I lost two toenails though!

I ran three times a week (but was a bit of a runner anyway) - one short (5-8k), one mid (8-15k) and one long (increasing k). I also weight trained twice a week and played netball twice a week.

My longest run was 18 miles, about ten days before. Then a half the week before. Then nothing for a week - zilch - while I ate all the pasta and pudding in the world.

I am currently training for my second in October. Am running 5/12/17 for my runs this week.

Marg Yes 2 seconds per pound per mile. And thats faster without training! A friend of a friend did Loch Ness marathon and said it was stunning. As you'd expect.

Feeling perky as just ran round Richmond park much faster than last time and even overtook a girl on a bike going up the big hill ! Boom
Yes to vaseline everywhere at every seam even between toes, feels weird but works.

I have a garmin watch, love it. It wildly overestimates my potential times for races though. I guess if my BMI was 20 rather than 26 it might be on the money.The long run is the only one I never skip. I'm going to hope on making 20 miles and just hanging on like grim death for the 5 hour cut off. If they have a 5 hour pacer I guess if they go past it's game over

I used the same watch as unavita, although now I use my iwatch as I can switch music tracks through it.

If I was training for much longer distances, I would probably use both...

Don't wear anything new and put Vaseline everywhere - I do nipples even with sports bra, around seams of tshirts/vests/shorts, thighs, if you wear an armband for your phone put some around this.

Don't eat anything new - I try to avoid all the food on course as my stomach is especially sensitive.

Get up super early on the day and try to poo.

Carry compeed with you if susceptible to blisters

Have a concrete reason for doing it in your mind then focus super hard on this if you feel like stopping

Talk to other runners on route - I have previously called out that I wanted to stop and lovely lovely people have talked to me for a mile or so to keep me going! My favourite thing about running is that unless you're an athlete there is no real competition with each other.

Getting used to running on very tired legs is good preparation, not every run all the time but if you can experience it beforehand and know what it feels to keep moving regardless it will help on the day.

I use a garmin watch, a forerunner 230 at the moment.

a lot of the advice already said is great and much more than i can recommend having never run the distance before but something i hope to do one day
dh takes high 5 zero tablets in his water everyday for 5-7 days before the race and aims to drink 2 litres of this a day which he has said he found helped with cramps/hitting the wall
my dsis doesnt take energy gells but swears by having dates during her run, dh sticks to the cliff energy cubes which is the only thing he can stomach during a race

may be worth checking what drinks/gels the run provides at stations as you dont want to take a energy drink then you have no experience with in case it does not agree with you

for gels to save carrying too much extra equipment there is belts to run in specifically for gels

aswell as mentioned with kit and not trying anything new the on race day, i would watch food intake a few days before and not try anything new or unknown a friend fly to her first marathon in lanzarote only to eat something dodgy at the hotel and ended up unable to race

a few tips somebody said your training pace is your race pace but if done right you should be able to go quicker than what you do your long runs in.
the person who said intervals are more important than long runs i have to disagree the best way to make sure you complete a marathon is consistent long slow miles.

I used epsom salts and also a jacuzzi soak as well.

I'm not sure there is anyway to feel great the day after a marathon. I had flown up to Miami for my marathon and pretty much shuffled around the mall the following day to try and stretch my legs. My face was the whole way around. That being said I was ok enough to get on the flight the day after that!

I'm not saying there's anything "wrong" per se with chocolate milk, it's a great recovery drink especially for longer runs over 13+ miles (for me), but I was chugging it after the shorter runs when I didn't really need to which led to weight gain.

I was using the excuse that I was marathon training to eat whatever I wanted, and that's why the weight tends to creep on.

I'm liking the idea of Jeffing! Yes Marg it was awful. I am the same weight. The only thing that ever shifts it is 5 2 for me so I have started today with the hope of half a stone off by the start line.

They say 2 secs per pound per mile so that's nearly 15 mins right ? Should get me in before they fold up the tables...

My marathon plan was from runners world and sits on the fridge

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has been covered.

Where do I find a marathon training plan (I've just managed to complete c25k but feel totally inspired....)

And do I need some sort of watch to help me pace miles etc?

I use Skyrr drinks for my post run protein hit. I don't tend to feel hungry for a good while after a long run but I can comfortably get that down.

Another thing I found useful when training was to book in races as some of my long runs, so 10miles, a half and a 20 mile race. It's all dependant on having the available locally in the right weeks but it gave me a good focus and a chance to try things out in 'race conditions'.