Marathon runners, what are your top tips?

[Marvellousmarg]

Training for my first marathon and would love to hear any advice or tips you could share.

Anything at all.

What to take, how to make the most of the day, how to actually finish?

Tia

Keep moving!

Marathons are run mostly in the mind, remind yourself you can and you will if your mind starts to play horrible tricks on you.

Don't try ANYTHING new on the day, use only tried and long run tested kit including underwear and socks, perfect your hydration and fuelling strategies on training runs and don't deviate.

Agree with above!
Training: good to have an extra week in case of a bad week. Be flexible, missing a run because you are too tired or unwell is ok, few people do every run on their plan.
On the day: be proud of yourself just for getting there and surviving all that training! If you're using gels or whatever, take some extra, I lost track of when I had had what and used more than I had planned too! If the weather is hot drink more.
I had a rough time in mind but my main goal was to appreciate the day, the crowds, the sights, rather than push too hard for a time. I came in a little slower than planned thanks to a misbehaving hamstring, but still had an amazing day.
Things may not go to plan on the day, try to stay calm and positive and whatever the result be proud of what you have achieved.
Good luck!

Also if you look on the London marathon website training section they have blog posts from Martin Yelling full of good advice.

That's brilliant. Just the sort of advice I was after. Thank you!

That's good to know that some people miss a run or two. I'm on week 9 now and have done every run but with holiday coming up I may have to rearrange some of the longer ones by day or two.

My plan has long runs to 20 miles. Then tapering...

I'm just trying hydration and nutrition stuff out now I'm now up to 14 miles.

Few weeks back I did a 10 miler and felt so awful afterwards...Realised I needed to drink more frequently and eat more than a few jelly babies.

I'm also trying out a walk run strategy tomorrow 3/1 just to see how that is for recovery. Has anyone done this?

I will check out the Martin Yelling stuff. Thanks.

Interval training is far more helpful than lots of long runs.
Find a glucose gel that you like and stick with it. Some taste revolting and others give you the shits.
Get any aches/pains/niggles looked at early on so they don't escalate.

Up to 22 miles not 20 ( in denial...)

Well done you!!

I got cramp at mile 18, needed salt! A lady appeared with some mini sausages, they saved me!!!

So don't go overboard on the jelly babies!

I wished that I had done nearer to 26 miles in training (only did 20).

The mental challenge was almost harder than the physical. Be prepared! Try not to walk as starting to run again hurts like hell.

Take some kind of painkiller before the race and have some to take during the race also. I used ibuprofen, but paracetamol would work.

Don't try anything different on the day. I felt nauseous as hell taking gels even though I'd used them in training runs; I wouldn't use them again. Too much sugar will make you nauseous; try taking some flapjack or similar as well as jelly babies.

Salt tablets are amazing! I wish I'd known about them when I ran my marathon. Take one before hand and it will help prevent cramp (I use ones from MyProtein).

Compression socks / leggings after long runs and sitting in a cold bath really help.

When I started to struggle I started talking to people around me which really helped. Don't be afraid to make temporary friends! And good luck!

I wish I'd kept my long runs a bit shorter, I don't think I'll ever go much above 16 in training again but injury prone. Had a stress fracture and missed the last six weeks of training (but did what I could to strengthen everything else) and had a really happy comfortable race on the day. Over time you figure out what works best for you.

I would add to check and double check stuff like where the start is and give yourself plenty of time, have done quite a lot of races but did a half today which was a shambles in terms of directions and picking up race numbers (among other things, it was advertised as an out and back mostly trail race but was 100% road, some of it multiple laps of a very busy dangerous road 😡). I've never had a DNF but if it had been a longer race I would have bailed. I don't cope well with traffic!

Trust your plan. You'll have points where you feel you've not done enough, or think you should be doing more during your taper but just trust it.

Include hills training and intervals in your training, the difference they make to your running fitness is invaluable.

Mike sure you've tried you kit, nutrition etc a few times before race day. Nothing new on the day!

Don't get carried away at the start, run at your own pace. Try not to 'zig zag' too much if it's crowded at the beginning.

If it's a race with lots of support, pace yourself when it comes to interacting. It's so tempting to High 5 every hand offered but you'll soon get tired! That said, be prepared to take sweets off strangers!

Enjoy it! You may have a race day that goes exactly to plan, you may have a nightmare day, or more likely something in between). Whatever it is it will be an incredible achievement just to get to the start line after months of training, let alone running 26.2 miles.

(Just a thought on the topic of taking painkillers above. It's generally recommended not to take ibuprofen before long distances as it can have a negative effect on kidneys. Think paracetamol is generally thought to be ok).

For a first marathon, dont worry about time as increases risk that you go out too fast if you're trying to keep on pace.

Be prepared but don't overthink it/ have this perfect race in your head.

Unless there's a genuine reason why you need to carry snacks and own drinks on race day, don't. It's just extra weight. I just carry gels.

For a winter marathon get a hoody you don't mind losing and just chuck it when you start running.

No one gets half way around a marathon and wishes they'd done less training - stick to your plan!
Give yourself 20 weeks to do a standard 16 week plan. That means you can miss a week for injury, one for illness, one for work and one for not being arsed without tying to play catch up the following week

Your training pace is your race pace
No matter how great you feel at the start or in the first 3 miles, you're NOT going to run half an hour under your target time so don't try and convince yourself you will. Stick to your pace and you'll finish strong

Race day is not the time to try anything new - kit, food, gels, pace. Stick with what you know

Enjoy it. Channel Chrissie Wellington - her mantra when it gets tough is 'never give up, and smile'
Just the act of smiling makes it feel easier, honestly

And lastly, get your name printed on your shirt for race day. You can't underestimate the lift you get from the spectators shouting your name - and it makes you smile, and smiling makes it hurt less...

Agree about the ibuprofen, avoid and use paracetamol. Not usually a great idea to take painkillers pre race either.
Start slow, statistics show that if the first 3 miles are your fastest it can add up to 50 minutes to your finishing time!

Reading with interest! I'm doing my first marathon in 7 weeks. Trained for one in May and then got really ill the day before and couldn't do it. Reset the training to week one for another 16 weeks of pain .Regretting that choice now....

Get very nauseous whatever sugary thing I eat. Maybe i should try real food like a flapjack? chips? What salt tablets are there? Are they ones that dissolve in a bottle of water or are there ones you can pop? I have just run 16 miles and sweated buckets. Can't imagine another 10 on top of that. I seem to be getting slower as well which is not very inspiring .

My only tip so far is running commentary podcast. two comedians chattering away sometimes with guests. Distracts from the pain.....

I use electrolyte tablets - SiS or Hi5. And yes to running commentary! Also like marathon talk

Ive just ordered some electrolyte tablets and some gels to try. I made it to 20 miles without any of that in the last lot of training. But felt dead afterwards. I have enough fat stores to run many ultras so survived.

Also runderwear, very comfy and an old fashioned hair grip to keep hair out of my eyes ( got fed up with bandanas falling off)

I think it's really important to keep yourself well nourished (extra calories) and rested as far as possible throughout each week of training, as well as finding some fuel you can tolerate on long runs (and eating well after those). I dilute multipower sugary drink 50:50 with water plus some isotonic concoction and set my watch to remind me to drink every 3 miles or so. Apparently most standard chocolate milk drinks offer perfect ratio of carbs to protein for post run replenishment, so I always have some of that. Sometimes my appetite is suppressed for a while after a race or a tough run.

Completely forgot to drink today and skipped breakfast which might account for my grumpy mood 😳

I have never really got on with gels so I fuelled with sweets (haribo etc) & mini mars bars. Probably not the best advice but it worked for me.
The orange segment a spectator gave me at mile 19 remains the best thing I have ever eaten!

Agree with lots that has been said above.

Trust your plan, you will do it, it really is mind over matter. Just keep running.

Try to regulate your pace at the start - you will run quicker than you want / need to and it will have a knock on effect later if you go off too hard.

Try to stick to the centre of the course (in London, they have a white line for the elite athletes to follow to make sure they only do 26.2 miles - I ended up doing 27.2 miles just by being on the outside at corners etc).

Take flip flops to change into at the end.

Great advice from you all.

Thank you so much!

Where is your Marathon Dino?

putput that's interesting, you think interval training is more important than long runs. How do you use intervals when you train?

Do any of you add salt to your water? I ran a half today, tried using a rehydration tablet In my water and it seemed ok. Tried a gel too but it made me feel sick..

Have discovered chocolate milk recovery drink. ❤️ It's lovely

I have to run 16 miles next week. Everything hurts. How do you recover between training runs once they get longer than a half?

Hi Marg
It's Richmond. I lay on my sick bed in Edinburgh and googled a marathon in 16 weeks time and it came up. Fortunately its near home which I think is a good idea seeing the state people were in at the end of Edinburgh.

16 miles hurts. I think chow mein and watching the England women win the football is going to be healing. A day off is good. Bike ride strangely helps the legs recover. And a hot bath rather than a cold one !

Wow, this thread brings back memories from my marathon.

I had an awful race day but still managed a 4.50hr. I mentally couldn't get my head in the game, even though I'd done plenty of training and in reflection I think it was because I was running in full sunlight as opposed to the dark as I'd done all my training runs at 3.30am as it's so hot here to run in the day. So something as simple as different time can throw you off, so try and do your long runs around the same time as the marathon will be.

I also didn't get on with gels so used clif shots which were tiny cubes of endurance jelly. The raspberry ones were the only ones that didn't leave an awful taste. Regular gels made me com.

I made the mistake of recovering my long runs with chocolate milk. Don't do that I'd recommend coconut water over ice to replace electrolytes, but better and refreshing too.

Good luck, I do miss my lovely long runs and the fantastic feeling at the end of a 15-miler by 7am. And then soaking the aches away in a salt bath.

Marathons are tough as fuck and I tip my hat to anyone who manages it!!