ARRRGH!

[Eddie]

stop it!!! DO NOT FEED THE EGO.

The guy's a lawyer and lived in New York. It feeds itself...

[Eddie]

The guy's a lawyer and lived in New York. It feeds itself...

(And that is without even considering the fact that he is now a Texan too)

[bluegoose]

I am considering wearing my fuel belt during the race. Up until now, I hadn't really considered it, but I'm thinking the first few water stops are going to be crowded and I am definitely used to drinking from my plastic flasks. What's more it will make me less dependent on water breaks for the purposes of taking my gels. Also, I have never practiced drinking from cups. It adds two pounds or so (only until I drink the water) but I'm thinking I might go that route. I've gone as far as 21 miles with it on, so I'm not worried about making it a full 26.2 (any more than I am worried in general). Any thoughts? Do any of the rest of you do that?

Both marathons I haven't taken any water, but have taken a smaller belt that hold up to 6 gels or, in my case, shot blocks.

The first time 2 years ago, my Nike plus mileage was off and so were their water stops. I suffered a ton because the water stops were not where I wanted or needed them. Thus, the great bonk of 2008.

This past year, I trained with my fuel belt which holds 2-10 oz flasks, so I was very comfortable running with them. When it came time to really get ready for the thing, I liked where the water stops were along the route and decided to save the extra weight and wore the same belt as the first year. Plus, being the huge cheapskate that i am, I think i wanted to get more of my moneys worth by drinking their water and gatorade instead of bringing my own. In this tight economy, every penny counts!!!

This time, I waited until the stop was in plain site before taking a shot block or gu, usually about 100 yards before I made it to the volunteers. Last year I was mistaken once when the water stop would be and ran almost 2 miles with no water to be found and gu paste sucking the life out of the inside of my mouth.

It worked great for me at StG. I, too, am no good about drinking from dixie cups on the run, so I walked through all of my planned water stations. I figure I probably lost between 5-7 minutes doing it that way, but I was well hydrated the whole way.

In addition to the added weight, one problem that i have with wearing the water/fuel belt for that long of a run is that it rubs my skin raw on my lower back where the upper edge bounces up and down. Not a big deal, but if you do go that route, you want to consider a big bandaid or some of that new skin stuff over the friction points.

[Pheidippides]

nope. the masses have spoken, all fawning over The Nikuman. I couldn't possibly compete. I think I'll just explicitly dramatically and in a very uncool way storm off and go find a new board.

I don't get why you have to announce you're leaving before you storm off. No doubt seeking for somebody to come in and rescue your bruised psyche.

[Babs]

I don't get why you have to announce you're leaving before you storm off. No doubt seeking for somebody to come in and rescue your bruised psyche.

...anybody?

[TheBYUGuy]

Good luck, nik. I look forward to hearing about the race after you've pwned it.

[Pheidippides]

Good luck, nik. I look forward to hearing about the race after you've pwned it.

"Pwnd" may be stretch, especially if I don't get over this cold soon.

[cowboy]

It worked great for me at StG. I, too, am no good about drinking from dixie cups on the run, so I walked through all of my planned water stations. I figure I probably lost between 5-7 minutes doing it that way, but I was well hydrated the whole way.

I did this too, and I highly recommend it. I don't think you lose even that much time, as you'll make up the lost time for the first few stops, and the rest should take only about 15 seconds a piece, which comes to 3-4 minutes. Lose the fuel belt.

[Pheidippides]

I've been meaning to ask - do any of you experienced veterans have any suggestions or tips for these last few days and for the race itself? I had my final "long" (only six miles) run today and felt great, but I'm already pretty nervous and the race is a week away.

I'm starting the official carbo load on Wednesday (just increasing the percentage of carbs, not amount, until Saturday), although I've already cut out high-fat and sugary foods and caffeine/soda (the caffeine so my gels have more effect). Every night I'm planning on heating up my IT bands and stretching them with my foam roller. And I'm going to go to bed at 10 pm every night (8 pm the night before) to make sure I'm well rested.

On race day, I'm going to be at my garage (about 3/4 mile from the start line/convention center) 1.5 hours early, and I'll use that walk to warm up (I may even jog). Race plan is to start about 10 seconds over my hoped overall pace for the two miles, and make that up in miles 5-15. I have my gels, I have my clothes, I have my tunes. Is there anything I'm missing?

(As you can tell, I'm pretty nervous).

[Coach McGuirk]

(8 pm the night before) to make sure I'm well rested.

(As you can tell, I'm pretty nervous).

I don't know about the other stuff, but I do know about this. Good luck with that. I have never been able to fall asleep the night before a race at a decent hour.

[beelzebabette]

(As you can tell, I'm pretty nervous).

Only thing I'd suggest is regarding the nerves. I tried to focus on my successful long runs and what I enjoyed about them during race week. You're still mentally preparing for 26 miles, but I found it helped to look back instead of forward when the apprehension came up.

[Pheidippides]

I don't know about the other stuff, but I do know about this. Good luck with that. I have never been able to fall asleep the night before a race at a decent hour.

Yeah, this is why I'm devoting the whole week to sleep, and not just one night.

Only thing I'd suggest is regarding the nerves. I tried to focus on my successful long runs and what I enjoyed about them during race week. You're still mentally preparing for 26 miles, but I found it helped to look back instead of forward when the apprehension came up.

This is a great suggestion - thank you very much.

[John McClain]

My best marathon times came when I started out slowly, usually about 30 seconds per mile below my targeted pace. Around the half way mark, I would really crank up the pace, running hard for about as long as I could at around 30 seconds under my targeted pace, then holding on for the last few miles. By running these negative splits, I was able to set PRs, whereas if I tried to run a steady pace throughout I would usually hit the wall around 20 miles and slow down the last 10K by quite a bit. I think that starting out slow, getting warmed up and then running good and fast to finish was mentally refreshing as well.

[Pheidippides]

Is it really a tradition to yell "God Save the Queen!" (or something similar) at mile post 24? Or is it mile post 25? Sources conflict (although I understand the reason why you'd yell it at either).

[Eddie]

It's been interesting to me to read up on different thoughts on running the marathon and race day.

I was recently comparing Hal Higdon to Jeff Galloway. Higdon recommends walking through the water stops - saying that someone even won an early race that way and that many have had their personal best with that method. Galloway goes so far as to say something along the lines of recommending that you walk for 1 minute for every 4 minutes you run - right from the beginning of the race! I thought that was pretty interesting.

What I get from both is that you don't necessarily want to run your hardest to start out - to make sure you have the energy to finish.

Anyway - I'm not sure where I'm going with this or if it even fits with what your question was, other that to say I found it interesting that both recommend doing some walking through the race.