Marathon and Half-Marathon (15 page)

• bagel, jam, milk

• fruit smoothie made with milk, yogurt, juice, and fruit

• toast with peanut butter and honey, sport drink

• pasta with tomato sauce, milk

If running first thing in the morning, have a glass of sport drink, diluted fruit juice, or water, and an energy gel. These options will provide approximately 75 to 100 calories and should prevent light-headedness or low blood sugars during a 30- to 45-minute run, provided a good meal was eaten the night before.

Fuel for your long runs

Sport dietitian Dallas Parsons says:

• If you are well fueled before you run and training for only 1 hour, water will suffice in most cases.

• If the weather is very hot, or if you are unaccustomed to warm temperatures, a sport drink is a good idea even for shorter runs, because it encourages drinking and replenishment of fluids, carbohydrates, and sodium. For training runs lasting longer than 2 hours, take along a carbohydrate source to keep up your energy supply to your working muscles and brain. Start with 30 grams of carbohydrate per hour after the first hour. Some people need more than this and may go up to 60 grams per hour.

• Another general guideline for fueling while running is 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour after the first hour. Energy gels and sport drinks are among the most popular supplements used during long runs. Some runners can tolerate solids, such as bites of a sport energy bar or Fig Newton cookies.

By race day you should have a plan that combines the best fluid and fuel replacement to support your needs and preferences. On the day, you may experience unexpected conditions such as wind, hot weather, or cramping; you should be ready and able to adjust your nutrition plan as needed.

Be sure to replenish your fluids after running. Weight lost during running is due to loss of water. For every pound (half kilogram) of weight lost during a workout, drink 3 cups (750 milliliters) of fluid.

After interval work or long training runs, which put more stress on your muscles and energy stores, it’s important to rehydrate and have a recovery snack within 30 minutes of completing exercise. Blood flow to the muscles is greater then, and muscle cells are more insulin-sensitive. At this time the body is able to maximize glycogen replenishment and muscle repair.

Read the labels on your sport products

You may be wondering whether you need to use special sport products such as protein powders, meal-replacement drinks, and energy bars. Aside from being expensive, these products can quickly add excess calories to your day. Read the labels carefully to check their energy, carbohydrate, protein, and fat content, and always consume with plenty of water. If choosing a bar, look for one with a three- or four-to-one ratio of carb to protein and less than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories.

To prevent unwanted weight gain, yet maximize your recovery, avoid adding extra calories to your day to meet your recovery needs. Instead, rearrange your daily snacks or meals to accommodate a post-run snack.

In addition to carbohydrates, include some protein to aid repair of muscle tissues. Some examples of good post-workout snacks are:

• Flavored yogurt and fruit

• Dried fruit and some nuts

• Flavored milk and a banana

• Peanut-butter-and-honey sandwich

• Fruit juice and soy nuts

• Cereal and milk

• Sport drink and bagel

• Sport energy bar and fruit

Simple Nutrition Tips

• If you are experiencing more cravings for sweets than usual, try adding some protein to your snacks, such as low-fat yogurt with a few tablespoons of cereal, or almonds and an apple.

• Drinking full-strength juice within 30 minutes before running may contribute to side stitches or abdominal cramps. If you need some liquid calories, try diluting juice with an equal amount of water or drinking a sport drink.

• A skim-milk latte is a great way to celebrate a long run with your partners, satisfy your caffeine fix, and boost your recovery. Order a water to go with it.

Runner’s diarrhea is an embarrassing and frustrating condition that can really put a damper on long runs. If you suffer from this, these hints may help:

• Run hydrated. Try drinking 1
¹
/2 cups (350 milliliters) of water 1
¹
/2 to 2 hours before you run.

• Drink a quarter cup of fluid (two or three gulps) every 15 minutes during your long runs.

• Don’t eat within an hour of running. You may even need to give yourself 2 hours to digest food.

• Eat low-fiber foods such as breakfast cereals (less than 3 grams of fiber per serving), English muffin and jelly, pretzels, saltines, flavored yogurt, or pancakes with syrup.

A multivitamin and mineral supplement daily is a good idea for most runners. If you think you need additional supplements, talk to a registered dietitian or physician. Choose a high-quality, reputable brand, and look for one that provides a little extra iron and calcium.

If you’re feeling unusually tired during workouts, you may be dehydrated. Try stepping up your fluid intakes, and monitor your urine output. You should empty a full bladder of clear or pale-yellow urine every 2 to 3 hours.

Are there foods I should avoid before running?

Yes, but individual tolerances must be considered. Foods that tend to cause problems for runners include spicy seasonings, full-strength fruit juice, whole grain breads (more than 4 grams of fiber per slice), high-fiber cereals (more than 6 grams of fiber per 30 grams), prunes, figs, cabbage, broccoli, onions, nuts, beans, candy, or high-fat snack foods.

6
The Mental Side of the Marathon

DIAL IT IN; FOCUS; DIG DEEP. THESE ARE JUST A FEW expressions used to motivate us to reach within ourselves and discover our full potential. For the marathon runner, often the mental barriers are the greatest obstacles to overcome. As with most things in life, whether it’s your career, education, or personal relationships, achievement in distance running does not come easily.

Early in your training program, you will realize that a fit body won’t travel far if there isn’t a fit mind traveling along with it. Sometime during your training—probably on a cold, rainy, windswept day—you may find yourself staring out the window and discover that you have a remarkable capacity for making excuses. At this point, you will understand the adage that marathon training is as much mental as it is physical.

Staying on track with any kind of fitness program is a challenge for most of us. But the ability to stay focused and motivated for the duration of a 6-month training program is a huge challenge. Your body and mind will benefit, but the action of run/walking itself will be laborious even for the most motivated individuals. There are bound to be days or even weeks when you just don’t feel like running. It’s important to know that all athletes dip in motivation; you are not alone in this. Everyone gets tired, and everyone has other areas of life that can interfere with training. This chapter offers clear strategies and practical suggestions on how to push through those difficult days and overcome the mental roadblocks, waning motivation, and nagging uncertainty familiar to most distance runners.

Seeing Yourself as a Runner

Before you can learn about the mental side of distance running, you must believe you can become a distance runner. Seeing yourself in a new way is not easy, especially if you have not been involved in sports in the past or if you’ve gained some weight over the years and feel you are some way away from feeling like your old, sporty self. To this point we have talked only about how, with the right training and a graduated approach such as the distance-running programs in this book, you can make it to the start line of a half or full marathon. However, training and completing one of these events is an amazing goal. For many of you, this might be the most difficult undertaking you have ever attempted. You want to become a runner and may even dream about it, but actually seeing yourself going from a sedentary person to someone who is up in the morning and walk/running for 45 minutes is another story. How do people do it? How do people change their patterns and lifestyles? Others have done it, and so can you.

How to change old habits

You’ve heard it before: couch potato turns marathon runner; a pack-a-day smoker climbs Mount Kilimanjaro. Some people change old habits with seemingly little effort, whereas others talk about the same troubles for weeks, months, or even years but are still stuck in the same insufferable spot.

Everyone has one or two—or three—maddening inclinations that we call bad habits. Whether it’s merely a foible familiar only to family and friends or a more serious pattern like smoking or overeating, change is not easy. You have only to check the shelves of your local bookstore to recognize that changing patterns is an industry in itself. Besides “self-help” books and videos with the principal goal of helping people achieve the life they desire, there is also an increasing demand for hands-on courses and training programs.

Research on changing behaviors

American social science researchers J.O. Prochaska and C.C. DiClemente created the “transtheoretical” model of change. The model, originally conceptualized for problem behaviors such as alcohol abuse, supports the belief that change is made through a process of small, incremental adjustments. Central to the transtheoretical model are its five stages of change, which describe how people alter a problem behavior or acquire a positive routine. The theory suggests that everyone travels through several common stages when they are attempting to change a pattern or behavior.

Stages of change

1.
Pre-contemplation:
At this time there is little or no desire for change. A person may not even recognize that there is a problem. For example, someone at this stage could be content with walking to work as daily exercise, and, although he passes runners on his walk, he is not interested in beginning any sort of running regime.

2.
Contemplation:
At this stage people are aware of a problem and are giving serious consideration to change. In other words, they have started to take responsibility for the habit or pattern. For example, our walker in stage 1 above may have been told by his doctor that he needs to develop a healthier lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise. He continues to walk to work and finds himself wondering what it might be like to join one of the runners that breeze by him.

3.
Preparation:
This is the point at which individuals are getting ready to take action. They have decided to address a problem, and they are taking concrete steps toward that goal. Our walker has been fitted for running shoes and has bought other gear. He has talked to a friend who also wants to begin running.

4.
Action:
During this stage people are altering behavior and environment in order to tackle their problem. They are taking action. The individual and his friend sign up and attend a local running clinic for beginners.

5.
Maintenance:
Now people are working to avoid slipping back into their old patterns. Significant changes have been made; our friend and his partner have been running regularly three times a week and have developed a schedule that works for both of them. But there may still be some longing for the old days and former habits.

Belief in oneself

When a person decides to become a marathon runner and thus puts the stages-of-change model to the test, it’s important to believe in one’s ability to effectively control specific events in one’s life, which is an important component of changing behaviors. Researchers and mental health counselors think this belief is what separates people who change successfully from those who remain in chronic contemplation mode. Research supports belief in the power of positive thinking; it suggests that confident people generally have optimistic thoughts about being able to cope with a large variety of stressors. In contrast, people who have difficulty in believing in themselves are more prone to depression, anxiety, and helplessness. These individuals often have low self-esteem and hold pessimistic thoughts about their accomplishments and personal development.

Cheerleading from friends and family is great, but improving one’s belief in oneself requires action. A strong belief in your ability to overcome problem situations needs more than positive self-talk. Building that belief is a slow and gradual process of experiencing and
acknowledging
accomplishments. As a result of incorporating incremental changes, people are more likely to experience success and ultimately achieve their goals. Unfortunately, a common problem in building confidence is taking on too much, too soon. The result is often feelings of failure or, worse, reversion to old habits.