Soo. Given how some dress rehearsals go, this one has been suspiciously easy. The longest week in terms of my marathon training plan saw me running five days out of seven, with 92km covered from Sunday to Saturday, only today clocking in 32km and feeling pretty alright, actually.
In the past few months building up to it l tried different fuel and none of it worked (sports drinks, energy bars, sweets), all made me cave in around 25-28km mark, frustrated with fatigue and sore thighs. Mind you, all was done through running with no stops or walking breaks which brought up another issue, an ominous beep from deep inside my left knee, the one from The Injury Fame. Then l reluctantly retreated to what more than once misswobble suggested in order to break my stupidly stubborn attitude ("run or nothing, walking is treason") given that the 'ominous beep' forced me to take walking breaks in order to continue. However, Jeff Galloway formula didn't quite work out with me based on his 'magic mile' formula. It bored me stiff and it killed my rhythm. In desperation l then tried to walk for 30 seconds after every kilometre (having run 15km first) and powered by my new find, Tailwind drinks, l covered 28km, then 32km with literary no issues whatsoever, feeling absolutely fine and fatigue free. l figured 15km would be a good distance to start walk/run as it's between feeling 'fresh' and getting 'troubled'. Wild guess in fairness but wild guesses took me to my middle age with not much turbulence, so why going wild with mad ideas?
The greatest part was trying my brand new route to accommodate all that mileage so l added on some some extra bits to my existing famous rock'n'roll paths of London and ran past 25 Brook Street in Mayfair where both Hendrix and Handel resided, Manchester Square corner where EMI building once stood and the Beatles were photographed on its balcony (and so were the Sex Pistols). For some funny reason l always remember Irish-John when The Pistols are the theme. Johnny Rotten is Irish after all so there! Around the corner was less rock but equally roll 221 Baker Street where the insane queue led to its museum door where Sherlock Holmes 'was' the famous resident and then The Regent's Park, famous hunting ground of our one and only, the inimitable Hidden
I now have a few weeks of easier work and consolidation and then l will try to cover the big one, if l can. I've got more music landmarks to run past, more of it once it's done. Life, as always, is interfering with petty delays but I'll give it my best shot. Patience, as always, remains the key!
Written by
mrrun
Ultramarathon
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Wow great job mrrun! I'm also a fan of Tailwind; I can actually stomach it unlike a lot of the gels and I don't have to worry about did I or didn't I drink enough water with it to avoid gi distress.
Sounds like you have found quite an interesting route to run. Good luck on the big day! Can't wait to read about it!
Tailwind saved my mission. the recovery was seamless, no stiffness at all this morning, whatever they put in (or didn't), works great. It felt odd to gulp it in front of Jimi Hendrix's apartment, god know what the great man would say about that....
Perhaps the difference might have been that the TAILWIND has electrolytes in it - whereas some of the so-called "sports drinks" and energy bars dont ?? But anyway, you seem to have put your bogeyman back into his hole and your marathon is looking good. Personally, I have had the same level of exhaustion at the end of my 24,26,28,30 and 32K longruns - but for all of them I didn't start to really feel it until about 2 k before the end of them. That is what the longruns are for - to push the "wall" further and further away from the start line.
Electrolytes were the factor that helped me. The sugary flavour and content of 'sports drinks' didn't do much apart from making me feel a bit ill. Energy bars as well. And yes, it's all about barriers - physical as well as mental, although how much more mental can l be.....
Like so much in life, it's finding what works for you.
I'm the same with the "run or done" attitude and the Jeffing idea really doesn't appeal, but most of my longer runs are trail based so stopping for a pic or slowing to check the map does actually help to break the flow enough to be useful I think.
I've not tried Tailwind but heard it mentioned quite a bit now. I use SIS Go; carb and electrolyte drink. I also advocate their recovery drink after long runs to reduce any stiffness or discomfort the day after.
Tailwind is well worth a go. It’s hard to believe their claim that you don’t need anything else but I’ve found it to be true. They have rather nice (to me anyway) recovery sachets.
Sounds fantastic - such a great thing to find what works. I've had some Tailwind in the cupboard for months and months and only just tried it. I'm really impressed with it too - it seems to do everything you want it to, but quietly, with no grand announcement to the stomach or tastebuds. I had to give in to walking breaks much sooner than you, but so long as I have a specific plan before I set out, and don't detract from it, it no longer feels like cheating - it's simply an efficient and strategic approach. I now plan mine according to where the water stations are and allow myself to walk & drink; everything else is running. Again, it's finding what works isn't it. You're covering an amazing weekly distance and getting very close to the magic distance now - good luck!
Thank you! It's early days but if it does what it did for the past two long runs, then it's a winner, I'm putting them on my X-mas card list. In terms of the knee signal l also need to be more disciplined and slow down when l have to slow down. Yesterday was breezy, cool and showery (perfect) but up until the 9th km l was going close to 5min per km which was way too fast. I managed to slow it down by over a minute although it felt too slow at times. I suppose once this is all done & dusted, the experience will come up with different game plans and I will adjust accordingly.
Great report there! Ooooh I like the sound of your route! If you have something interesting to divert you from your running thoughts then all to the good.
Have you got an event lined up, or are you just determined to run a marathon in any case?
Good luck with your remaining training runs. I took Tailwind in my bottle today but I managed to misplace it before the race started. Tsk!
I will just run it the way l always run anything, on my own, sightseeing and with some good music. Anything else would annoy me and to my knowledge no race is covering music sites anyway. Next time l will try to incorporate 5 more sites, each famous, each linked with some of the greatest bands and it makes things much easier when you know that 'only' three kilometres down the road there's a studio that both the Stones AND Floyd used during the same period. You forget about fatigue in an instant.
My wife, initially sceptical about Tailwind is now eating into my supplies for her own thing. I might have to start hiding it.
came across a guided Beatles tour, hehe. Imagine that? "Come on guys, keep the tempo, hang in there, just 7km until Abbey Road crossing, you can do it, l know it's bucketing down with rain but you can do this"!!!
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Patience, as always, remains the key!
That is what the longruns are for - to push the "wall" further and further away from the start line. 
HU Spring 2023 10K - more hills, more forest, more birdsong
Last run before marathon
