whether it be the human body or the pyramids of Egypt. We all ultimately end up as a few molecules of gas, water, and dust. No amount of training can avoid the inevitability of increasing marathon times.

According to my own aging experience, a middle-aged athlete is barely out of athletic diapers and will not have experienced any dramatic slowdown. This is perhaps the reason that some middle-aged males are not interested in the concept of performance and are even hostile to its introduction. They are too young to understand.

Iran my first marathon a few weeks short of my 55th birthday in 1979. Ten years later, after | had completed 31 more marathons, my marathon time had increased only from 3:35:10 to 3:35:57—or by an average of 4.7 seconds per year by age 65 to 66.

Over the next six years, I ran eight more marathons. My time increased from 3:35:57 to 4:08:05, or by 32 minutes, 8 seconds—that is, 5 minutes, 13 seconds per year until age 71. I have now completed a total of 48 marathons. I have racewalked eight in the last seven years, over which my walk times increased from 5:52:13 to 6:24:00, or by 31 minutes, 47 seconds—that is, 4 minutes, 45 seconds per year to age 78.

In my first 10 years of marathon running, my performance increased because of improved fitness, from 67.16 percent at age 54.79 years to 74.18 percent at age 65.66. This indicated I had beaten the clock. Within the same 10-year period, I achieved a PB time, scoring 77.62 percent at age 56.76 and a PB run performance of 78.05 percent at age 60.37. I was, at that stage, certainly clobbering the clock.

After 25 years of running and walking, I am delighted to still be beating the clock (age-graded time) twice at the 2002 Honolulu Marathon, with a walk time of 6:24:00, and by scoring an age performance of 71.34 percent. Here is why I claim I have beaten the clock twice in one event. My first marathon score in 1979 was 67.16 percent in a time of 3:35:10, but if I had scored 71.34 percent that day I would have finished in 3:22:33. I therefore beat my 1979 clock by 12:37. At Honolulu in 2001, I finished in 6:21:05, scoring 70.85 percent, but in 2002 I was 2:55 slower in 6:24. Because my run time is relative to exact age, the slower time yielded 71.34 percent. Had I scored 71.34 percent in 2001, I would have finished in a time of 6:18:26, hence I had beaten my 2001 clock by 2:39 in spite of my slower time because I had aged another year.

It is silly to object to recording performance results in road events. In later life, particularly after about age 65 years, an understanding of performance measurement will provide considerable interest, motivation, and incentive to continue active exercise for maintaining fitness standards. All you need to enjoy the accomplishment is to become statistically addicted. It’s easy. Bi Note: For further information about Perform Version 5.1, contact John Caughley by e-mail at john. caughley@paradise.net.nz or by mail at 5 Glamis Place, Christchurch 8002, New Zealand.

When It’s Time to Bring It All Together, the Pieces Neatly Fall Into Place. Part 3 of 3.

In parts 1 and 2 of this three-part series on optimal marathon training and racing, we have outlined the general framework and building blocks for creating a high probability of marathon success. In this third part, we will look at some additional body-mind zone concepts and nuances as well as a final two- or threeweek tapering period in detail, including a racing approach and strategy and an optimal postmarathon supercompensation cycle.

inding your personal training and racing zone is the foundation of our effective

and fulfilling marathon approach. Being in your personal training and racing zone entails choosing a sustainable training level commitment and a marathon goal pace that are challenging and feel comfortable for you to achieve. The broad concepts that will support such an approach include important details around goal setting, visualization, the tapering process, key final workouts, carboloading, race strategy, and postmarathon recovery.

A GOAL TIME RANGE VERSUS A SPECIFIC TIME GOAL

Along the lines of setting a marathon time goal, it is important to say that a single, specific goal time is not recommended. While you choose a goal pace that you feel confident you can race, your goal time is best set up as a goal range of times so that you do not have the added pressure of feeling you have to hit an exact pace and time for the 26.22-mile distance.

Instead, it is a wise practice to subtract five minutes and add five minutes to the marathon time that your goal pace will yield. For example, a realistic goal pace that yields a 3:42 marathon goal time would be a goal range of 3:37 to 3:47 when you add and subtract five minutes from the single goal time. I see the fast

end of the time range serving the purpose of giving you a time you can run at your very best. The slow end is something you will still feel pleased to achieve if you do not run your very best race. Psychologically, this gives you a reasonable margin for error while reducing unnecessary mental-emotional pressure.

A simple and effective self-test is to be able to say, “I think I can run this pace in the marathon.” This statement (“I think I can . . .”) correlates with a 70 percent probability of goal achievement before you even start. Also, by widening your target time range, your probability of success increases even more. Widening your specific goal time into a goal time range is the difference between going to a standard basketball foul line and shooting a free throw at the standard-size basketball hoop (which is 10 feet high) versus going to the free throw line and tossing the ball into an 8-foot-around baby swimming pool at ground level from the same distance. Even the least physically gifted among us can throw a ball into an 8-foot baby pool at ground level from a few feet away. Consider the psychological difference you experience when faced with these vastly different tasks. In a like manner, employing a marathon time goal range (versus a single, specific goal time) will allow you to feel much greater psycho-emotional and physical ease in achieving your goal—and therefore will keep you in your optimal zone and dramatically increase your probability of success.

The difference in your anxiety level alone is highly significant! And obviously the physical task is a night-and-day difference in difficulty (or ease). Consider the difference in this analogy and in your mind-set as you visualize and train for your target marathon. Basically, you do not want to feel you have to hit a bull’s-eye with a dart—you just need to hit the board. This simple approach keeps you in your zone, never feeling that you have to force your training or getting discouraged if you need to skip a workout for some reason. You can go with the flow, knowing that when you are standing at the start, you will have to do only what you have consistently done all along in training.

Our training approach is ultimately designed by taking human psychology into account as a fundamental concept in increasing your probability of success. If the mind has doubts, funny things happen in training in the form of what I call self-sabotage or subconscious resistance. These frequently observed resistances appear seemingly random and show up as sudden illnesses, injuries, frustration, and other unlucky catastrophes. This is the physical body mirroring back to you the internalized pressures or doubts that you have saddled yourself with.

MENTAL IMAGERY CREATES YOUR SELF-IMAGE AND YOUR RESULTS

By visualizing yourself arriving at the start line with a sense of calm and positive expectation and then starting out slowly and comfortably as you gradually

allow your stride to unfold into your goal-pace rhythm or marathon racing zone with no rush, you will further enhance your probability of success. Your thought processes, silent conversations, and racing self-images (mental pictures of you racing relaxed and successfully) are the ultimate determining factors in your success. The physical training is designed to provide the assurances, reassurances, and confidence boosters of what you can do on race day. Each small success step in training is a physical-mental reinforcement of you moving toward the image you have of yourself.

As many of you know, the body-mind experiences a successful mental image or positive visualization as nearly identical to the actual physical experience, so a weekly visualization process is a very underestimated and important key to keeping you calm and aligned with your desire (that is, your goal) and in a state of ease and allowing. The alternative is having subconscious self-doubts creep in that set up resistances that you are not fully aware of and that may be preventing you on some level from your desire. In other words, it is extremely important to see yourself doing something many times beforehand. Seeing yourself perform in your mind’s eye changes your previous self-image. Seeing yourself doing something is what actually creates a new, more desirable self-image.

Again, if you have not taken the time to transform your self-image as a runner, seemingly random events will pop up that will simply re-create your unchanged or current self-image. If you take this part of the process lightly, you may have sudden illnesses and unexplainable injuries or physical ailments (often interpreted by the ignorant as bad luck) appear during your taper period that simply mirror to you what your prevailing self-image actually is. All of your training will be for naught unless, of course, you learn this most basic lesson of raising the internal bar for yourself in getting more out of your virtually unlimited potential.

If you have not taken the time to see yourself performing the way you desire, then the taper period will afford you some extra time to do the necessary imagery or visualization process on a daily or even semidaily basis. This takes only five to 10 minutes of uninterrupted time and can be the difference between self-sabotage and/or mental-emotional resistance disguised as unexplainable coincidence or random bad luck. Nothing is a better investment of your time than this practice, and nothing is more responsible for either success or failure than your operative self-image.

Your current or operative self-image is a mirror of your cumulative or predominant thought patterns, silent conversations, and mental pictures of yourself. Performance plateaus or declines are as much the result of fixed self-images cemented over time as they are the product of the physical training performed outside of the parameters of your personal training and racing zone. There is no body or mind; there is only a body-mind. Work against its governing laws and you will be taking a rather large risk with what you want to achieve.

Irecommend that you do not leave this process to chance. Our minds are selfimage reproducing mechanisms, and people who understand this are the master creators of their results and reality in sport and life that they choose to create. There may not be anything more important than improving your running performance by improving the self-image you have as a runner through the practice of positive self-imagery and visualization.

THE TAPER AND PEAKING FOR YOUR TARGET RACE

I witness more uncertainty and get more questions about how to taper properly for a marathon than just about any other important topic. First, tapering is the process of reducing training stress in order to help the body-mind be prepared and ready for a supreme or peak effort on race day.

Let me start by saying that it is my experience that a poorly done taper can result in the same problems that are produced from an entire ill-advised marathon training cycle. In addition, a well-done taper can translate into a huge jump in performance capacity on race day. Unfortunately, tapering and peaking remain a mystery to many excellent runners and otherwise good coaches as well. In fact, coaches vary widely in their tapering and peaking theories and methods, thereby adding to the confusion around this area.

With that said, there are at least five simple and broad time-proven concepts that I have found that work wonderfully for marathoners during the tapering/peaking process. These concepts are (1) reducing overall physical-mental-emotional stress (including training volume and high-intensity training); (2) maintaining a moderate level of relevant race-specific training quality; (3) increasing complex carbohydrate intake; (4) using the aforementioned visualization practices; and (5) not making any sudden or dramatic changes in anything you do in training or in your general health or lifestyle.

First of all, a tapering cycle is best begun two to three weeks before your target marathon. The length of the taper period is strictly an individual choice, although Ihave found that a three-week taper works best for most runners, including elite marathoners. This is because it can take as much as three full weeks for the body to assimilate changes in training, so erring on the side of a longer taper period simply carries significantly less risk.

Most runners fear losing their fitness when training is reduced, which is the biggest mental obstacle you will need to overcome, as it is purely insecurity. A detraining effect (or loss of fitness) does not occur with reduced volume for at least four to six weeks, and increased race fitness can be realized with reduced volume as long as relevant race-specific quality is maintained. Also, no cramming is necessary if you give yourself enough time (three full weeks versus only two weeks) and optimal spacing so that you can incorporate a variety of nonstressful, sharpening/fine-tuning training sessions.

Reducing overall stress primarily involves getting your life as generally stress free as possible. This means getting into a routine of good sleep and eating habits—as well as reducing or eliminating work, family, or mental stress so that it will not have the potential to harm you on race day. This includes getting all of your race-day logistics fully in order as early as possible. Also, training volume (also known as weekly mileage) can be reduced by roughly 15 to 30 percent per week with tremendous gains in energy level and body-mind race readiness. The end result is that in the final week before the marathon, your training volume might be 40 to 60 percent less than in the six-week average leading up to the three-week taper period.

The percentage of suggested weekly mileage/training volume reduction is dependent on mileage levels prior to the taper. In most cases, I prefer a gradual rather than a sudden reduction in training load (in both quantity and quality). This preference ties into my entire approach of balance and homeostasis necessary for adaptation and finding your ideal training and racing zone. Sudden changes confuse us and take our bodies out of their well-earned homeostasis or state of balance and being in the zone. Table | gives a general guideline for reducing training.

KEY QUALITY SESSIONS DURING THE TAPER

While most runners wisely cut their weekly training volume considerably in the final two to three weeks before their marathon, many more are confused about what key workouts to perform for best results. Here, it is very important to remember several things. First, 95 percent of the training is already done. Second, it takes about three weeks to truly assimilate the physiological benefits of most types of training. Third, attempting to cram in hard workouts can only hurt you.

TABLE 1 General Tapering Guidelines for a Peak Marathon Performance

Sequence of weekly mileage reduction leading up to your marathon race

Average weekly Miles per week Mileage last 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 6 weeks

3 weeks to go* 30 32 35 40 40 44 46 48 50 55 2weekstogo* 25 28 30 32 32 38 40 40 42 44 Final week**A 20 20 22 24 2 28 30 30 33 33

*Full week’s mileage. **Does not include mileage from the marathon itself.

Final quality session is moderate intensity only performed 5-6 days before the race; the final 4-5 days are very light with no quality workouts performed at all.

About the only things you can do in the final three weeks before the marathon are to make sure you rest your body and do some final fine-tuning of your nervous system while practicing more-moderate amounts of goal-pace running. Therefore, the final three weeks might include a significant reduction in the number of miles run each day while getting in frequent (almost every other day) but moderate training sessions in small doses that do not push the envelope or stress your body.

This peaking taper allows you to (1) fine-tune your sense of pace and comfort level with short goal-pace runs; (2) safely improve your aerobic-anaerobic threshold with short, moderate-paced tempo runs and/or controlled cruise-rep sessions, which are a safe way to make marathon pace feel easier; (3) keep your nervous system responsive with quick, relaxed strides at the end of most quality sessions; (4) stay in touch with the increasing ease of goal-pace running as the legs are becoming increasingly fresher and more powerful; and (5) build up your psycho-emotional and physical reserves to be channeled into your best possible performance on race day.

The key to the entire taper period is to leave each workout with plenty of energy. Whereas hill sessions, long runs, and longer goal pace runs will often deplete your energy reserves to some degree, any workout during this critical period will leave you fresh and feeling that you still have a full tank of gas. This is what you want. The key is to exercise restraint in keeping all intensity at a moderate level and to be conservative in the amount of any quality work that you do perform during this period.

HYBRID MARATHON SESSIONS DURING THE TAPER PERIOD

The last long run or challenging goal-pace run is best performed 20 to 28 days before your marathon. After that last hard effort, you can alternate moderate tempo runs or cruise sessions with short goal-pace practice runs every other day or every third day, with relatively short aerobic runs of 30 to 60 minutes on the easy recovery days in between. The key is to take as many easy days (typically either one or two days) between these moderate-intensity marathon-specific training sessions as is needed to keep an increasing feeling of freshness and sharpness.

Similarly, special hybrid sessions with a little more volume (eight to 12 miles of total running), which utilize two to four different types of running speeds within one workout, can be performed every third day with good results. An example of a marathon hybrid session might include a mile warm-up jog, followed by three to five miles of your marathon goal-pace cutdown; followed by two to four miles of cruise repeats; then followed by about a mile that includes four to six strides of about 200 meters (erring on the side of full recovery between each segment or portion of the workout before performing a gentle one-mile cool-down jog).

This is plenty of variety and stimulus without too much stress on the body. This type of hybrid workout totals eight to 12 miles, depending on how many cutdown miles or cruise miles you choose to perform.

Obviously, it would vary by your training level so that a level 1 runner might tun an eight- to nine-mile hybrid session; a level 2 runner about nine to 10 miles; a level 3 runner about 10 to 11 miles; and a level 4 runner might log the higher end, or about 11 to 12 miles total in this particular hybrid workout example. Level 4 runners might even add two or three 800- to 1,200-meter repeats at 5K speed after the cruise-repeat portion of the workout (although not within 10 days of your marathon).

Essentially, the goals of the workout are to stay in touch with cutdown pace (and especially with how easy it feels during the taper); to perform some light to moderate tempo running that is not stressful but that further enhances ease at marathon pace; and to perform some strides to keep the nervous system attuned and to maintain the leg power and efficiency you gained in previous phases.

These sessions tend to be confidence boosters that leave runners fresh and excited. The only danger is when insecure runners feel the need to cram too much work (or harder intensities) into these sessions, leaving them slightly more drained than is desirable and making them especially vulnerable to innocently leaving their best effort in a workout before race day. Again, we are not intending to make a huge gain in fitness in the final three weeks. Instead, we are looking to freshen your legs and build a nice energy reserve heading into the race. These hybrid sessions err on the side of moderate intensity at most and will represent about 40 to 65 percent of the total volume (miles) of a key quality workout typically performed in the earlier training phases. Remember, you will risk gaining any benefit at all during this critical taper period if you attempt to cram in higher intensity or more miles into any workout in the final three weeks before your target marathon.

If you typically seem to recover more slowly from a workout than others (more than 48 hours), then consider taking 72 hours between key quality sessions during the taper, or simply reduce the intensity or volume of these workouts. In this way, a 10-mile workout might become only eight miles, or you might leave out the cruise-repeat portion and do only some goal-pace running followed by some strides. You can do cruise repeats or a short tempo run (three to five miles) as a workout in and of itself, separately, making sure to stay well within the pace, effort, and/or heart rate guidelines. Keep in mind that a few miles at goal pace coupled with four to six quick but relaxed strides is usually plenty of fine-tuning without any risk, so add only cruise repeats (or tempo running) if you are confident you can handle them without getting tired.

In addition, simply running a seven- to 10-mile run that starts at your cutdown pace and progresses to tempo pace in the final miles might be the big weekend

workout in the 10 to 21 days before your race. Furthermore, a six- to eight-mile run that starts at cutdown pace for a couple of miles and then alternates a mile at goal pace with a mile at 10 to 20 seconds under goal pace can also be very effective in helping you distinguish between goal pace and faster and in teaching you how to smoothly transition back to your desired pace should an unintended deviation from goal pace occur in the race. It also improves comfort level at your operative goal pace going into the race. Finally, this is also a good way to mimic the effort difference that occurs with expected course elevation changes, as it will simulate the shifts that might happen on your marathon course.

Ihave observed these workouts to build a great deal of confidence that runners can handle pace deviations physically, as well as without any detrimental mental anxiety during the marathon. As your body is getting stronger and faster during the supercompensation effect of the tapering period, these hybrid sessions allow you to see how fit you are becoming as you approach your target marathon. They also keep you closely monitoring the increasing ease of effort that will happen in the marathon because of your rapidly shifting leg freshness and your body’s general energetic responsiveness that will undoubtedly be occurring. By touching up with short goal-pace runs, you will remain aware of the effort it takes to start your marathon and be reminded that the true test on race day does not begin until 16 to 22 miles into the marathon when you will increasingly shift toward calling on your willpower to stay focused so you can maintain (and possibly increase) your pace and/or effort.

Design your own hybrid session to meet your needs or to address an area that you feel might need some improvement. However, be sure to keep the volume and intensity on the conservative side. Remember that cramming in too much work is the biggest mistake most runners make during this short tapering phase before the marathon. Instead, trust that storing up your body’s adaptive reserve potential is what is most important, and choose to have the courage and confidence to save your energy for putting yourself in your own optimal body-mind racing zone on the morning of the marathon.

THE FINAL FIVE DAYS

A well-done taper will boost your power capacity by 10 percent and your endurance potential by about 15 percent, often providing you with a synergy that catapults your overall performance potential by 30 to 35 percent by race day. Keep in mind that if you have performed a 15- to 18-mile goal-pace run three to four weeks before your race, that 30 to 35 percent boost can be translated into a 26-mile run (or race) at goal pace. In other words, the taper, performed correctly, will allow you to easily bridge the gap between your longest goal-pace run and the full marathon distance. Trust this. It is how the body-mind responds.

Nevertheless, it is extra important to discontinue quality work in the final four to six days before the race. There is simply no need for it. It is time to make your body aware that a big mental and physical effort is about to take place, and that resting thoroughly is the key ingredient for that to take place. Table 2 lists a dozen sample five-day premarathon taper sequences to review. As with anything Irecommend, these are only guidelines that obviously vary by your training level and personal preferences. Choose one that feels right, or design your own based on what you know about yourself as a runner. The possible permutations are virtually endless. The only guideline is to lean toward making sure your legs are fresh and your body’s energy stores high without leaving you completely bouncing off the walls in the days before the marathon. Find the balance that you feel will work for you. This, too, is a question of what will get you in your personal zone by race day. Do not take big risks, as any final four- to six-day taper will leave you fairly fresh and raring to go. You want peace of mind and a rested body.

Obviously, many runners will choose to travel by airplane or by car to their chosen marathon. This can create some general stiffness that you will want to alleviate. After you have been sitting on a plane or in a car, some movement and stretching will help you feel normal again. Ideally, runners will arrive two nights before the race, but this is often not possible. If your travel plans have you pinched for time, you may want to take off (and walk) two days before the race and then

TABLE 2 Sample Five-Day Final Taper Sequences

Day 5 Day 4 Day 3 Day 2 Day 1 40 easy 30 easy 15 jog 15 jog off—short walk 40 easy 30 easy 15 jog off—short walk 15 jog 45 easy 30 easy 30 easy 15 jog off—short walk 45 easy 40 easy 35 easy 30 easy 15 jog 45 easy 40 easy 35 easy 30 easy off—short walk 45 easy 35 easy 35 easy off—short walk 15 jog 50 easy 40 easy 30 easy 15 jog off—short walk 60 easy 45 easy 30 easy off—short walk 15 jog 60 easy 45 easy 30 easy 15 jog 15 jog 60 easy 45 easy 30 easy off—short walk 15 jog 60 easy 45 easy 30 easy 30 easy 15 jog 60 easy 50 easy 30 easy 20 easy off—short walk

do a short 15-minute jog the day before, followed by some gentle stretching or yoga. I have found this works just as well as a day off (with a short walk) the day before the marathon. Again, let your travel plans and personal preferences dictate what feels right to you. Finally, if you are forced to be on your feet at an expo in the day or two days before the race, make sure to elevate your legs and feet when you return to wherever you are staying. This helps circulate the blood that pools in your legs while standing for a while.

CARBOLOADING

Carboloading, the well-known name for the process of maximizing your muscle glycogen stores before a marathon, is often misconstrued as much as the tapering/peaking process that is so critical to excellent marathon performances. There are many theories, and yet the best advice is to keep it as simple as possible.

First, a depletion cycle where carbohydrates are avoided for several days is not only unnecessary but is not beneficial and can be risky. Many runners might swear by it, but that does not mean that they are more effective with it. There is simply no need for this part of carboloading.

Second, it is also not necessary to stuff yourself with all the carbohydrates that your body can hold. You simply need to keep eating as you normally do while increasing complex carbohydrate intake by about 20 to 30 percent in the five days before the race to maximize muscle glycogen stores sufficient to meet the energy needs of the marathon. The best sources of complex carbohydrates can be derived from sprouted grain breads (in the frozen food section), fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, whole pastas, and brown rice, or any combination of these. In fact, as long as you are eating a fairly high-carbohydrate diet already, simply adding four to six slices of toasted, sprouted grain bread as snacks each day with your favorite spread (such as fruit preserves, avocado, raw almond butter, jelly, or butter) will boost glycogen stores significantly.

Obviously, a dinner each night that includes a medium-sized portion of brown rice or a high-quality, whole-grain pasta with the meal will also help. Stuffing yourself the day or two before is not the way to go. It only creates potential gastrointestinal distress, puts the body in a mild state of shock, and risks optimal nutritional absorption and assimilation. Also, during this five-day period, make sure your fluid and electrolyte intake remains high without overdoing it.

PRERACE NUTRITION, RITUAL, AND MENTAL REVIEW

The morning of the race, it is best to eat what has consistently been the most effective and risk-free prerace meal for you during your morning goal-pace runs. Typically, it is something that is easily digestible and that will boost your blood

sugar in some measurable way. Oatmeal with bananas or several slices of toast or waffles with maple syrup seem to work if you are accustomed to them.

You will want to get up early, a minimum of three hours before race time so your body has time to begin functioning properly. Plan on getting to the race start about an hour before you will begin. Jog five minutes lightly and stretch while reviewing the race strategy that you have practiced many times in training in your goal-pace runs.

Breaking the race into distinct segments makes it easier mentally. Many runners break it into two half-marathons, but breaking it into smaller segments makes it more manageable both mentally and physically. Table 3 lists, by miles, possible ways to simplify the mental task of running the marathon.

My personal favorite strategy (number 2) breaks the marathon into four nearly equal segments of six miles, seven miles, seven miles, and six miles, respectively. This also happens to correlate with key mental points in the race such as the basic six-mile cutdown; the halfway point (13 miles); the 20-mile mark, which is seen as the key late-race checkpoint for many runners; and then the final six miles, which might be run in a progressive manner if you have done things right and are feeling great.

However, if you are using a different cutdown such as eight, 10, or 13 miles, you may choose to use strategies three, four, or five, respectively. While I feel four or more checkpoints are best, many first-time marathoners choose to simply divide the race in half in their minds. This might work better for faster marathoners (2:40 or faster), as they do not have to wait long to hit their halfway split. Finally, if your goal time is four hours or more, you may want to get the more-frequent positive reinforcement that comes with breaking the race into five-mile segments. Essentially, the segmentation of the race serves to shorten the race in your own mind and gives you sizeable but frequent checkpoints during the race.

TABLE 3 Sample Marathon Mental Strategies Breaking the whole into more manageable segments

Strategy Segment1 Segment2 Segment 3 Segment 4 Segment5 Segment 6

1 5 mi 5mi(10 mi) 5 mi(15 mi) 5 mi (20 mi) 5 mi (25 mi) 1 mi (26 mi) 2 6 mi 7 mi (13 mi) 7 mi (20 mi) 6 mi (26 mi)

3 8 mi 8 mi (16 mi) 8 mi (24 mi) 2 mi (26 mi)

4 10 mi 10 mi(20 mi) 6 mi (26 mi)

5 13 mi 13 mi (26 mi)

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL APPROACH TO OPTIMUM RACING

The key to excellent marathon performances is staying in the moment mentally and physically. Gradually finding your rhythm through a conservatively run cutdown helps the large majority of runners do this well. Closely monitoring effort and taking mile splits allow most runners who train with me to be very accurate with their pacing plan. In fact, most of the runners I coach will be able to run 80 to 90 percent of their miles on a flat course within five seconds of their goal pace. This is one of the key skills gained from our training and a very valuable asset going into the marathon.

Ifrunners go too fast or too slow on any given mile, they know that it is unwise to attempt to compensate by speeding up or slowing down the following mile. The simple guideline I want them to use is to simply intend to return to goal pace, no matter what the previous mile split was. This goes a long way toward minimizing large pace swings, which are counterproductive to smooth, aerobic running efficiency. In the end, the miles that they run faster than their goal pace typically cancel out the miles that they run slower than their goal pace. Simply intending to hit your goal pace on the next mile, no matter what the previous mile or miles have been, takes the least physical and mental effort and is the most effective from a physiological standpoint. Fortunately, the feedback and the results clearly confirm this as an excellent way to approach pacing.

My experience is that runners who pace themselves well in the first 16 to 20 miles will be able to increase their pace in the final four to 10 miles about 50 percent of the time. Obviously, this negative-split marathon is a wonderful experience!

It is very important to stick with your intended cutdown and race-pace plan, especially when your legs are fresh and feeling sharp in the early going. As any veteran marathoner will tell you, you cannot put time in the bank. The race is long enough that if you run your goal pace evenly, you will most likely maximize your performance by slashing time off your goal pace in a gradually sustained cutdown to the finish.

Many runners are concerned about fuel and hydration for a marathon, which is a topic that deserves discussion here. If you think about it, the marathon challenge is all about managing your energy in workouts, throughout the training period, and in the race itself. How well you manage your energy is a key marathoning skill.

Maintaining your blood sugar levels and keeping your core temperature low are the highest priority when it comes to sustaining your energy throughout a marathon. If you have followed our recommended carboloading approach in the final four to five days before the event, your muscle glycogen levels will be topped off. Therefore, simply keeping your body cool and energized is the main concern.