Monday, April 12, 2010

Marathon tips

I was lucky enough to bump into a seasoned marathon runner yesterday, and he gave me some valuable tips which I thought I would share:

1. Pace is the most important thing and trying to hold back once the adrenaline starts pumping on the day, he told me if by 5 miles you think you are going too slow, then this is a good sign!

2. Make sure you have warm clothes you can throw away for the start (or a bin liner will do to keep warm whilst waiting) and a complete change, including comfy shoes, for the finish.

3. Put a strip of vaseline straight across your eyebrows, this will stop sweat from running into your eyes and stinging! Also, if it is raining, cover your legs in vaseline, this will stop them getting cold from spray off the road.

4. Don't run in fresh shoes, use your old ones (I had bought a fresh pair on advice from the chap in Jog shop, but have now decided to use my old ones, I couldn't bear to be thinking there might be a problem with the new ones - even Alis told me not to!)

5. For the last 3-4 meals, pasta, potatoes, rice etc. Obvious one, but I hadn't thought to do more than 1 pasta meal the day before.

6. Don't stop drinking after 18-20 miles, otherwise you will of course dehydrate.

So those are the tips - most are obvious to seasoned runners, but I was really grateful. See you at the start covered in vaseline then. And good luck!

2 comments:

Tom said...

Good tips Will! Had never thought of Vaseline on the eyebrows. Also use to prevent chafing in the arse crack although it feels WRONG when you apply it!!

Krystian said...

Hi,

My name is Krystian and I really like your travel blog.
I'm interested in publishing an article to your blog, please let me know if you're open to guest blogging via email.

Kind regards,
Krystian