Sport Today

: Yes you will.  It will be a valuable experience for future
: marathons.  It occurs about 20 miles or three hours into
: the marathon.  It is not a gradual decline in energy-
: more like someone ran over you with a car or sucked out all
: your energy.  Each step will feel like you are lifting

hmmm.  i've had a couple of over-three-hours training runs and felt
fine -- tired, obviously, but nothing drastic.  i wonder if the
combination of running as slow as I do and having some fruit juice
along the way is preventing it?  

of course, in another month i'll get to find out 'for real' whether
i hit the wall or not.  :)

cindy

So much depends on your pace. If you were to adopt a conservative walk/run
pace you may not experience the smack of the wall but more of a gradual
slowing down.

There is just much glycogen in your liver and muscles. Through training
techniques you improve your ability to conserve this valuable asset. With less
training, as rightfully suggested for the first marathon to avoid injury,  your
efficiency will be less than optimal.

Find a very reasonable pace and walk through every water stop
to insure both proper hydration  and the walk break.

Good luck!!!!
--
These Opinions Are Mine!

I think a better statement would be for you these are true.  I will be
running my first marathon-MCM soon enough. I have trained using Gatorade and
Ultra Fuel.  Granted I have saved my actual marathon distance for the race,
but I have run 20+ miles in training and used these products as well as
PowerBar's Gu and had no side effects.  Maybe I am not drinking enough, but
I do consume 64 ozs a day.  That seems alot to me.  I do hydrate with water
as well and stay away from "junk" food, but I think everyone's body is
different.  I think we have to be careful from "scaring" too many new
runners into believing everything we say here is true for everyone.

I will let you know more after I have run the marathon, but I doubt I will
encounter any MAJOR surprises like I can run in training, but not in the
event.  That is as long as I stick to my training routine and not jump the
gun in speed.

Just my opinion.
Brian

Quite likely.

We tend to think of the wall as inevitable - and if your pace is hard enough
during a marathon, it's probable. BUT...

How do you think folks in an Ironman or an Ultra avoid or keep it at bay longer?
The top Pros at IM still have to go 8+ hours. Boppers like me have to be out
there twice that long.

Pace and fueling is how. You eat/drink constantly and keep your pace at a level
that your body can replace some of the glycogen it's using. If the race is long
enough you inevitably fall behind - you just can't absorb THAT many calories,
but you prolong the period until you run out - and then keep going.

That's the ugly part - I came off the bike at Canada already having hit the wall
because my stomach shut down because of salt loss. And I still had to get thru
the marathon.  <Which is why I had a 5:55 split.> The trick was to get
electrolytes into the stomach to get it working, keep fueling, and jog/walk
until I felt better as I caught back up on glycogen.

More importantly, I was mentally prepared to accept a 6 hour ordeal in order to
finish. It wasn't a defeat, just an obstacle to finishing. But when you're
determined to run a regular marathon in 3:30 and hit the wall and see that
turning into 4+, it's much harder to keep positive about it.

But again, if you keep your pace down, as all first-timers are wise to do - and
you hit the gels, drinks, and power bars  early in the race, you don't HAVE to
hit the wall.

And we expect to hear all about it...

Mike Tennent
"TriBop"
'98 Ironman Canada, 16:17:03