BMF member David Hellard is a long distance running specialist. He is a championship marathon runner and has run the London Marathon 10 times.
Here, he lists his top 16 tips to guarantee you a perfect race:Less than a week to go before one of the greatest races on earth – the London marathon, so firstly well done. Completing the training is far harder than the race, so now is the time to relax and get ready for what will hopefully be one of the most fulfilling races you will ever run. The marathon is such a challenging distance because it’s very hard to run your perfect race. There are a lot of articles out there about running your first marathon that tell you the basics and a lot of your race is already determined by now, it’s too late to train and you shouldn’t change your kit or your race nutrition plan, but here are sixteen lesser known tips that you can still apply to ensure you run your perfect marathon:
Before the marathon
1) Go to the expo early. It’s tempting to go on the Saturday, but if you can, go on the Thursday or Friday evening. There’s a lot to see and you will be flooded with new products and ideas, as well as spending quite a few hours walking the floor, sometimes leaving you slightly tired or with little time to properly prepare. Enjoy it, get it out of the way then save Saturday for relaxing, knowing everything is ready
2) Carb load like a sumo. We all know to eat a bowl of pasta the night before, but depending on the size of the bowl that may only contain around 70 grams of carbs. You need between 7-10grams of carbs per kilo you weigh the day before a marathon. That’s a huge amount (500 grams of carbs for me) so you will have to actively plan what to eat and graze throughout the day. You can include up to 120 grams of drinks such as Lucozade, and other great sources include bagels, malt loaf, pretzels, sweets and low fat toffee popcorn. For once the quality of the carbs is not quite as important as the quantity. Also make sure you are regularly drinking. You will feel slightly boated in the morning, but don’t worry that’s usual.
3) Think carefully about whether you write your name on your top. Everyone assumes that it will be hugely motivating to have your name shouted, but if you’re tired it can sometimes have the opposite effect. If everyone is shouting out your name it makes it harder to know when friends and family are cheering you on, something that definitely helps. Ask them to shout out a nickname, something personal to you or something that will make you smile, it will give you a huge boost.
Race Day
4) Settle down. Take a couple of tablets of Imodium in the morning. It has no impact on performance, no side effects in the race and ensures you’re not going to be ‘that guy’ we’ve all heard rumours of, who’s given themselves a self-spray tan mid-race.
5) Top up your carbs. You can have up to 150 grams of carbs for breakfast, again, quite a lot. That’s a bowl of porridge and 2 slices of toast or two bagels. Make sure you’ve eaten 2 hours before the race starts and take a banana to slowly munch on 90 minutes to 30 minutes before the race.
6) Be a bag lady. It can get cold before the start of the marathon and you may be standing around for a while after you’ve dropped off your bag, so take a black bin liner, you can pop your head and arms through, to keep you warm. Just before the start, rip if off like Hulk Hogan and feel like the powerhouse you are!
7) Cross your legs. If you need the toilet try and hold on. The closer you are to the train station, the busier the toilets. There are plenty of toilets right by the starts and the queues are smaller.
8) Start in the right pen. If you’ve been injured, have undertrained or somehow find yourself in a quicker pen than your target time, change pen or wait on the side. You will cross the start line earlier in the early pen, but you’re setting yourself up for a terrible race. It will be very hard not to start too quickly and even if you don’t you will then spend the rest of the race being overtaken, which is very tough mentally when you’re tired. Get in the right pen and start at the right pace.
9) Don’t worry about hydration. Race performance is only effected once you lose over 2% of your body weight in sweat. That’s a lot. Make sure you’re well hydrated the day before and take a 500ml bottle to sip on before the start. There’s water every mile, Lucozade every 5, so there’s no need to gulp back huge amounts, you can sip to prevent thirst, even on a moderately hot day. Lots of people panic at water stations, barging for the first few bottles. Relax, pick a bottle up from the end of the tables or ask people around you for some of theirs. I like to run with a Lucozade, slowly drinking it as I go.
10) Save your music. Music can be a huge help and motivator, so save it. The start of the marathon is exciting, the first miles easy, so relax, enjoy it and if you start to tire and need a lift, then you can bring out ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and get a real lift. I recently ran the Marathon des Sables and waited 102 miles before bringing out the big guns, only then did I need saving and the Foo Fighters never let you down. If you’re going to listen to music earlier, make sure the music has a slow tempo, so you don’t start too quickly and can then turn on your power songs when you need them.
11) Pace like a pro. Depending on which start you run from, it can take from between 30 seconds to 15 minutes to cross the start line. This is when you start your watch. The first few miles will be crowded and a little bit frantic, so it’s unlikely you will be able to run your target pace. Don’t worry, this is normal and as with all hiccups that may occur, whether you need the toilet or have to tie a shoe lace, don’t panic - you have 26.2 miles to make up the time, so relax. There are two downhills during 1-3 miles, that will increase your pace, so that by the time you make a left hand turn at the Woolwich Ferry Roundabout 3.2 miles in, you will be on race pace. Whatever happens don’t start too quickly. You’re rested and excited, it will feel easy, so hold back and if you still feel great after 20 miles, that’s when you can increase the speed, never before. There are official pacers for every 15 minute period from 3 hours through to walking (I’m green start 3.15). It’s useful to follow a pacer, they do a lot of the work for you, so you can concentrate on your stride and fuelling, but be aware that they are fallible, so pay attention and be prepared to break from the group if you need to. It’s tempting to natter the whole way around, but this will tire you unnoticeably until late into the race, so be friendly, but it’s not the time to make life-long friends. You won’t be able to run perfectly even miles, there are some bottlenecks during the first half and some double backs and tight turns in canary wharf. As before, don’t panic and slowly make up the time if needed. Negative splits are the dream, but very hard to do unless you’re an experienced runner. I would always recommend pacing 2 seconds or so faster than your target pace, to give you a little bit of leigh weigh in the second half and remember you’re running 26.2 miles of the course, not just according to your watch. You are likely to run 26.4 or so in reality, so get a pacing band at the expo and check your pace as you pass each mile mark. If you don’t have a band, use a stop watch and take a split every mile, noting how many seconds up or down you on your target pace for that mile, adding or subtracting from your total as you go.
12) In case of emergencies – caffeine pocket rocket. I would never recommend changing your nutritional race strategy the week of the marathon, but it’s always nice to have a get out of jail free card. Caffeine is the only legal performance enhancing drug, but if you haven’t practiced with it, don’t start now unless you start blowing out. Cut down on your caffeine this week and cut out 5-6 Proplus tablets to carry. If you start to fade, pop 2-3 and hang on in there, with 2 more should you need after another half hour or so. Caffeine increases alertness, reduces pain and releases fat cells into your blood to boost energy. It will take a few minutes to kick in and will peak after 25-45 minutes and last for up to 3 hours. Be warned though that the impact varies dramatic dependent on your tolerance of caffeine and you should only use if absolutely necessary if you have not experimented with it already.
13) Find a fittie. Hopefully you’ll be flying and set for a brilliant finish time and what better way to commemorate than with some photos to put up on the wall or your tinder profile, but beware! You only look as good as the company you keep. Wave to the camera next to a granny with a zimmer frame or someone with a fridge on their back and they’re going to swipe left. Instead find yourself a fittie and look like the sporting hero that you are.
Post-race
14) Become a Quack. Once you’ve picked up your bag you have the impossible task of trying to find Wally in a mass full of Waldos. The meeting points are based on the first letter of your surname, so instead of heading to the M meeting point with 2,000 other people, become a Quack or a Zoltan and make it easier to find your friends and family. Exit out of Trafalgar square or north to Piccadilly, but never south to Victoria, you’ll have to cross the marathon route and the queues can take up to an hour. Instead walk to Green Park or Piccadilly Circus and take the tube.
15) Claim your glory and your burpees! Wear your medal to your next BMF class, you’ve worked incredibly hard for your medal, so go get your glory. And what’s that? Burpees for your instructor? For each medal in a BMF class the instructor has to do 26.2 burpees. They may say that I’ve made this rule up, but it’s in writing, look, just there and that means it’s now a BMF tradition.
16) Tell me how you’ve got on. I’d love to hear how you get on, so if you have any questions or any stories you’d like to share, please get in touch through the British Military Fitness Facebook page. Good luck. I’ll see you on the start line, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it. You’ve done the hard work, now it’s time to get your medal!
