No, really: what do you eat and drink for a Marathon?

What you eat and drink on race day is one of many factors that contributes to success.  While it can be very personalized, there are some tried and true tactics that most people use.

First off, you shouldn't really be thinking about what to eat race day until you have already figured out what works in your training runs.  This will give you a way to plan, feel confident, and get used to eating and drinking on the run.  On training runs longer than 12 or 13 miles you should be drinking along the way (especially in hot weather) and taking gels.  I like drinking an electrolyte drink to refuel, however if I need something to wash down a gel I stick with water.

What to pregame with?

And of course by pregame I mean what you will be eating the week before the race and the morning of.  There are lots of radical, alternative diets catching on now with runners and fitness enthusiasts.  Maybe they will work for you, maybe they won't.  I believe in sticking with a balanced diet, extra heavy on carbohydrates the week before your race.  Carbo-loading doesn't just have to only be the day before a race, better to start a few days out.  In fact, the day before a big race I like to make lunch my biggest meal, and then try to have an early dinner.  Eating too big a dinner too late in the evening can cause your digestive system to, ahem, get a late start on race morning and you don't want to be running to the port-a-pottie during the marathon if you can help it.

The morning of the race you should be sticking with whatever morning routine you have developed throughout your training runs.  For me, that's a bagel with PB&J on it, a small cup of coffee, a glass of water, and a banana if its a longer run or on marathon day.  If I'm going to be waiting around for a few hours before I actually start running I'll have a breakfast sandwich instead of a bagel.  Get something in your system, but be careful not to eat too much.

Just think, for an 8:00am race start, you might be waking up at 4:30am! Thats 3.5 hours of waiting around time, plenty of time to get very hungry.  While you don't want to start a race "full", you don't want to start hungry either.  You should just be sort of "not-hungry" when you start.

You should plan out the minute-by-minute logistics of your race day ahead of time, when to get up, how long it takes to get dressed, when and what to eat, when to leave for your race, what time you expect to get there, what you need to do before you get in the corrals, and finally an estimate of how long you'll be standing around until you hear the gun go off!

What to eat while you run?

There are a lot of Gels on the market now including Gu, PowerGel, Stinger, Hammer Gel, ShotBlocks and Vfuel just to name a few!  While its important to find the brand that sits well with you,  keep in mind the race will probably only offer one of them so you will want to be used to that.  For instance, I think Marine Corps Marathon gives out Gu brand gels, while Boston gives out PowerGel from PowerBar.  Make sure you are used to your race-specific gel if you plan on eating it.

On your long runs (any run more than 18 miles or 3 hours in duration) you may even want to add in some more solid food like chips or pretzels.  Salty foods are usually a good choice as they also help replace sodium loss.  These can be carried with you on race day in a hydration belt, or held by someone you know spectating to hand off as you run by.

A lot of these sports nutrition products come either caffeinated or not caffeinated.  You might want to stick with the non-caffeinated ones unless you really find a benefit to the ones with caffeine.  I'll usually do non-caff for the first couple, and then start taking ones with caffeine for an extra boost later on.  Gu offers an "extreme" version of their gels called "Roctane", which has lots of extra caffeine, sodium, and calories.  These typically are not handed out so I like to carry one with me for when I need a jolt!

How often?

In training runs I get by on less than in the marathon.  I'll still try to drink about every 45 minutes on runs longer than 10 miles, and take a Gu once every hour or so if I'm running more than 13 miles.  How much should you drink? It depends on how thirsty you are!  If its hot out you should be drinking more, like a full cup or two at aid stations.  If its cooler out, as races tend to be, probably a few sips or a half-cup of water should be enough.  You don't want to be drinking so much that you have to stop and use the bathroom, but its better to drink too much than not enough.  Find your sweet spot during your training runs!

On marathon day I like to eat a gel and a few sips of water about 15 minutes before the race starts.  Then I'll take a sip of water or electrolyte drink at every aid station which usually means about every 4-5 miles.  I'll eat a gel around the 9 mile mark, and then eat another every 5 or so miles, always washing it down with water.  I might even eat an extra gel or two between miles 18-23 as these are the crucial, make-it-or-break-it miles.

Conquering Fuji

While on vacation in Japan my friend and I decided to hike Mount Fuji, the highest mountain (actually a strato-volcano) in Japan.  Mount Fuji was simply incredible, and it almost didn't happen.

Mt. Fuji is located about 80 miles outside of Tokyo, or a 2.5 hour bus ride to the 5th Station.  While we knew it wouldn't be impossible (tons of people attempt it) we also knew it wouldn't be easy (not everyone makes it to the top).  And we wanted to enjoy this, not have a "how long 'till I'm done" death-march.

Doesn't look so big from down here!

The Plan

We were going to take a bus from Shinjuku area of Tokyo in the morning, to arrive at the base of Mt. Fuji around noon.  Once we got started it would be a 5-6 hour hike in daylight to the 8th station hut, where we had a reservation that included dinner and breakfast.  Everyone goes to bed at like 8pm there, and gets woken up at 2:30am.  After breakfast we would hike the final bit to the summit in time to catch sunrise at 5:20am.

Mt. Fuji is near the center.  Tokyo is in the far upper right.

The Reality

The plan seemed doomed from the start.  We went out a little too late the night before and slept in that morning.  We then found out that the bus rides needed to be reserved ahead of time.  There was space on a 1:30pm bus so we high-tailed it to the bus station, but ended up missing that bus by about 10 minutes.  So we reserved spots on the 2:30pm bus and waited around for that.  We bought some extra water in nearby stores and I bought a "pocket jacket", kind of a heavy duty poncho since I had forgotten my rain-shell at home.  To make matters worse, we spoke with our Station 8 hut and, convinced that we had no chance to make it in time, they strongly urged us to cancel our reservation to which we obliged.

We were able to store the bulk of our belongings in lockers at the bus station and reduce down to only day packs.  This ended up being a big advantage to hike with maybe 10 pounds of gear total rather than the 30 or 40 pounds that most other people seemed to carry (there was some serious over-packing going on from most hikers).  We boarded our 2:30pm bus and were off to Mt. Fuji!  I took advantage of the 2.5 hour bus ride to catch up on some badly needed sleep.

The Ascent: part 1

We arrived at the 5th station, the main drop off point for people climbing Mt. Fuji.  We new we had to be hasty here.  After a few pictures, filling up our water bottles, and buying some last minute supplies, we embarked on the trail.  It was still light out but the sunlight was fading fast.  The trail was flat and wide for about the first hour, but soon turned steeply uphill and thinned out.  Darkness was starting to set in so we switched on our headlamps.

I had heard its slow going in many sections, but mostly due to crowds getting backed up at certain parts of the trail.  Lucky for us it was no longer the high season and most people that were hiking today had already been through.  We should have been feeling hungry but small snacks and water breaks were enough to sustain us.  The 5th station was around 6,000 ft in elevation, and approaching 8,000 ft a few hours up the air was thinning and we were breathing hard.  This did at least kill most if any of our appetite.

I was worried, we had limited supplies with us, clothing that wouldn't really hold up in a rainstorm or if the temperatures fell dramatically, and [worst of all] we did not yet have a place to stay for the night.  Trudging on past the 6th aid station, snack shacks, and ranger stations, we reached the 7th station.  There was a hut here, the Toyokan Inn, and we agreed that if they had space we would stop.

We were in luck - they had plenty of room so at around 8:30pm the first leg of our journey was over.  Couldn't have been happier to have a place to sleep!

The Stay

The hut was nice and clean, albeit slim on luxeries.  There was a front room for hanging out, presumably used for meals otherwise, where we could go through our things and get organized.  The entire facility looked modern and sturdy.  From the looks of the bunk areas they might have been at 50% capacity.  The bunks were 2 stories, platforms with sleeping bags on thin mattresses.  There was enough space between each one to make it private and extra curtains to keep the light out.  Laying down at 9:00pm I slept like a rock.

We woke at around 2:30am debating if it was worth leaving so early while the sound of pouring rain made use decide wisely to sleep longer.  Around 3:30am we awoke again to an alarm.  After surveying the weather we decided it was time to go.  After packing up and suiting up, a few drinks of water and some snacks, we headed out well before sunrise.

The Ascent: part 2

We set back out at around 4:00am in total darkness but with our headlamps on.  The ground was wet from the aforementioned rain but the skies were clearing up.  We were extremely happy to have slept through the rain, which may not have been an option if we had stayed at the 8th station hut as previously planned!

The hike started out slow, climbing and clamoring over rocks and holding onto guard chains.  Lucky for us there were very few other people on this part of the mountain so we could go as fast or as slow as we wanted.  We trudged on, through narrow, rocky passes, and then the trail gradually opened up into a section of switchbacks where we could collect ourselves mentally.  It was still a little misty out now but the skies were clearing.  While it was getting light out we were still about 15 minutes from sunrise and hoped for a clear sky soon.  Then, miraculously, the clouds did not so much clear as they appeared to lower and we were able to see out onto the horizon.

Steep, rocky terrain on the way up.

The Sunrise

Shortly after the mist settled and we could see out over the clouds the sun began to poke through.  It felt like looking out your airplane window but then you look down at your feet and realize you are standing still; most incredible sunrise I've ever seen.

Sunrise on Mt. Fuji at 5:02 am on August 27th.

We still had about 2 hours to go but this was a huge mental boost and we almost felt as though we could "coast" to the top.  The terrain continued to be steep and barren, but the climbing was less technical and a steadier pace resulted.  The sky continued to clear up though some lingering clouds remained above us.

The ascent was steep and barren.

The Top of Japan

The top of Mt. Fuji is the highest point in Japan, at 12,388' (3,776 m).  The volcano last erupted in 1707.

As we arrived the clouds were clearing,  a huge
 rainbow emanating from the crater.

On the top of Fuji was one last hut which we ducked into for some coffee and to trade high-fives with some fellow trekkers.  There were some clouds and mist still obscuring our view, but as it began to clear rainbows started to form.  There is actually a trail all the way around the rim of the volcano.  We didn't have the time or energy to fully circumnavigate, but we wanted to explore some and savor the moment.

As we started to traverse the crater the weather was clearing up and we came to the full realization that this wasn't just a mountain, its a volcano.  Fortunately for us its considered dormant.

Another issue we had been concerned with was the weather.  We were light on supplies and I bought a "pocket-jacket" (kind of like a poncho but a little heavier) for wind and rain protection.  Although the climbing season had officially ended it was still warm enough out for us.  While it was more humid and around 75 at the base of the mountain, it was probably around 40 and very dry at the top.  We were a little cool but dodged any bullets of extreme wind, rain, or snow blowing in.  When the wind would calm down it was actually quite nice sitting in the sun.

Some Japanese guy (and his buddy taking the picture) had been hiking along
side us for a few hours and wanted a picture at the top.  We were happy to oblige!

Public trash cans are not common in Japan and we knew going into Fuji that any trash we accumulated would have to be carried with us, yet another reason to pack light.  To my delight and amazement, there was absolutely no litter or trash on the mountain.  Even with hundreds of people traversing it every week and no trash cans.

I can't emphasize enough how glad I am that we packed light.  It would have been nice to have a little more clothing layers and food, but packing light (while hiking or on travel in general) makes staying mobile so much easier.  We passed hordes of people struggling to move (either up or down), carrying over 40 pounds of gear; shell jackets, gaiters, hiking boots with ankle support, trekking poles, and some even with hiking stoves and fuel!

A panorama of the inside of the Mt. Fuji crater.

The Descent

This was the hardest part in retrospect.  It took us about 7 hours total to reach the top, 3 the first day and 4 the 2nd day, but you need to hike the downhill portion all at once, which took about 5 hours.  While you aren't as winded descending, your legs start to burn as your quads and knees begin to tire.  There must have been over 70 monotonous switchbacks; all you can do is continue to count them down and trudge on.

Small CAT trucks with tank treads are used to transport gear up and down the mountain.

So we descended on, into the mist, back to vegetation, taking only short breaks at some rest huts.  Soon enough we made it back down, booked our bus tickets back to Tokyo, and ate a well deserved lunch in the 5th station restaurant.  I have no idea if it was really "good" food, but it was one of the best tasting meals of my life, hearty and hot!

Its up there!

Near the supply shops and souvenir stands, there was a small post office where you could send post-cards from, and they had a neat stamp where you could mark your passport.

While my entire trip to Japan was great, hiking Mount Fuji made it unforgettable.  Even if the rest of the trip was a wash, this made it worth it.  While I realize many before me have hiked Fuji, and many after me will, its more the personal sense of satisfaction that really stuck with me.  To travel so far from home and conquer something you never expected to see in person.

I still can't believe how well it went, considering our haphazard start.  Others we talked to who timed things perfectly ended up getting caught in rain and wind, and having their views obscured by clouds.  Since so many people attempt Fuji I might not have given it credit at first.  While it wasn't super difficult, but it certainly wasn't easy, and at high-altitudes even being "runner fit" isn't enough to make this a cake walk.

Brooks Pure Cadence: Shoe Review

A little over a year ago I was looking for a lightweight, everyday training shoe, with a touch of stability and a little more of a "natural" feel, and I found it in the Brooks Pure Cadence!

I really liked the Pure Cadence right from the start.  As someone looking for a more natural feel, without wanting a minimalist shoe, they fit right in with my lineup.  They are however part of a lineup and I wouldn't suggest using this as your one and only running shoe.  They are considerably more light in weight than other light stability shoes.  RunningWarehouse lists them at about 3 oz lighter than more traditional shoes.  I found these to be great for races, up-tempo runs, and track work.  These are best suited for runners with a fore-foot or mid-foot strike.  Heavy rear-foot strikers may not really like them as they don't offer a ton of rear-foot cushioning.

The Brooks PureProject seems to be one of the few surviving lines spurred by the minimalist movement a few years ago, but these shoes seem to have been designed more alongside the Vibram craze rather than as a direct result of it.  They look great too, kind of futuristic, and (at least the first generation of them) came in some off the wall colors.  Shoe companies of course know that radical looking designs help sell shoes, so don't let the appearance sway you.  It should also be noted that I have only worn the 1st Gen PureProject shoes.  I believe they are on a 3rd iteration now.  I had heard that the 2nd Gen made some key design changes and that people actually preferred the 1st release of the PureProject shoes, though I'm hoping Brooks correctly any shortcomings with the latest release.

Brooks certainly did take a cue from Vibrams when they came out with the PureProject.  For years it seems like Brooks had been churning out clunky, boring, shoes aimed at the middle to back-of-the pack masses.  They have racing shoes, but were short of anything for the getting-faster crowd who wants a more performance oriented trainer.

I've been wearing my Pure Cadence for about a year and a half and probably have 300 or so miles on them.  I'm hoping for another 6 months of infrequent use, or maybe 100 more mile.  The fluorescent green coloring is great for winter running in the dark so I hope they last until spring!

Brooks took a chance on these shoes and it appears to paying off, especially in an age where most of the chances shoe companies took with minimalism or natural-feel running shoes seems to already have gone extinct. My only worry is that as minimalism continues to lose steam Brooks will discontinue the line.  However, as long as people keep buying them Brooks will keep making them.

No, really: why should I bother with speed work during Marathon Training?

Because it makes you faster

More miles and longer runs can slowly increase your speed, but you are really just bettering your endurance over a long period of time.  Long runs aren't as useful at getting your legs to physically run faster.

Its important to understand the difference between Stamina and Endurance when we think about high-intensity training (over short periods of time) versus low-intensity training (over long periods of time).

Endurance, as it relates to running, is how long you can operate at a low to medium effort level.  This is what it takes to run a marathon, however this could mean very slowly.  Stamina is operating at a very high effort level over a shorter period of time.  This is essentially what running repeats improves, and in turn will improve your overall fitness and ability to run "fast".

Enter: Speed work

Speed work comes in many forms such as track workouts, tempo runs, and hill repeats.

Below are just a few sample workouts; remember that 1 lap on a track is 400 meters, 2 laps is 800, 3 laps is 1200, and 4 laps is roughly a mile.  These all have different purposes on top of just getting you in shape.  There are dozens of track workouts out there, but these are a few biggies to get you started:

• "Yasso" 800s.  A staple track workout, developed by marathon coach Bart Yasso.  Run 800 m at 5k pace, 400 m recovery.  Repeat 5-10 times.
• Mile Repeats.  Run a mile at 10 miler pace.  400 m recovery.  Repeat 3-5 times.
• Pyramid v1. 400 m, 800 m, 1200 m, 800 m, 400 m.  400 m recovery between each one.  Run these all at 10k pace.
• Pyramid v2. The expanded version.  800 m, 1200 m, 1600 m (mile), 1200 m, 800 m.  Tack 400s on either end if you are up to it. 400 m recovery between each one, but do 800 m recovery after the mile. Run these all at 10 miler pace.
• Michigans.  This is a tough workout,  kind of a 2-tiered workout, with several variations such as: Run 1 mile at half-marathon pace, then 800 m at 10k pace, then 1 mile at half-marathon pace, now finally do a 1 mile recovery.  Repeat 2-3 times.
• Lumberjack. For the tough, for those who enjoy pain, and also want to get strong!  This is a general term I use on crazy-combo workouts.  Like, run 2 x 800 m at 10k pace, run 2-3 hill repeats, run 4 x 400 at 10k pace, 1-2 more hill repeats, 1 mile at 10 miler pace, an 800 at 5k pace and a 400 at 5k pace.

Run these paces correctly, they are designed to push your limits but not completely exhaust you.  If it says "recovery" this should be much slower than your marathon pace and feel easy.  If it says "10 mile effort", then run it at your 10 miler effort, even if you feel up to running your 5k pace.  You also want to focus on running all these at an even pace.  Often people will go out too fast on the first few repeats and then not have enough energy left for the last few.

Always warm up with at least 3 laps of very easy running, and cool down with the same.  If you can do a mile for warm up and cool down even better.  These help add to your weekly mileage as well, you will be getting in anywhere from 4-10 miles total during these workouts and it counts!

How often should you do speed work? Once a week (I always liked doing speed on Wednesdays) is fine.  You can even do every-other week, or if you have a race or very long run scheduled you may want to back off your speed work to approach your goal runs fresh.

There are workouts that employ even shorter repeats (50 or 100 meter repeats), and sprinting exercises (often called "strides"), but are more geared toward 5k and 10k runners, or even shorter track distances.  They aren't really worth doing in prep for a marathon and can even add unneeded injury risk.

So why do hill repeats?

Even if your goal race is on a flat course, hill repeats make you stronger and faster.  It has been said that "hill repeats are trackwork in disguise".  So go find a hill - a nice 1/2 mile to a mile is best, and not super steep, you still want it to be runable.  A great workout would be to do a mile on a flat surface at an easy pace to warm up, then go run up that hill as fast as comfortably possible and do a very slow jog back down to recover.  Repeat your hill run around 3 to 5 times.  Do another very easy mile on a flat surface after to cool-down.

Its also important to realize that speed work is hard, not to be obvious, but you should be fresh for these tough workouts, and give yourself time to recover.  The days before and after a speed workout should consist of easy effort runs only, and definitely not long runs.

Try to time yourself on some of these track and hill repeats when you first start out.  That way, you can actually see your times decreasing which is a huge mental boost!

The New Trend

For some reason, as running catches on with more and more people, the trend is going toward doing constant races and running tons of marathons.  This goes against all classical running theory, that says you should begin by building speed at shorter races, build up to your longest distance, and then target one goal race.

Personally, I  think its rooted in ego.  People want to sound "tough" and have something to gloat about.  Non-runners might not be impressed by you lowering your amateur 10 miler times with high weekly mileage and track workouts, but you will be the talk of the office if you are finishing a marathon every few weeks.  While it does sound cooler to do a marathon a month, you won't get any faster than if you focused on shorter races and pick 1 marathon a year to race.  I suppose some people don't care as much about running fast and setting new Personal Bests, but I believe its much harder to run a distance "well" than to just cover the distance and get your finisher medal.

If you ever start wondering why you can't manage to get faster at the longer distances (I'm talking the folks trying to break 4 or 5 hours in the marathon), go back to your roots, work on your shorter distances (5ks up to half-marathons), and then come back to the marathon later.

Now, go forth and get fast!!

Running Wild on Virginia's Wild Oak Trail

At 26 Miles and with over 7,500 ft of elevation change the incredible Wild Oak Trail is enough to prepare even the tamest of city dwellers for any of the rugged Ultras the East Coast has to offer.  The trailhead is a bit of a haul from the DC area, it took me over 2 hours to drive there on an early Friday morning, though time went by fast.  After circling up with my fellow runners, we headed out right on time.

The Parking area and trailhead at North River Gap.

The trail starts off unassumingly but within a mile or so starts climbing up up up on Grindstone Mountain.  It would soon turn into a pattern of hiking up, a bit of flat area to run across, and then a steep decent back down.  While you need to stay focused on the trail immediately ahead of you, its also worth taking the time to stop and take in the vistas on your left and right.  We were approaching Little Bald Knob at this point, featuring some of the best views on the trail.

The weather was great out, dry and in the 70s, a far cry from the typical hot and humid summers Virginia experiences.  We only had 1 water fill up spot on the entire run, so despite having a 2 liter camelbak full of fluid with me I was careful to conserve.

After the first set of up and down we came to our first stream crossing.

We soon came to a low point where we had our first creek crossing.  Had the water level been higher we would have gotten our feet wet, but a fairly dry summer made for some easy tip-toeing across the stream.

Soon after this we started another significant climb.  These climbs made for great training, easily a mile or 2 of sustained uphill at a time which all required hiking.  The trail was overgrown with brush on the sides which made it tough to get through unscathed.  Now I can see what a lot of people wear leg sleeves - I will wear my calf sleeves for future runs here.

Several of us, myself included, were running out of water which was of concern, but we soon arrived at our mid-point aid area.  After filling up I knew I needed to ration my water out more slowly, however this is tough since I feel like I sweat and drink more than most runners.

Back up on the ridge before Little Bald Knob there were incredible views all around.
The border between Virginia and West VA is in there somewhere.

Plenty of steep sections, some quite rugged and rocky.

We continued on up the climb to Big Bald Knob, steep and rocky, but worthy of a resting stop at the top.  We had another decent down Dividing Ridge, and then a hike back up Hankey Mountain to enter a service road.  Here we began a long steady descent that made for some great downhill running where I was able to average 8 minute miles in some sections.  The trail would become technical again and very rocky in some sections, but also give way to a side trail with an overlook offering a panorama of the valley.  I think this spot was referred to as something like "Lookout Point" (very original).

I was again almost out of water but with only a few miles left I wasn't too worried.  I rejoined the trail and continued on downhill, soon making one last water crossing via a pedestrian bridge.

A panoramic view off the official Lookout Point.

While I knew I was at most a couple miles out, I still checked and rechecked the map to make sure I was making the right turns.  I did, and soon could here some road traffic.  I popped out in the North River Gap parking area to join a group of runners who started the trail earlier in the day and in the opposite direction.  While the run was by no means "easy", I felt strong throughout, even after a week of high mileage; given more aid stations and water fill-ups I would have felt comfortable pushing it harder, or doing another loop at a slower pace.  I'll welcome the cooler, drier fall weather for this type of terrain as well.

The last stream crossing had a convenient suspension
bridge for pedestrians to keep their feet dry!

What an awesome run! I can see why hardcore Ultra-Runners come out here to run, even for multiple loops of the Wild Oaks Trail.  The Virginia Happy Trails Club offers a couple of low-key 50k races and an almost unheard of 100 miler here.  I can now look forward to at least some familiarity with the Grindstone course.

Looking back, past the farmlands to the mountains.