On Sunday 4th October I took part and completed my first full marathon in Chester. This blog will go through the events before during and after the marathon with some advice given for people thinking of completing a similar challenge in the future based on my personal experience on Sunday.
The Reason (Why did I take up running as a fitness exercise and why did I do a marathon)
Around 2 years ago a work colleague of mine had started running to help his personal fitness. After a while I had noticed the improvement in Richard’s stamina when playing football once a week. As I see myself as a more cardio-orientated person I saw running as an ideal fitness exercise to take up as I felt I would enjoy it, was inexpensive and had seen the benefits.
The first reason for doing a marathon was a number of my colleagues had taken up to do super-physical challenges which include the 100 mile challenge of Snowden, cycling and swimming as well as cycling from Ravenglass to South Shields – 174 miles in under 24 hours. (https://everybody.org.uk/coast-to-coast-cycle-raises-over-400-for-the-bhf-and-blood-bikes/) to raise money for charity.
The second reason was to motivate someone else. My future father-in-law has had a tendency to start a fitness plan and then quit. To overcome this barrier he registered for the Triathlon event in May. To help him with this I made a promise that if he kept to it and completed the Triathlon I would do a marathon in the same year. Not only did he complete a triathlon in May but also did a second in September and is starting to get a taste for participating in Triathlon events. The final reason was simple; I wanted to compete in the marathon to say that I had done it and achieve a demanding goal.
The Preparation (What did I do to prepare for the marathon)
My initial plan was to aim to train with a variety of fitness activities 5 times a week. However due to the intensity I found that my body was finding it difficult to keep up. I therefore kept a higher intensity but added more recovery days in order to avoid over training where too much exercises causes an injury to the body.
There was also a key requirement to overload my fitness regime in order to avoid a fitness plateau. Overloading is where the difficulty of the exercise is increased in order to gain more physically and mentally. This was achieved my increasing my training runs from 6 miles to 20 miles over a 4 month period The 20 miles was suggested by my members of the running club who had done marathons previously stating that the last 6 miles would be aided by adrenaline.
Diet was also another key factor, making sure that throughout the 4 months prior to the event that I was getting important nutrients into my system but still allowing what would be considered “sin meals” to keep happy with my regime until 2 weeks prior where the sin meals were being reduced in order to give the body the nutrients they needed to function.Once the event was a couple of days away the plan was to load my body with carbs in order to give my body a sufficient energy supply to handle the energy required from the task (this included Pasta, Rice, Jacket Potatoes, Porridge, Weetabix and carb drinks.) Protein was also taken in order to help give the muscles the nutrients that they would need.
The other key aspect particularly as the marathon was coming closer was to get quality sleep. Sleep is such a vital component in relation to physical and mental health and should not be overlooked as it is harder to function as a being when you have been sleep deprived. It was essential then to help promote a good physical and mental well-being by getting the quality sleep needed to help prepare for an activity which is physically and mentally exhausting.
During the Marathon (How was it?)
When the day finally arrived my feelings were very nervous about what I was letting myself in for but also excited for the challenge.
The primary aim was to complete the 26.2 mile run in 4 to 4 ½ hours. Once the starting gun had gone off I found that I was raring to go and settled in at a leisurely to steady pace in order to feel my way in to the event and conserve my energy.
After a couple of miles I had settled into a rhythm and quickened my pace and picked a pace-setter to control my speed and keep pace with individuals which would also offer a social aspect and help keep my intensity in check.There are plenty of volunteers who hand out water, and energy drinks and gels. I also found that as well as the volunteers the locals would come out and encourage you to keep going. They would also add a personal touch by shouting your name which gives you a lift emotionally.
The first 16 miles were reasonably ok but once I was 19 miles into the marathon I came across “The Wall” where you mentally feel you can’t do anymore. I remember saying to myself that “my mind is stronger than that of my body”, forcing myself to keep going. When I had reached 22 miles I had to adjust my running to interval intensities where I would walk for a distance then run and keep switching between the two.
Once I got to within 1 mile of the finish line I had a mental lift as I knew I had nearly completed the challenge and had increased in stages to a speed which was faster than anything I had done in the previous 25 miles. 300 meters from the finish line with the encouragement of my brother Richard I sprinted as fast I could. Although I could not sustain the sprint to the end I was grateful for the cheer from the crowd and relieved to get over the finish line.
After the Marathon (Was it worth it and would I do it again?)
With the marathon completed I fell to the floor exhausted. Members of my family were down to congratulate me which meant a lot and the main focus was to get some sugar back into my system in order to help with the body recovery. The marathon was definitely worth doing as I finished in a time of 4 ½ hours and had a good sense of personal achievement. Whether I would do another marathon is uncertain. My initial reaction is to do a different challenge such as Born Survivor or Tough Mudder but I may do another marathon in the future.
The setbacks that I encountered
The main setbacks I had encountered had happened in the preparation. Along with running my other main fitness exercise was football. However I was finding that my foot would hurt after each football session. In order to give myself the best chance of completing the marathon I had to stop playing football until it was completed. This allowed a greater recovery and certainly had a help to get me physically ready. My other main setback was an illness on Friday which resulted in me eating virtually nothing all day. This forced a carb load on the day before the marathon in order to give the body the nutrition it needed to complete the marathon. Had this illness happened on the Saturday it is extremely likely I would not have completed the marathon.
My advice for contemplating participants
If you are thinking of doing a challenge whether it be a marathon or a different demanding activity my advice would be this.
- Make sure that you train, eat and sleep well. Start by managing manageable fitness plans and gradually overload over a period of time to
avoid doing too much too soon and increasing the risk of an injury. Also think about the type of exercises that will help and hinder you when looking at your challenge. - It is also important that your clothing is correct. Make sure your footwear is a proper fit that your attire is breathable and even your socks are the correct material as the wrong material can lead to injuries such as blisters.
- When eating remember to start carbohydrate loading a couple of days before the event and don’t be too strict on your diet plan from the start, allowing a sin meal every so often can help keep you motivated and keeps you from feeling restrictive in what you can do.
- Make sure you also get quality sleep so your body and mind are in the best condition to face the challenge you have set yourself.
- Surround yourself by people who will encourage you. Reflecting back on my marathon family, friends colleagues, participants and volunteers on the day played a huge part in helping me keep going and getting over that finish line and their support may be the difference from competing in the event and also finishing the event.
- Find events that are stepping stones to your overall goal. This can help you get a feel for what you are aiming for. For myself as an example doing half-marathons, metric-marathons and 20 mile runs would allow me to use the experiences gained to better prepare myself for the final goal.
- Enjoy the challenge. It is a lot easier to keep participating in the challenge if you enjoy what you are doing and you don’t consider it a chore. This will also help with your overall well-being and encourages you to keep taking part in a healthy lifestyle.
If you doubt that you can do it think of the challenges that people have done. If they can do it then why not you. At the Chester Marathon a participant was taking part in his 100th marathon. If you put your mind to it and prepare properly there is no reason why you cannot reach it. Start with what you can do and go from there.
Robert Douglas
Health & Fitness Advisor
Crewe Pool
Everybody Sport & Recreation
My advice for contemplating participants
If you are thinking of doing a challenge whether it be a marathon or a different demanding activity my advice would be this.
- Make sure that you train, eat and sleep well. Start by managing manageable fitness plans and gradually overload over a period of time to avoid doing too much too soon and increasing the risk of an injury. Also think about the type of exercises that will help and hinder you when looking at your challenge.
- It is also important that your clothing is correct. Make sure your footwear is a proper fit that your attire is breathable and even your socks are the correct material as the wrong material can lead to injuries such as blisters.
- When eating remember to start carbohydrate loading a before the event and don’t be too strict on your diet plan from the start, allowing a sin meal every so often can help keep you motivated and keeps you from feeling restrictive in what you can do.
- Make sure you also get quality sleep so your body and mine are in the best condition to face the challenge you have set yourself.
- Surround yourself by people who will encourage you. Reflecting back on my marathon family, friends colleagues, participants and volunteers on the day played a huge part in helping me keep going and getting over that finish line and their support may be the difference from competing in the event and also finishing the event.
- Find events that are stepping stones to your overall goal. This can help you get a feel for what you are aiming for. For myself as an example doing half-marathons, metric-marathons and 20 mile runs would allow me to use the experiences gained to better prepare myself for the final goal.
- Enjoy the challenge. It is a lot easier to keep participating in the challenge if you enjoy what you are doing and you don’t consider it a chore. This will also help with your overall well-being and encourages you to keep taking part in a healthy lifestyle.
If you doubt that you can do it think of the challenges that people have done. If they can do it then why not you. At the Chester Marathon a participant was taking part in his 100th marathon. If you put your mind to it and prepare properly there is no reason why you cannot reach it. Start with what you can do and go from there.
Robert Douglas
Health & Fitness Advisor
Crewe Pool
Everybody Sport & Recreation