Running a Marathon in your training

Note: I’ve written a post on Mitch’s forum over at CounterpartCoaching at the end of April. Most of my thoughts are still valid after my main race, so I thought I’d share my original post here.

Before Mitch & Scott freak out, let me add to the title:  … in your training for an Ultra Marathon.

I’m training for my first Ultra Marathon this year, the 73k trail Ultra “Rennsteiglauf” in Germany (only three weeks to go! ). I’ve always been intrigued by Ultra Marathoners running really long runs in their training. So I’ve included two Marathons in my training plan, and while this certainly not something for everyone, I want to share my experiences and am quite interested in other people’s thoughts.

Here’s the benefits I’m hoping for:

• big training day
  Running a marathon is a pretty long training run.. more is better ;-)
• it trains a “different” kind of endurance
  I’ve read somewhere that something strange seems to happen after a certain number of hours, namely at 3 hours, 7 hours, 10 hours. (Not sure where – Mark Allen?) What I mean by that is that a “different” kind of endurance is required to go for 2 hours than for, say, 5 hours. In order to train for that, you should be doing sessions longer than 3 hours. (Just think of the first few “longer” bike rides in a season.) As I plan to go about 8 hours in my Ultra, I wanted to cross the 3 hour “threshold” a few times. A marathon allows me to do that in a safe environment.
• confidence
  Completing a marathon is a great confidence builder, especially if you manage to complete it in a decent fashion.

The first marathon I did this year was the “Winter Marathon” in Husum, Germany at the end of February. I managed to go at a 6Min/k pace without having to go real hard. The other one was the Hamburg Marathon last weekend, where it was a bit hotter and harder but I still managed to go sub 4 hours. I haven’t quite recovered yet and my A-race is still out, but here’s what I learned so far.

The main point I’m taking away is that these Marathons are still training runs and should be treated as such. So all the usual “long run rules” still apply:

• Adjust your pace accordingly.
  The main goal is to finish the race, so it’s not about time goals. My marathon PR pace is 5 Min/k, so I was shooting for a 6 Min/k pace in Husum. After that went well, I was trying for a sub 4h pace in Hamburg (5:40 Min/k). This is just a touch slower than my “normal” long run pace.
  This is more difficult than it sounds, as there will be a ton of people racing for much faster times than you. It is even more difficult if you’re in a big race that seeds runners according to their PRs.
• Take your time at the aid stations.
  Make sure you get all the hydration and nutrition you need at the aid stations. No need to shove people out of the way to get a cup of water or to try to drink and eat while running.
• Don’t be afraid to walk a bit.
  As you’re not in it for any (important) time goals, don’t be afraid to walk to catch your breath or relax at the harder uphill sections. I didn’t follow any fixed schedule, but just walked when I felt like it.
• Lug around all the equipment you might need for your A-race.
  As I plan to run with a Camelbak at my Ultra, I was running with a Camelbak, an MP3 player, extra clothes and food at the marathons. I wouldn’t do that if I was  going for a time goal, but again it is similar to what I would do for a long training run.
• Enjoy the race.
  Took some time to take pictures and enjoy the atmosphere. Also took a couple of pictures with my cell phone camera and was texting my wife and friends who came to watch with updates and split times.

Of course, the big concern about running a Marathon in your training is the time lost before and after the race. By not tapering much, you can limit the time lost before the race. These marathons were a good chance to race ala “Taper Interrupted”. For Hamburg  I did a 20k run on Thursday and a faster 10k run on Saturday before the Sunday race. (For Husum I was taking things easy the days before as I was a bit worried about finishing and had just completed by biggest running week ever.)

Afterwards, you have to focus on recovering hard. Recovery comes quicker if you have a large running base. For me, this meant to focus on running (to the detriment of swimming and biking), and I’ve had 4 of my largest running weeks ever in January and February (100k+ weeks for me). With all the running volume in my legs, I feel I can recover in about a week to get back into training.

Here’s what I did specifically to recover quickly after Husum at the end of February:

• Follow the race with a really easy week.
  For me, this was three days off in the week after the race. The two runs I did were short (30 Min) and easy. My legs weren’t a problem, but I didn’t feel fresh and didn’t have any “zip”. The weekend after the race I took a really easy 16k run with lots of walking breaks – managed to complete it but I was still tired, so I probably should have waited a bit longer.
• Take some extra sleep.
  I tried to easy my workload as much as possible and managed to get an extra hour of sleep for a couple of days.
• Prepare some other things to keep you busy.
  If you’ve got a basic week that works, it’s really hard not to do certain training runs. For example I do a faster 16k training run on Tuesdays. After the marathons I set up other things to do instead of the session – after Husum I set up my training blog, after Hamburg I set up my bike for the summer season. If I didn’t have these other things on my mind I would have done the running session even if it was way too early to do that.

So far, I’m quite confident to recover in time for my big race on the Rennsteig in 17 days …

P.S. Looking back, I think the two marathons in my prep really helped me get ready for my Ultra. Would I do it again? For an Ultra, certainly! Not so sure about doing it in my prep for next year’s Ironman. What are your thoughts and experiences?