Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Prev Next
Re: How do you avoid the IM marathon walk/parade? [ChrisM] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
ChrisM wrote:
I plan on walking aid stations but as it is in a country with the metric system, they are every kilometer - so 42 of them! every aid station might be too soon of a walk (but might be ideal), better than every other I guess

I am going to take this t run practice advice as well

Yeah, that's a lot of aid stations, and a lot of breaks but like you said not necessarily a bad idea as compared to going 2K between. If things are going well, depending on the weather etc. maybe work a scheme where at the even ones you do something like a quick sip of water and a sponge, and the odd ones you walk a bit longer and take in a more significant amount of sports drink or coke etc, and a gel every now and then. Either way though, once you are working the plan of resuming running regularly, just stay in rhythm.

16 miles @ 8:00 plus 10 miles @15:00 is a 4:38

25 miles @ 9:00 plus another mile made up of 26 ~30 second walk breaks is sub 4 hours
40 K @ 5:30 per K, plus another 2K as 42(!) 30 second walk breaks is also right around 4 hours.

Regardless of your personal pace, for the first however many miles/Ks you will probably be saying to yourself "self, I don't really need to walk, I could totally keep running. HTFU. I'm an Ironman". And then you should say "Self, STFU. That's a recipe for a meltdown" and you should walk/chug/breath, then start running again. Later on, when you've settled in and proven to yourself that you can and will resume running repeatedly, you can think about some adjustments to pace, break duration, etc. and if you wanna get crazy and haul ass for the last 5K or 10K, knock yourself out. By then you will have been in "pure run" mode for a couple of hours and have a much better feel for what is happening to your body and what is sustainable. You will also probably realize how great the plan is working and that you might be best served by sticking with it...
Quote Reply
Re: How do you avoid the IM marathon walk/parade? [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
tridork wrote:
I think for most of us, (ie, those of us not at the pointy end of the race), the clever thing to do is base our pace on calories.

IIRC we have about 2000 calories available in our blood, and can top this up at about 200-300 calories per hour (ie calories crossing the gut to the blood stream). (lets say 250 calories per hour)

If you're like me, and take say 13 hours to finish the race, then your total useable calories for the day will be 2000+(13x250)=5250. Divide this by 13 hours and you get approx. 400 calories per hour to use for forward propulsion.

Sooooo, you need to swim at 400 calories per hour and ride at 400 calories per hour and run at 400 calories per hour. at 400 calories per hour, use your weight to determine what a suitable pace should be. Fat people like me can't go as fast as skinny people on 400 per hour, because our bodies are doing more work! Damn!

I think many of us use up our 2000 calories too soon, meaning we are stuck with only being able to marathon at 250 calories per hour. For many of us, this means we run at 400 calories per hour for (being generous) 30 minutes leaving us with just 50 calories for the remaining 30 minutes and that is gentle walking pace sports fans.

Assuming we're stuck with 250 calories per hour for the marathon, it's far better to shuffle along, right from the get go, at 250/hour than walk half the marathon.

I'm sure the ST gurus will argue my numbers but I think the principle is sound. The hard part is to swim at 400 and bike and 400 calories per hour when we're feeling fresh and people are passing us on race day.
At Ironman paces around half the calories you burn should be coming from stored body fat, so without any other considerations that 400 calories per hour should be doubled.
Quote Reply
Re: How do you avoid the IM marathon walk/parade? [synthetic] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
synthetic wrote:

thus the 3 months of no marathons prior. there are many , many people out there running much more mileage... marathon maniacs, ultra runners, elite marathoners doing multiple races a year, a week... back to back days, etc

yes there are.

2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.
Quote Reply
Re: How do you avoid the IM marathon walk/parade? [MRoudabush] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
 
Bike pacing, bike fitness, run pacing, run fitness.

In summation, get really fit and don't use too much of that fitness at a time because you are out there forever. Get that FTP way jacked, then ride 0.68IF, get the run volume way up there and then hold back a bunch for the first 10 miles or more.

Ironman Certified Coach

Currently accepting limited number of new athletes
Quote Reply

Prev Next