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I did my first open marathon in Memphis weekend. Qualified for Boston with approx. 3:19, though was well off my goal of 3:10. Temp was nice at 48-52. I ran fairly steady at 7:15 pace through the halfway point with avg. HR of 147. Miles 15-19 felt pretty rough with increasing leg fatigue, and it got worse of course from there with some quad cramping at mile 22. Miles 13.1 - 20 were at 7:32 pace @ HR of 157. Last 10K were at 8:23 pace @ 155 HR.
My hr for 1st half was actually lower than expected, but I can't figure out the increasing HR for the remainder despite the significant fade in pace. Is this simply cardiac drift, or are there other explanations?
Coach at KonaCoach Multisport
In the latter stages of the race your glycogen was all gone. Glycogen is a very efficient fuel and your muscles only require a nice steady supply to keep running at optimum performance.
When the glycogen is gone your body switches to burning fats and proteins. This is piss poor fuel and your muscles burn this stuff much faster and need more and more of it...your heart has to pump harder and harder to deliver that fuel even though you're still running the same pace.
Tired muscles are less efficient muscles, you have to push them harder to get the same output.
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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill
That may well be the case. My nutrition plan was to drink a few swallows of Powerade at each rest station and start Gu's at mile 10. However, the on course Powerade was extremely dilute. In addition, I slowed down a little bit on intake after I was forced to take a pee-stop at mile 7. I did manage 3 or 4 Gu's however between miles 10 and 22.
Coach at KonaCoach Multisport
Matts answer is a good, but a simpler answer is that, maybe, just maybe, you were, uh, tired.
my heart rate always seems to decrease throughout race...
That happens to me, but only at IM distance and the like. It happens because I am old, fat and out of shape and unable to generate power any longer so the aerobic system is not the limiter.
It is hard to imagine that in a marathon, unless you slow down big time.
it's called decoupling - HR rises, pace slows. Almost the same thing happens when you ride long and your watts fade at the end, and HR rises. Glycogen depletion is most likely the answer and dehydration is a possible cause as well. Congrats on qualifying for Boston, it's a great race. Enjoy!
Mike Ricci
2017 USAT World Team Coach
USAT National Coach of the Year
Coaching Triathletes since 1992.
Same thing happens to me, right at about mile 15- to the end of the long run, and I'm eating gels every six miles. How do you control that glycogen with carbo's in the race or is this just a fixed amount of prebuilt glycogen before the race you have, etc?
That is the $1,000,000 question really. Pacing is important, as is being trained at the pace you are running so you are efficient and economical, and being trained to run the distance (or even further). Even the fast guys look like they are struggling at the end of a marathon. Very few people look good when they finish.
Mike Ricci
2017 USAT World Team Coach
USAT National Coach of the Year
Coaching Triathletes since 1992.
check this out
[url]http://www.competitionzone.com/articles/hydration-strategies.htm[/url]