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Hitting the wall (or it hitting me)

Hello everyone please can I have some advice, on the weekend I cycled 50 miles and then did the Llanelli half marathon. Apart from the bad conditions and maybe not having enough food before the run I felt ok, on the run I was ok until I hit 8 miles. I had no energy left and just had no more to give, until that point I was heading for a run time of about 1.50. I ended up coming in about 2.08 so you can see how much I dropped off. I am doing the UK Ironman in Aug, what can I do to help prepare to go longer?



Any advice would be great thank you.





Comments

  • MGMG Posts: 470
    What was your nutrition stratergy?

    Did you have a nutrition stratergy and did you train with it?

    What had you eaten leading up to the event?

    What training had you done leading up to it?

    Was this the furthest you'ld cycled and ran?

    What time were you hoping for?



    All the answers to these questions will give you some idea into what went wrong and how you can remidy this for UK70.3.



    Nutrition is the oft forgotten part of middle and long triathlon, you've trained your arse off for "x" amount of months got the kit, you're fit as a fiddle but your body can only fuel you so far. Basicly, if you wing it (most likely) you will suffer. A well planned and rehearsed nutrition stratergy is imperative.

  • Nutrition before the race was wake up massive bowl of oats, viper drink on the ride a bannana and a soreen, also a gel before the run.

    Training nutrition was same as above and yes I trained with it, but maybe not that far.

    My diet the week before was loads of wholewheat pasta, no booze and fairly ok.

    The furthest I'd run before that was a couple of 1/2 marathons with fairly good times, and I with a 33 mile commute to work.

    I was hoping for under two hours, but it was more about the way I felt 8 miles in.



    Maybe I just need to prepare for it a bit better, food and resting leading up to the race.
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    It might not _just_ be nutrition... It may just be your strategy - running as hard as you would in a shorter race, on the back of a couple of hours cycling. Do you have an HRM? How did your target pace compare with your usual pace for a half marathon? How hard did you cycle?



    For anything longer than an hour, you want to be feeding all the time - i.e. before you get hungry. I think there was an interesting article on this in the latest 220: The body isn't like a car fuel tank - as soon as you start to run a bit low, you slow down - and that is before you get hungry. So you want to be nibbling away at something suitable on a regular basis, especially on the bike where it is easier to feed/carry stuff.
  • No I don't have a hrm do they work and help you plan a longer race, good advice on the fuel tank I've never thought of it like that. And yes I think I went out to hard at first on run.



    Cheers for the advice.

  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    An HRM basically measures the effort you are putting in (doesn't say much about what you get out)... But it can help you to recognise when you are trying too hard, and enable you to slow down - which is pretty essential for a race which might take several hours. It takes a lot of effort/practice/experience not to go as hard as you can...
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