Success in a marathon can mean very different things for different people.
For some it may mean beating a target time, for others the goal could be to not walk, and for many just getting to the finish line is true success.
Whatever it may be, just completing a marathon is an incredible achievement.
In October 2022 I tackled my second marathon in Nakon Nayok, a small town about 1.5 hours out of Bangkok in Thailand.
Success for me would be enjoying the race and setting a personal best (PB) - which meant beating the 4:26:19 I ran in the Bang Saen Marathon 6 months beforehand.
You’ll have to wait until the end to find out if I achieved my goal or not!!
Today I’d like to share my “5 Pillars of Marathon Race Day Success” - neat name huh!!
And if you’re not quite ready for a marathon, then some of the following ideas can also be applied to other race distances, anything from 5k to half marathon.
So, let me introduce my 5 pillars of marathon race day success!!
Before we dive in, just a gentle reminder that I’m no pro!! These are simply ideas and concepts that work for me - I hope you find them useful as a starting point!
Bang, let’s go!!
1. TRAINING
I’m certainly no pro when it comes to designing a marathon training plan.
However, I do love reading books and going down the rabbit hole of endless YouTube videos about marathon training and endurance running.
And I simply try to apply 2 key concepts into my training.
Run consistently without getting injured or too tired
Incorporate marathon specific workouts into my weekly running routine
How to Run Consistently
The book “80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training Slower” really opened my eyes to a whole new running methodology.
Before being enlightened by this book, I used to treat every run as if it were a race. I’d basically push myself to the limit.
Doing so caused me to pick up small, niggly injuries quite often. Not stuff that would put me out of action for weeks, but even just a few days. And I’d only be able to run maybe 2-3 times a week as my legs were just too tired.
The book taught me that 80% of my runs should be at a “conversational” pace. This allowed me to start running 4-5 times a week and build up the mileage - basically getting fitter!
Most of my runs were around 8-12k - with a long run of anything between 15-25km every 2-3 weeks.
My longest run in this training block was 25km, which I did 3 weeks before the race. I slowly built up to this over the course of 2-3 months - you don't want to go out and try and run 25km straight off the bat!
One useful piece of advice I picked up was to gradually build up the weekly mileage by around 10% per week. And give yourself one easy week per month to let your body adapt and recover.
Incorporating Marathon Specific Workouts
In addition to my easy runs and the long run, I like to change things up with 2 other types of workout.
Intervals
Tempo Runs
Intervals
The main interval workout I like to do once every couple of weeks is a 1k interval with either a short jog or walk recovery between reps.
They hurt, but they are also really good fun!
And it’s easy to vary these intervals based on pace of the interval or duration of the “recovery”.
The pace of these intervals would be around 5k race pace.
Tempo Runs
These are great for training your body to run faster for longer.
My tempo runs would be around 20-25 minutes at a pace that is “comfortably hard” - where I can string maybe 3-5 words together in the “talk test”. A pace between 10k and half-marathon.
I’ve found that 1 tempo run per week is good for me.
Below is a quick overview of my monthly training volume leading up to the marathon.
You can see I didn’t even run more than 100km in one month. Important to bear in mind that I did come into this training block with a decent level of fitness already.
Strength and Conditioning
This is the one gaping hole in my training plan, and one that I need to fill if I want to run faster and stronger in my next marathon.
What I’ve learnt in my 2 marathons is that it’s your legs getting heavy and tired (muscle fatigue) and not so much your general fitness which will be the main factor in slowing you down.
With this in mind it’s surely a wise idea to build you lower body muscle strength during training, right?
For me there’s one rather big stumbling block….
The simple fact is I find strength work kind of boring.
So it’s my mission to find ways to make it interesting and perhaps include strength training into my running.
Keep posted for updates on my mission!
The Long Run
This is a staple diet for marathon training, and it’s a great way to test out different gels, your kit and fluid intake before race day.
Doing this in training will reduce a lot of stress on your big day.
It's the best run you can do to really increase your base fitness + get your legs used to running for a long time.
No Pro Tip: Do most of your runs at “conversational” pace to build aerobic fitness + run more consistently without getting injured or feeling drained
2. PRE-RACE PREP
In this section I’ll cover what I did and what I ate on the day before the race.
Food + Drink
I’ve learnt over time that I don’t really need to do “carbo-loading”, i,e. stuffing as much pasta as humanly possible into your stomach a few hours before the race!
What works for me is to focus on getting a decent amount of carbs in, but not overdoing it.
Also avoiding any foods that may have you running for the toilet after KM30!
Another good tip is to try eating different foods before your long runs in training to see how your body reacts to certain foods, so that come raceday you know what is safe to eat.
Here’s the lowdown on what I ate in the 24 hours before the race. :
8am - Bowl of Muesli
2pm - Shabu at MK Restaurant (boiled pork + veg + rice)
6pm - Prawn Fried Rice (big portion!!)
1am - One slice of bread with peanut butter + black coffee
As you can see it’s nothing too extravagant or over-the-top.
And yes, I did have 1 beer with my dinner!!
No Pro Tip: Try eating different foods during your training to see what is going to give you some energy and not give you a dodgy stomach!
Activities
Basically as little as possible!
Ha-ha, it’s obviously a good idea to try and limit the amount of time you spend on your feet when you’re gonna be running 42km the next day!!
Driving from our home to Nakon Nayok was about 1.5 hours, which is easily manageable.
And once in Nakon Nayok we took it pretty easy, and had a short stroll around the race registration zone before going back to our resort and chilling out.
Sleep
One of the unique aspects of running long distance races in Thailand is that the majority of them start in the middle of the night, and this race was no exception!
Gun time? 03:30am!!
I’m not a heavy sleeper and most nights usually get around 6 hours, some days less when our 1-year old son decides he wants to have a late night party.
So, if I could get anywhere near 3-4 hours sleep I knew that I’d be good to go.
I’ve done numerous races in Thailand so I'm kind of used to it now.
I’d say don’t stress too much about getting a super long sleep before the race. You’ll be surprised how much the buzz of the race will get the adrenaline pumping, and you can take a well earned sleep after the race!
Just relax and prepare yourself mentally. Visualize yourself cruising across the finish line with a smile on your face!
Race Warm-Up
To get my 44-year old body and legs loosened up, I usually do a super easy 10-15 jog plus dynamic stretching before the race.
Don’t worry too much about expending too much energy in this 10 minute warm-up.
With the pace being so easy, it shouldn’t have any affect on your overall energy levels and race performance.
No Pro Tip: Find what works for you to get loose + the blood pumping just a little bit!
3. RACE NUTRITION
My nutrition plan from the Bang Saen marathon back in March 2022 had been quite successful - so if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!
Again with my nutrition plan, simplicity was the key. The simpler I can keep my plans, the less I have to worry about during the race.
I’d have 4 Ammo passion fruit flavour energy gels, which I’d take every hour on the hour.
This ingenious plan was devised on the concept that 1 gel provides energy for around an hour and my target was to finish around 4:25.
Race day nutrition will differ for everyone, some people may need to take on fuel more often and some less often. That’s what I’ve found works for me.
The other thing to consider is that it’s important to take on water after taking a gel, to help it be absorbed into your system.
I’ve found this out the hard way before, where I’ve taken a gel, not had enough water to help it absorb properly and had really bad stomach cramps a little bit later.
In the Nakon Nayok Marathon there were aid stations every 2km, so I did kind of adjust my timing a little bit to ensure that I took the gel a couple of minutes before reaching the aid station where I’d take on some water, just one small cup would do the trick.
Electrolyte drinks would also be provided at the aid stations and I’ve found these to be super important when running in hot conditions.
However, as this race was taking place during the night and the pace was relatively comfortable, I wasn’t planning on sweating much and needing to replace too many electrolytes.
I decided I’d just play this one by ear and see how I was feeling during the race.
Most races will provide you with information about the aid stations and what will be available prior to the race. Below is the info from the Nakon Nayok Marathon which helped me plan out my nutrition.
4. PACING STRATEGY
One success area in my previous marathons and half-marathons has been my pacing strategy.
As I’ve mentioned, it was my goal to set a PB of under 4 hours and 26 minutes.
So my kilometre splits would need to be an average of 6:18/km.
There are various pacing strategies to employ during a race.
In my “no pro” opinion and experience, running a negative split is the best pacing strategy to use to ensure that you can enjoy the race, finish it feeling strong and confident and give yourself the best chance of setting a PB.
A “negative split” means that you run the second half of the race quicker than the first half. Start easy. Finish strong. That’s a good marathon mantra to live by I reckon!
In the Bang Saen marathon of March 2022 I ran a solid “negative split” of 2:16 and 2:10. This was my benchmark.
I used this "Negative Split Calculator" on runningpaces.com to determine what pace I’d need to run to beat this time.
And with a 3% negative split, I'd start off at 6:29/km and finish at 6:06/km
With this in mind I also wanted to know target times for each 5k so that I knew if I was on target or not.
That’s the theory, how did it actually work in reality?
Below you can see my pace chart for the whole race.
As you can see, it’s fairly consistent throughout and pleased to say that I was really able to push through super strong at the end.
If you’re wondering what happened at the start, well that was because we had to run a big hill to the top of dam in Nakon Nayok!
Challenges of Running Negative Splits
I would say one of the key challenges in sticking to this pacing plan is that you really have to be focused and strong-willed at the start to keep to the pace that you plan.
It’s likely that many people will be overtaking you, but you’ve got your plan and stick to it. Believe in it.
For example, in this race I remember some people who overtook me at around 3k and it wasn’t until around km 39 that I caught back up with them.
By this point they were slowing down (which is absolutely cool and however you finish a marathon is amazing) and I was speeding up. I probably finished a few minutes quicker than them in the end.
No Pro Tip: Work out your pacing strategy before the race and aim for a negative split. Avoid setting off too quickly. Stick to the plan!
5. RACE KIT
Despite what you might think, you don’t need fancy or expensive gear to run a marathon.
The most important consideration should be to wear clothing that is comfortable and is not going to give you blisters or chafing in delicate areas!
The same goes for your shoes. Find something that is comfortable and you can run in for 42km!
Again, use your long runs to test out your kit.
This was my race kit:
Shoes
My shoes were the Nike Air Pegasus 39 which I bought about a month prior to the race. I ran about 50km in them before the race. They are really comfortable and have a decent amount of cushioning to support my ankles and calves which are an area I’ve had problems with in the past.
Shorts
Simple pair of running shorts from Decathlon, around 400b or $10. All I need is for them to be lightweight, comfortable and with a small pocket on the back to store items like car keys or gels.
Running Vest
Picked up a nice New Balance running vest a few weeks prior to the race for around 600b ($20).
Socks
For the first time in a race I wore compression socks - they are the really long socks that you may have seen runners wear which look more like stockings!!
I tested them during a couple of the long runs during my training and liked how they felt.
They fit very tight around your calves which I believe is supposed to increase the blood flow around the calves and prevent them from cramping up! It worked!!
Running Belt
I learnt one very important lesson here. Don’t forget to check your gear and test it before the race!
I went to get my running belt from the drawer on Friday only to find that the strap had broken! I think it happened on my last run and I’d forgotten to get a new one.
Luckily, my super wife lent me hers, which turned out to actually be more comfortable and lightweight than my one!
Sports Watch
My usual Garmin Forerunner 945 which I’d use to monitor my pace throughout the race. I probably only use about 5% of it’s features but I love it and it makes my running more fun.
Go Pro Hero 10
Also took my Go Pro which I held in my hand for the whole race. We’ll see how well the video footage turns out from this race!!
No Pro Tip: Comfort is the most important consideration and test out your race kit in your long runs. And DO NOT wear anything new on race day!
RACE PERFORMANCE
I'll finish up with a short summary and a couple of other thoughts that I have've included so far...
Race Feeling
One interesting thing I’ve learnt from my 2 marathons is that it’s muscle fatigue which is likely to be a bigger challenge than “fitness”.
Because the pace throughout the marathon is relatively easy, I wasn't really breathing hard and fast until the last couple of kilometres where I knew I could push hard as the end was in sight.
But from around 25km it was my legs, hips and ankles that were starting to hurt.
As I mentioned in the Strength + Conditioning section earlier, this is a big area of improvement for me to work on.
Finishing Strong
I was able to finish really strong in this race - but it was far from easy!
Everything is hurting by the final few KM and pushing through strong at the end is one hell of a challenge.
One super tip I read from elite marathoner Paula Radcliffe was to count to 100 which helps to keep you in the zone and focus on what number is coming next and not the distance you've covered, how far is left to go and how much your legs are hurting.
I found this helped so much in the final 3-4km.
Give it a go next time in your training. Aim to run strong at the end and use the counting technique - I’m sure you’ll find the time passes much quicker!
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’d like to finish with a few quick thoughts on what went well from this race, and what can be improved for the future.
Good Things
Nutrition plan
Pacing strategy and execution
Race kit
Things to Improve
Strength and conditioning, especially focused on lower body
Increase the number of long runs (time permitting!)
Running a marathon may seem like a daunting prospect but with the right planning and mindset, it is certainly achievable.
And if you're wondering about my time, I did set a new PB of 4:19!!
I hope you guys found my “5 Pillars of Marathon Race Day Success” useful and I wish you the best of luck for your future marathon endeavors!
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