Strategy for the homestretch of my first marathon

[LuzzBightyear]

Looking for advice on completing the final five miles of a race I am going in this season.

The final 1.5 miles of the race is a nice, slightly downhill straight shot, but the 3.5 miles before that are brutal. There are three back to back to back mini-valleys, ranging from ¾ to a full mile each… they are all pretty steep.

Obviously, my aim is to finish the five miles in the shortest amount of time.

So should I try to go very fast in the downhill portions, then light jog or walk during the ups…with the hope the faster pace down will cancel the slower pace up?

Or easy in the downhill to save energy so I don’t go super slow for the ups?

Or easy both ups and downs so I will hopefully have enough energy to make a nice charge in the 1.5 mile homestretch?

This may all be a moot point as it happens to be the last 5 miles of a marathon (my first!), so I will be 21 miles in at that point and may be too tired to do anything but walk down and up the valleys, but looking for advice on this portion of the race under the assumption that I do have some gas left in the tank.

 

[jmasgat]

My opinion, for what it's worth (and having barely survived the hills of the Boston Marathon course)

Try to "run loose and easy" on the downhills as best as you can. So not superfast like you're out of control, but also not restrained like you're holding back. Run the uphills slow and steady.

I honestly don't think you can plan the downhills to balance the uphills--it's a nice theory, but I just think they are separate "events"

Plus, as you recognize, you may be wiped by 21 and just hanging on.

So....don't overthink it. Good luck!

Maura

 

[StarGirl11]

Looking for advice on completing the final five miles of a race I am going in this season.

The final 1.5 miles of the race is a nice, slightly downhill straight shot, but the 3.5 miles before that are brutal. There are three back to back to back mini-valleys, ranging from ¾ to a full mile each… they are all pretty steep.

Obviously, my aim is to finish the five miles in the shortest amount of time.

So should I try to go very fast in the downhill portions, then light jog or walk during the ups…with the hope the faster pace down will cancel the slower pace up?

Or easy in the downhill to save energy so I don’t go super slow for the ups?

Or easy both ups and downs so I will hopefully have enough energy to make a nice charge in the 1.5 mile homestretch?

This may all be a moot point as it happens to be the last 5 miles of a marathon (my first!), so I will be 21 miles in at that point and may be too tired to do anything but walk down and up the valleys, but looking for advice on this portion of the race under the assumption that I do have some gas left in the tank.

Oh boy. I pity you, hills in a full are not fun. Hills in your first full at the very end of the race. Even worse! Best case scenario is that by the time you hit those valleys you will have all ready hit and gotten past the infamous wall. Worst case is you hit it in the hills (just because it usually hits in mile 20 doesn't mean it sometimes doesn't hit until later). In either case just keep in mind how close you are and just keep moving. 50-50 chance by the point you hit those hills you are going to want to kill the race director. Biggest point is to just keep moving the finish isn't too far off. If you don't have a whole lot of energy just do a brisk walk until you get in sight of the finish. Once you reach that point, sprint like your life depends on it since there is about a 90 percent chance that you are about 200 yards give or take out from the finish at this point.

 

[Breyean]

I really think you just need to see how you feel when you get there. It's your first marathon so you have to learn how your body and mind are going to feel by that time.

If you make a plan now and when you get to the hills you feel worse than you expected you might get upset and it could affect the rest of your race.

If you make a plan and feel better when you hit the hills, you might be worried you were too aggressive early and worry about when the wheels will fall off.

Better to do your hills in training (lots of hills) and then pace yourself in the race at some reasonable pace based on how you did in your training, esp the long runs. When you get to hills in the race, you'll know you were prepared by your hill training, and you should feel confident that your pace worked on your long runs and if you can not go too fast in the early miles (a big issue even for experienced marathoners), you s/b prepared.

Good luck, and have fun. Your first marathon is something to cherish.