Marathon Race Week Preparation

Birgitta Wasserfall talks to Cycling Coach, Running Coach, Sport Scientist at Coach Parry, Devlin Eyden about preparation insights for the week leading up to a marathon race. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

In this Champions Uncovered podcast, Birgita Vassefalt talks to Devlin Eden about how runners should prepare for a marathon in race week.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

For those that don't know who Devlin Eden is, tell us more about you.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Yeah, I have a sports science background. Um, studied at the University of Pretoria, um, did my honors postgrade there, uh, and then actually worked at the High Performance Center for several years, which then later became uh SEMLE. Um, and then now gone sort of into the online tech space and still in the coaching field, but working for Coach Parry. So largely running focused, yeah, cycling, cycling coach, title coach as well, uh, experience and all that with obviously the scientific background.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I'm excited to have you here, Devlin, because I know how much value you bring into the topics of sport. And in today we're talking particularly when it comes to marathon running. As athletes and as people that enjoy running, we tend to focus a lot on the build up to, for example, a marathon run. But do we look at those specifics? Like, for example, seven days out from a marathon, where we all our prep, our training should be done. I think sometimes we feel, have we done enough? So I think it's important that we talk about the week leading up to a marathon race, what we should be doing. So that's yeah, that's actually my first question for you. What do we do when it comes to specifics on the days leading up to a big run like a marathon?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, um, look, I love this because I'm constantly having to talk people off the ledge when it comes to prep for a marathon and sort of those final, final days leading into it. And to be honest, if you didn't think that you haven't done enough work, then it means you don't really care about what you've put into it. So I I think those sort of nerves and things are are normal, those doubts are normal. Um hopefully at this stage though, realistically, you have done the work and you've been training for weeks, hopefully months leading into this with a good buildup. I know very often we deal with people that are coming off injury, coming off illness, so they might not have had the best buildup to race there. Um there's always, I mean, life throws those sort of curveballs at us. But ultimately, with seven days out from any marathon, you can't really get any fitter or faster. So the work is done, as you said. Um, and now it's a case of I I always joke, I tell my athletes that try and wrap yourself in bubble wrap for the next seven days or the next week leading up to race day because you can do more damage in trying to force extra training in or um get another speed session or run a time trial in just for a little bit of a confidence booster, you can actually do more damage in doing that than you would do if you did very little in the next seven days. So it's all about making sure that you get to the start line pain and injury free. It's making sure you get to the start line as fresh as possible. Um, we here at Coach Parry have a mantra that in taper week or race week, when in doubt, leave it out. So if you wake up in the morning and you've got that little phantom niggle in the knee or a little bit of a scratchy throat, and you're not sure about it, you're not going to help yourself by going out for a 45-minute run or an hour's run. You'll be better off staying in bed, maybe doing a little bit of mobility work at home. So, so I would focus more on the recovery side of things. Less is more in race week. Um, start thinking race week. So trying to improve sleep a little bit. I mean, again, that's one of those things with life and most people that's easier said than done. But improving quality of sleep, um, watching your nutrition, focusing on height rating well. Uh, I think if we can get those basics right, we set ourselves up for a really good race there.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Great advice, Devlin. And I agree with you. You can do more damage that week leading up to the race and what you have done in the months of preparation going into a long-distance race such as a marathon. Let's talk going even closer to the race. The night before the race and the morning of the race, what should we be doing?

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah, so I I mean, I talk about trying to get sleep, and it's why I say in that week before trying to improve quality of sleep and get a bit more, because very often the night before the race, especially if it's your first race or you trying to chase a PB, the night before the race, you're probably not sleeping very well. And I mean, especially when we start talking bigger ultramarathons and those sort of things, we so nervous before race day. So your sleep is actually not great the night before. So that's why that's important in the week leading up. Um, generally, I try and avoid the massive pasta parties and like trying to over-carboload, if that makes any sense. I mean, old school way of thinking, we'd always have to smash as much carbs in as possible the night before. And to be quite honest, carbo loading in that sense doesn't really work. The body can only store so much and it's going to get rid of the rest. What is important though, and a natural, in essence, you're carboloading anyway, is because you're in taper, your training volume is coming down significantly. So if you just keep eating balanced meals and eating the way you have been all along, because your training load is so much less, you are naturally building up that carbo loading in essence. So there's no need to overdo things the night before. Um make sure that you've got all your stuff laid out, packed out. Uh, I think that's that's a big thing. I'm a big fan of checklists when it comes to these races, um, making sure that you've got everything laid out in front of you because every time you walk past it in the spare room on the bed or on the couch in the lounge, you can go, oh geez, I forgot to put my socks there, or oh no, I don't know what I've done with my race belt. Let me go look for that. Um, rather getting that stuff sorted out, not even the night before, like even a couple of days leading up, get that sorted out, which takes the stress out of the equation that you're not running around on race morning trying to figure out where your number boards are, or um yeah, any of those sort of stresses that you don't don't really need. So lay things out. Uh in today's society, most of us are taking that obligatory Instagram post photo before the race anyway. So everything's laid out for you. Um, yeah, I think just make sure that's all sorted. You've got your race plan. So hopefully you've got some sort of pacing chart or pacing strategy for the race as well. Go through that, make sure that you know what the plan is on race day. Uh yeah, don't try not overthink it. I know that's always again easier said than done, but but don't overthink it the night before.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Devin, I love what you just said because it's a perfect segue into my next question when it comes to on race day. You're running well, you're actually surprising yourself as to how good you're feeling during a marathon race. When do you know if it is a good thing to start pushing harder than that race plan or holding back? Should we be sticking to that race plan step by step or should we go with feel?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, so look, this is a great question. And I I think it's dependent on what the goal is on race day. So so firstly, and I think most importantly, is setting a realistic goal. Okay, so I mean, I speak to people time and time again, especially when we're at these expos for big races, and someone comes to me and they go, Oh, I want to run a three and a half hour marathon. But when I go back and I start to look at what their time trials are and what their half marathon or 10K times are, they're probably closer to a four-hour marathon. So a three and a half hour marathon is then not a realistic goal for where that individual is right now. So that's I think that's an important part. Then having a race plan. So I mean, we for a lot of the big marathons at Coach Perry, we set up um pacing charts, so little bands that you can wear that gives you splits. Ultimately, though, you want to go in with a plan. So set on that goal with a plan and stick to that as far as possible. So in a marathon, 5k, 10k is you can get away with going out a little bit hard and hanging on for dear life. In the half marathon and more marathon and ultras, there's no such thing as banking time, especially in a marathon. You can't bank time early in a race. So a lot of people will go out with this idea of let me go hard, put a little bit of time in the pocket. And when the ballpool hits the fan later on in a race, we now realize, okay, well, if I need to walk the last little bit, I'll find because I've banked enough time. Unfortunately, you've done so much damage early on in a race that your walking and collapse at the end of the race is way more severe than the time that you've put in your pocket early on. So have the race plan. In an ideal world, you want to try and run an even split to a slightly negative split. And I think that is largely dependent though on the routes. Excuse me. So some races might have a lot of climbing in the back end of the race. And if that is the case, then obviously a negative split is almost impossible because you are going to run slower in the second half. Um, but if you can set your pacing up to run an even split with a very slight negative split, then stick to that strategy from the word go. Uh let the pacing buses go up the road ahead of you. Don't panic. Let your buddy go up ahead. The problem with these races is we get to the start line, we feel like rock stars because we've tapered well, we've eaten well, we might have had a good night's sleep. We're so excited, the MCs are pumping us up. And by the time the race starts, for the first three kilometers, we're still dodging people, we're working our way through the crowds, and before we know it, we've actually gone out miles too fast in the first few kilometers. And that's caused damage early on. And if that is the case, you need to be honest with yourself and say, okay, I've gone out too hard, slow down, throw in an extra walk break, slow myself down, and kind of give that time back to the road so that we by the next sort of 5k split or whatever it might be, you're kind of back in line with your pacing strategy so that you know that you have saved enough in the tank for later on on the day. So I would always say stick to your race plan for as long as possible, and then in the last maybe five or 10Ks, see how you feel, and then slowly start to stride things out. Because it's only 10Ks left, you're not necessarily going to take five or 10 minutes off your goal time, but stride it out. And I always tell people, finish strong, have a smile on your face. If this is your first marathon, then even more reason to stick to the race plan and finish strong and think to yourself, yeah, you know what? I probably could have taken five or ten minutes off the time. I know for next time. Um, rather than hitting that wall and crawling across the finish line and hating every minute of it and never wanting to come back and do another. So I think that's really important. Stick to the plan if you've got a plan, um, which you should have a plan, stick to it for as long as possible. Uh, and then in the last couple of case, open the legs and see what the body's got left.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Devon, thank you so much for your time today. I think we've learned some really insightful things when it comes to the build-up, the week of race week for a marathon. We've heard that the time that you've done is enough, the training that you've done is enough. What you do now could cause more damage if you are panicking and thinking it's it's just not enough. Make sure that you are getting enough sleep, your nutrition is still great, your preparation is outstanding, especially if you are traveling to a race. You just said about unpacking everything out, making sure that you have everything, have your checklist. And if you are traveling, doing that way in advance is even more important.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

If I could maybe just add something to that. Um, something that sounds silly, but if you are traveling, so if you're flying somewhere to a race, especially if it's a big event that you've been working so hard for, I'd advise you to put all your running gear and all your nutrition in your hand luggage. The last thing you need is for them to lose your bags on the plane and suddenly you get there and your running shoes are missing. So put all your running gear and everything you're gonna need for race day in hand luggage. So that's one less stress.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Fantastic tip. Thank you so much, Devlin. And it's been fantastic just to talk to you about how it works when it comes to prepping for that race week going into a marathon. Champions Uncovered hopes you've gained some valuable insights and practical tools for you to use in your everyday life. Subscribe to this podcast channel so you can be notified for more Champions Uncovered podcasts.