Boston Marathon Countdown

When you cross the finish line tomorrow, pause for a moment to take it all in.  Revel in your great accomplishment.  Then, before too much time ticks away, take in some calories, says Nancy Clark, sports nutritionist and author of "Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions."

"To optimize your recovery and reduce muscle soreness,  you should consume post-exercise carbs + protein shortly after you finish training. The carbs refuel the muscles and the protein stimulates faster glycogen replacement and optimizes muscular repair.

  • Yes, you can buy commercial recovery foods that contain protein, but you can just as effectively enjoy chocolate milk, yogurt, cereal with milk, a turkey sandwich, or pasta with meat sauce. 

  • If you prefer liquids for recovery foods, choose chocolate milk, fruit yogurt or fruit smoothies; they are tasty sources of carbs + fluids + protein. The trick is to plan ahead and have the right foods and fluids readily available.

  • If beer is your fluid preference, be sure to first quench your thirst with orange juice, soft drinks or sports drinks and eat some carbs (pretzels, thick-crust pizza) so you carbo-load, not just "get loaded"! Or think again. Would you be wiser to enjoy the natural high of exercise?"

Whatever your fluid preference, make a big toast to yourself.  You've earned it.

The pre-race pasta dinner is a staple of every major marathon.  It's a convenient opportunity to carbo-load, that is, take in plenty of carbohydrates to fuel your muscles for the long haul ahead.

A couple of cautionary notes from Nancy Clark, a sports nutritionist and author of "Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions."

First, says Clark, "Carbo-load does not mean stuffing yourself."

At your pre-race dinner, you should focus on the carbs, but eat the portions you would normally eat for dinner.

Because if you've been training properly, you've been carbo-loading on a daily basis.

Says Clark, "Carbo-load on a daily basis to fuel-up and refuel your muscles during training. Carbohydrate-rich foods include pasta with tomato sauce, plain baked potatoes, rice, breads, cereals, fruits and juices. Carbohydrate-poor choices include pepperoni pizza, cheesy lasagna, cookies and ice cream. These foods get the majority of their calories from fat. They taste great and fill your stomach, but they leave the muscles unfueled."

So, how do you carbo-load?

Have any of you run a marathon in cold weather?  It's different than a cold training run because you're out there for miles longer, and the cold seems colder in those late miles.

 

Race day is your reward.  Don't forget that.

"You have dedicated a lot of time to maximizing your experience in the marathon," says sports psychologist Dave Czesniuk.  "Remind yourself that whatever happens on this day, what a great day it is. Be prepared to have fun and enjoy random little moments over the course of the race. Enjoy the weather, whatever it may be, and the pure joy of simply inhaling and exhaling. This marathon is a celebration of your life. So celebrate!"

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:  It's too bad the finish line is just that-- a line.  Because crossing it is one of the most rewarding, celebratory experiences of my life.  You'll find plenty to enjoy along the course... but when the going gets tough, try to remember the best is yet to come.

... that is, until you have get on your feet.

On five Marathon Mondays, the enormity of the physical challenge I was about to embrace always struck me on the bus ride to Hopkinton.

"This is a really long bus ride," I would think.  "And I'm returning to Boston on my own two feet."

Once in Hopkinton, you have a lot of time to kill.  Try to kill it in one place, off your feet.

1976 Boston Marathon Champion Jack Fultz, who coaches the Dana Farber Marathon team, says the only physical activity you need is a little jogging to loosen up in the half hour before the gun.  So, you might jog from the Athletes' Village to your starting corral.

Until that point, find a nice spot, lounge around with your running pals, listen to inspirational music.  But don't expend too much energy exploring Hopkinton (and nothing against Hopkinton-- the folks there do a marvelous job.).  You'll need most of what you've got if you want to celebrate in Boston.

You've logged months of long mileage and hard training.  The least you can do is put in a week of good nutrition.

Put down that artery-clogging pepperoni slice and digest this great nutritional advice from Nancy Clark, sports nutritionist and author of "Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions."

"Now that you are tapering your exercise and running less, you might be fearful you will gain weight during this week before the marathon. Keep in mind you should gain weight--it's a sign that your muscles are properly carbo-loaded! That is, for each one ounce of carbohydrates that you store in your muscles, you will store about three ounces of water. Well fueled marathoners can expect to gain 2 to 4 pounds of water pre-marathon. The water will be released during the marathon, and contribute to your fluid needs.

"Despite less exercise, you will probably be just as hungry during the first two or three days of your taper because your (chronically depleted) muscles are finally having the chance to refuel. The carbs you eat, instead of being burned off during your miles of training, will be used to fuel your muscles. This may take two or three days--then your appetite will calm down once your glycogen stores are replenished. Trust me!"

The night before a marathon can be a sleepless one for many runners.  You're keyed up, worried or excited about the race, wondering what key item you might forget to bring to Hopkinton.  You're sleepless for worry... and then worried about not sleeping.

RELAX.

1976 Boston Marathon Champion Jack Fultz, who coaches the Dana Farber Marathon team, says the most important night to sleep is actually the night BEFORE the night before the marathon.

"Actually, the whole week before the marathon, it's important to get to bed early," says Fultz.  And, sorry nightowls, but Fultz says sleeping in isn't as recuperative as turning in early.  "Think of rest as preparation for the next day.  By going to bed earlier, you're better prepared when the alarm goes off."

If you've had a week of good rest, a little sleeplessness the night before the marathon is no big deal.

In case you're wondering, Jack slept "just fine" the night before he won the big race in 1976.

"Our bodies are at their strongest and most loose when we are free from tension," says sports psychologist Dave Czesniuk.  "Get plenty of rest leading up to the race, and on the day of the race, make a deliberate effort to RELAX. Breathe deeply, keep your muscles loose and warm, and remind yourself of things that bring you a sense of calm – the feeling of accomplishment you will have upon completing the race, all the friends and family that support you, etc. During the race, continue to plan for relaxation. Dedicate certain intervals to deeper breathing. Dedicate other time to telling yourself how loose and fluid your muscles feel. Your mind will react to these statements by sending the appropriate signals to the body to relax and feel the flow."

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:  My man Dave knows what he's talking about.  The old saying holds the marathon is 10% physical and 90% mental.  While that's simplistic, it is amazing what you can talk yourself into believing over 26.2 miles.  "My muscles are loose and fluid?  Hey wait... they are loose and fluid!"

Do you know what you plan to wear for the race?  We’ve had temperature swings from bone-chilling to springish this week alone, so you should keep a lot of options in mind.  Think about what kind of food you’ll want to eat, as well as fluids and gels.  I always wore a different pair of shoes and socks around Hopkinton, then changed into my racing footwear before the race.  I also brought extra pins for my number, and an old marathon mylar sheet to lounge on in case the ground was wet.  And of course, my iPod (which I never wore during the race.)

What, for you, is essential in your race bag?

 

The key to a successful marathon is a good pace plan. Seasoned marathoners have a good sense of what their pace should be, of what kind of minutes per mile speed they need to maintain to reach their goal.

It's not uncommon to see runners with wristband printouts listing what their goal time should be at each mile. Personally, I like to do the time calculation mentally - it gives me a nice distraction along the way.

1976 Boston Marathon Champion Jack Fultz, who coaches the Dana Farber Marathon team, says those mile time wristbands - at least ones that break down the mile times by dividing the goal time by 26.2 - don't always work in Boston.

"The hills, and the positioning of the hills on the course make it difficult to repeat the same speed mile after mile. You don't want runners feeling pressure to go too fast on the downhills to compensate for the speed they lose on the uphills."

Fultz says a better idea is to figure out a goal pace and "sit on it as long as you can.  Don't change that pace to compensate for time you might lose at the start or on hills."  By sitting on that pace, you may find you have enough left in the tank late in the race to get the time back then.

If you're a first time marathoner, how do you figure out how fast to run?  Use your long run pace as a gauge...  and remember this bit of advice from Jack Fultz.  In the first ten miles of the race, "if it doesn't feel too slow, you're going too fast."