3 Tiny Mistakes That Destroyed My Marathon (And the Fix)

[00:00:00] Okay, so this is where I told the guy that I coach Brenton. Don’t grab water just yet, buddy. He still did. Don’t do it. Absolute chaos. No water. Full panic. I was gonna say pro tip. Stay away from the water station in the beginning. This is how marathon mistakes start and no, this time. It’s actually not about fitness.

[00:00:19] In this episode, I’ll break down the three tiny things that Wreck Race Day for Smart Runners, how to fix them, how to train for them, and why they’re way more important than what your watch thinks they are. I am Darren D Lake, running a nutrition coach Sub three hour marathoner, 10 hour Iron Man finisher.

[00:00:35] And since 1996 I’ve been helping self-coach runners get 1% better. Each day, just real tools and tactics to help you run strong for the next 10, 20, hopefully 30 plus years. Let’s get into the episode. I learned so much from that marathon, and honestly, I’m only gonna do one a year. I might break that rule this year because of the top of this episode where we talked about.

[00:00:58] Under training versus o versus over training. Mm-hmm. I actually want to see one, if I could hold my fitness for this year, maintaining a level of pretty decent fitness and then only ramping up for six weeks, as I said before. So this is where most runners start to get restless and mess a whole bunch of stuff up because we’ve been sold this story that marathon prep has to be between 12 and 16 weeks of pure grinding.

[00:01:22] But I’m gonna question all that. What if, what if, instead of building from scratch every time. You just maintain a solid base year round and only go into peak mode for five or six weeks. What if I’m gonna keep it? Absolutely 100 Some to most of us. We’re not started from zero. Especially if you’re gonna do a marathon, especially if you’re watching this channel and you’re this far in the video.

[00:01:44] We’re not couch to marathon anymore. Or if you’re new to running. And you wanna learn how to start running and all the tools and tactics, I have a playlist right up here or below in the video description or in your podcast show notes app. Just open that up and get the link. And it teaches you all the things back to more of the intermediate marathon runners.

[00:02:01] So we’re juggling life, work, maybe some parenting. Definitely a lot of fatigue. And if you’re already in decent shape, why not see what happens when you do less but better and smarter? You rely on your experience. More volume might give you a false sense of control, but it could just as easily dig you into a hole.

[00:02:20] Burnout, overuse, or worse, you show up to the start line tired like I did at this race before the race even begins. So yeah, I’m treating this like an experiment. 25 to 35% less volume than last time going into my marathon. Shorter build more recovery, less chasing a training log and a time and more listening to what’s actually working.

[00:02:39] So going by feel and. Effort versus pace and time and numbers. Those round weekly miles and kilometers, everyone wants them. Anyway, back to what I learned the hard way on race day because I learned so much of how not to do the marathon. Yeah. And it was like, it was so many failures where I was like even the water, water for the marathon, because I don’t do long races.

[00:03:05] I don’t do, that was my first marathon in seven years. I totally forgot how I was going to fill up my water bottle. It was about a week before, because when I do long runs, I could fill up my water bottle at every water fountain, every water station on the park runs that I do. I would go, that’s the water station.

[00:03:20] And I went, I can’t stop and fill up my water. I’m gonna lose 30 seconds, 45 seconds. I gotta make sure that water right random volunteer can pour the thing they have, the, the, the jug, the pitcher ready. Mm-hmm. Like I’d have to put multiple cups in. I’m like. Yo, I can’t do that. I had one of those, uh, gel flas fla, the soft fla.

[00:03:34] That thing ain’t gonna stand, so I have to open it. I was like, whoa, how am I gonna, so then I said, oh, cool. I’m just not gonna have a water bottle. I’ll just go to the drink station after 13 miles, 21 Ks, because that’s when it would, it would run out. It was a cool day. So I didn’t actually need that much water, but with the gels, I needed the water.

[00:03:51] All. So this is a lot to take in. We’re only on number six coming up and you’re probably like, yo, Darren, I just wanna get started on something, man. Don’t worry. I got you. I’ve created an easy to read table spreadsheet, PDF, with a checklist, a quick start guide, and mega bonus, an eight week. Don’t start your race so fast, free mental mind, pull, running, training plan.

[00:04:12] Yes, most of us suffer from starting either too fast or too slow, which is me. Uh, I always do the slow side of things. This training plan will hopefully fix that. All of this is free ’cause I love helping folks out in the world. You scan the QR code right here, click the link in the show notes. If you’re on your podcast player app listening to it or the video description below bonus, you’ll automatically get signed up for more deep dives like this into consistency habits and incremental self-improvement for all the smart self-coach runners out there.

[00:04:43] Uh, so it’s the email newsletter that you’ll get and it comes about once a week. Let’s get back into it. So I’m at, you know, 20 5K mark. What’s that? 14, 15 miles. I run for my first water. I get it. I’m Newing 6 54 fifteens sub three hour pace, splashing. There’s no walking. ’cause every time I walk, I’m gonna lose 15 seconds.

[00:05:03] So I’m like, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash. I go, so 10 seconds and I go, okay, I’m gonna drink. And I’ve got literally. 50 mils, like a little sli. I was like, what am I doing? Okay. I was like, next time I’ll get a full one and I’ll like run like this. Like so I’ll run so that it doesn’t jump right. So I’m running like this, almost tripped, goes out, I’m Dr.

[00:05:23] I’m like this was the moment. Dry mouth, no water. Chewing cliff bar blocks. Of sugar, like they were choke. It’s funny now it wasn’t then It was not. I actually was laughing during it. I was like, this is terrible, but this too will pass. I was worried more about my teeth actually. And here’s the wild part. I never actually practiced drinking or fueling this way.

[00:05:44] I did practice with the cliff bar blocks, but not with the lack of water. I definitely did take down those really dry blocks without water and that’s quite hard to simulate in practice. ’cause I thought, I just assumed I would have water with me. Again, most runners don’t. We assume race day will be the same as our long runs.

[00:06:02] It’s not. Eight stations are chaotic. Things happen. Your hands are my hands were wet actually ’cause I had gloves on and I’m trying to do that running thing. Like I said, your brain’s fried. You’re trying to think the same logic you had in training, but your body’s in absolute survival mode. So the fix, rehearse it all.

[00:06:18] Duh repetitions. That’s how you get better at pretty much everything in life. Practice drinking at pace. If you’re gonna use cups, have a table set up and then you just run to the table and run at pace with the cups. You can try that or running around people. You can like act like you’re running around people Test.

[00:06:33] Whatever nutrition you have, choose gels timing without a drink for a couple of minutes. Definitely don’t do that in training ’cause you don’t wanna mess with your teeth. Get cavities. But see how it feels for three to five minutes just sitting there without, ’cause you might not have water and you need to take down the carbs.

[00:06:47] Try a different belt or a hand set up in actual motion while you’re out. Get used to it. You might not like it, but you go, this is actually the best thing I can do. The race will not last forever. It will be over. So you don’t need to get fancy, you just need to get. Real because the marathon, it doesn’t care how fit you are, it cares how prepared you are.

[00:07:06] But yeah, back to the marathon, it only got worse from there. I literally taking down gels at the 30 5K mark or, or 20, 22 miles in taking down the choose. Sorry, not even gels ’cause I decided to go with shoes. Yeah, the blocks dry. I’m like, I, I missed the water dry. And I’m like, I went, do I go with no, no carbs or do I go with no water?

[00:07:27] And I said. I think I need the carbs, yo. So I’m running dry mouth. I’m like, and I’m just like, oh my God, where’s the water station? Where’s the water station? Where’s the water? So yes, I have learned that I’m gonna run with actually a water belt. ’cause I saw the pacer. Yeah, I went, he has a belt and I hated the belt before ’cause I was like, oh the water.

[00:07:46] I actually hated the water flask ’cause it was something I had to hold. And I was like, I’m gonna be through the bell as much as I hate the bells. So I’ve learned so much from that. Uh, that’s one thing, the training, et cetera. I don’t need as much volume. As I thought to be fit. This is still in the test phase.

[00:08:00] I’m still experimenting. Well, I’ll let you know come, uh, October, November if I do it. So that’s another thing. Um, I wouldn’t say I’m wise on, but I’m experimenting on. I actually can get away with less volume, uh, probably 25 to 35% less volume and which is time, which is great. And I probably won’t be as tired and reduces the risk of injury.

[00:08:19] Yes. Who? Yes. Or just absolute burnout? Burnout and just over, over training, which I actually did hit some, uh, mild over training syndrome. I’ve had it really bad. That was a mild one. And luckily so, yes. That’s a lot, a lot of, a lot of learnings from, from that marathon. How about you, man? For sure. Well, I mean, even just on that, I too was very against carrying anything until I’ve had trip up going to the aid station.

[00:08:43] It’s like, oh. This would’ve all been solved if I just carried my, okay, I get it now. Mm-hmm. I get it Now. If you wanna learn more about what I talked about, hit up the episode below and make sure to pick up your free 1% better training plan and habits guide at the QR code right here at the links below, or the show notes of your podcast player app.

[00:09:02] Peace.