Top marathon mistakes list

lvrunner

#1   Too little training base ~  not having sufficient running background, and/or planning too short of a training schedule.

#2   Too much too soon ~ trying to increase mileage and/or intensity too quickly.  Usually a result of #1 and ambition.

#3   Not having a plan, or choosing an inappropriate plan for your experience.  There is a reason for 'novice' and 'advanced' programs regardless of your athletic ability.

#4   Training FOR a time rather than FROM your current fitness.  Your body doesn't care how fast you WANT to be, it only knows how fit you currently are.

#5   Running 'easy' runs too hard.  It does nothing for fitness, only hurts recovery and increases injury risk.

#6   Running 'hard' runs too easy.  Usually a result of #5; fatigue plus aches and pains result in ineffective speedwork.

#7   Not taking care of aches before they become injuries.  When your body sends you signals; you should listen.

#8   Trying to 'cram' training.  This is often a result of lost training due to injuries, unrealistic schedules or failing behind over optimistic goals.  If you CAN cram in an extra training without cost, you didn't choose a good plan to start with.

#9   Poor tapering.  Tapers aren't magic, they are designed to allow you to recover from hard training without losing fitness.  A taper should match YOUR training plan and YOUR recovery rate.  If I had to choose, I'd show up healthy and undertrained, but super long tapers aren't necessary if you haven't been pushing yourself really hard.  Showing up tired is a disaster.

#10  Poor pre-race planning.  Get yourself to the start line in plenty of time with a good night sleep, all your necessary gear, having eaten stuff you are well familiar with from your long runs.  A little planning will save a lot of stress.

#11  Unrealistic goal pace.  By race day you should have an idea what pace you could hold under IDEAL circumstances, then you need to assess how conditions will affect it.  MOST beginners are too optimistic, but some are too conservative.  The online 'calculators' are on average, VERY OPTIMISTIC.  Note ~ even if the goal pace WOULD BE realistic in perfect conditions, heat/humidity or illness/injury can make it unrealistic.

#12  Running faster than plan.  Even people who pick realistic times often ignore them in the excitment.  Worse yet are those who go out faster than their already optimistic goal pace.  'Banking time' is BAD plan.  Erratic pacing is bad.  Be honest with yourself and run the goal pace (adjusted to the course).

#13  Poor hydration/nutrition.  You should take in (familar) nutrition on a schedule (based on your training runs) ~ Early and often in small quantities IMHO.  You should also take in hydration by thrist.  Pay attention to your thrist and drink when you are thristy, but DO NOT drink out of habit on a schedule.  Both underdrinking and overdrinking will cause problems big time, but overdrinking is more dangerous.  Taking in too little nutriton will slow you down, taking in too much might make you nauseous or force unpleasant pottie stops.

#14  Not taking responsibility for your own pace.  Even if there are pace bunnies (pace leaders), it is still YOUR race.  I don't even know if marathon pace leaders exist in Asia.  They are often your best ally because they run smart, but sometimes they have bad days (bad plans) too.  Make sure you double check your pace and follow your plan if they aren't running the way you want.

#15  Trusting a GPS device.  They are PRETTY accurate IMHO; accurate enough for MOST purposes, but they will NOT give you the right distance on a marathon (except by weird chance).  Take a pace band and pay attention to course markings; you will SEE the errors start to creep in, believe me!  Don't trust the Garmin 100%.  BTW, I wear one too and love it but I don't trust it.  And I just sold my 405.

#16   REMEMBER ~ The whole point is to have fun out there and enjoy your race and challenge yourself.  This isn't a 10K but 4X the distance.  You pay to enter the race, nobody pays you to run the race !!!  PLEASE don't lose sight of the big picture !!!!

Finally, I know there are many of you guys and gals doing the Macau marathon next Sunday (12/6).  And I will be doing the all new Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon on the same day.  There is a mutual agreement between these two marthons to be run on the same day in both gambling cities.  Except ours has a 7 hours time limit, the Macau one only has a 5 hours time limit, it will be tough and stressful for 1st time runner with such short time limit.  Anyway, good luck to everyone!!  Enjoy and have fun out there !!!

[ 本帖最後由 lvrunner 於 2009-11-29 16:57 編輯 ]

ChARsoN

Thanks for sharing~
I'm going to run the first full-marathon race in my life next year~

awyh

原帖由 lvrunner 於 2009-11-30 05:37 發表

                               
登錄/註冊後可看大圖

#15  Trusting a GPS device.  They are PRETTY accurate IMHO; accurate enough for MOST purposes, but they will NOT give you the right distance on a marathon (except by weird chance).  Take a pace band and pay attention to course markings; you will SEE the errors start to creep in, believe me!  Don't trust the Garmin 100%.  BTW, I wear one too and love it but I don't trust it.  And I just sold my 405.

呢點完全同意！

不過其他問題，有齊晒係我身上喎，點算？

Fox

Thanks for sharing,

佐治男孩

Nice list.  I was fortunate to hear from folks like you prior to my first Marathon last year and managed to avoid almost all of them.

For point 15, I don't completely agree.  I think we can be slaves of pace bands easily.  I regretted paying too much attention to my effort-adjusted pace band.  It took me out of my natural rhythm.  For my upcoming Marathon this Sun, I will just use GPS as a general guide on my pace and forget about the pace band.  And definitely not trying the effort-adjusted pace band again.

Also, I found that carrying a small bottle of sports drinks for the first few miles really help.  In early miles, the water stations are probably crowded.  Not having to stop and fight for the drinks get me into a nice rhythm early in my first Marathon.

But again, at Boston, I was probably not focused and put my sports drink into my checked bag.  Not having enough sports drinks, I cramped up after mile 19.