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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Hitting the Wall and …
… How to Run Through It!

Posted April 23rd, 2007 at 5:09 PM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Motivation, Training Tips

A note from TFS: Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to The Final Sprint. Make sure to also check out “Jim2’s Running Page”, his own personal running and advice site.

cartoon run into wall.jpg Below you will find his latest post about getting past the wall . . . It’s a must read for any marathon runner!

…Don’t depend on what you eat or drink during a marathon to get you past the wall! Gels and powerbars certainly aren’t “the only way to make it past the 20 mile wall” . . . In fact, they play a relatively small role in determining how hard you hit the wall and how well you deal with it.

Sure, you need to stay hydrated (drink water) during the race or you will be in big trouble toward the end….that’s a no-brainer. And the sports drinks that first appeared in marathons about 17 years ago….they weren’t available for the first 90 years in the history of the modern marathon….do help to further prepare you to deal with the latter part of the race. Do gels and power bars help even more? As you can tell from my previous post, I have serious doubts.

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Scaling the infamous “Wall”
Part I: Marathon preparation

Posted January 30th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Paul Petersen

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

wall.JPGI vividly remember my first marathon. I can still visualize the preparation, the excitement and anticipation, the effortlessness of the first half of the race … and the pain and agony of the last eight miles!

I hit the “Wall” during my first marathon, and I hit it hard! By the brutal end, my pace slowed by nearly two minutes per mile, and my second half of the race was 16 minutes slower than the first. Parents covered the eyes of their children as I lurched by them, and grown men wept at the sight of me. It was ugly.

I’d like to say that this was an isolated incident, but it happened in my next three ‘thons as well. Finally, I decided enough is enough, that I was either going to learn how to remove the Wall, or stop running marathons altogether. Needless to say, I preferred the first option, and began studying up on how to scale the Wall.

First, what is the “Wall“? Our bodies are primarily fueled by high-octane glycogen (carbohydrates) during a marathon. The other fuel we use is fat, which uses oxygen less efficiently. Our bodies tend to burn off the glycogen first, and once that is depleted, it will switch over to fat. This causes you to slow down, feel fatigued, and hit the “Wall”.
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The longest, long run in marathon training

Posted December 26th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

marathon-training.jpgThere are two distinct camps among runners on the length of the maximum long run during marathon training. There are those who believe that it’s best to run 26 miles (and even longer) in training for a marathon … and then there are the rest of us. I am on the “doubting Thomas” side of the fence. Let me explain why.

I do not subscribe to the generalization “to race the distance … train the distance” for all runners and all distances. For instance, to take it to an extreme, do ultra runners “train the distance” while preparing for a 50 or 100 mile race? How about for a 6-day endurance race? Of course not.
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