It has been over half a year since I completed my first marathon, as the next Sydney Blackmores Marathon is approaching (well, in another 5 months), I reflected back on my last race, and decided to share about things that I wish I knew before my first ever 42.2k!
- Plan out and practice refuelling
Most people plan out their training weeks before their first marathons (if you don’t, I highly recommend you to look up some marathon training plans because running a 42k without training is NO JOKE!). However, what I forgot to focus on was the refuelling during the race. With any runs that last longer than an hour, runners usually refuel during the runs as our bodies could only store up that much fuel, without enough energy resources our body would find it difficult to continue or even risk injuries. This is when the energy drinks or gels come into the picture. However, not everybody reacts well to these hard cord fuels, especially when our bodies are already under stress.
I made the mistake of not practising refuelling, as I was too confident that my tummy would be fine with the gel, since it had been, during my previous long runs. i forgot that the last time I had a gel was almost a year ago (OPPS….). My tummy ended up cramping and I almost had to stop for nature calls.
Take home message: make sure you practise refuelling during your long run training, find out the brand and flavour that work the best for you, then stick with them!
- Preview the route
Marathon training helps us get ready for the physical fitness needed for the distance,while a route preview helps us mentally prepare for the race. I personally find it easier to plan out my race knowing where and how much the elevations are. For instance, I would save some energy at the beginning if I knew the biggest hill was in the middle of the route, or I would be less surprised to find out that there was another hill at the very end (40k) if I had previewed the route. Knowing how hilly the race was would also help me schedule more hill training prior to the race.
Other than the elevation, looking up where the water stations were located would make me feel less hopeless. It was almost 30ºC towards the end of the race, all I could do was to hopelessly think about ‘where is the next water station!!!’ Obviously, the thirst wouldn’t go away just because I knew where they were, but at least I would be more hopeful as I was expecting where to get water.
- Use Vaseline for Chafing!
Chafing happens often during long runs when there is too much fiction between our body parts and the fabric. The most common spots where chafing happens are inner thighs, armpits, and nipples (more so for male runners). A little hack for this is to cover all these areas with Vaseline, it moisturises and reduces fiction.
- Arrive HEAPS earlier! For TOILETING!
I always knew that people arrive earlier to the race, for warming up. What I didn’t know was that we have to arrive HEAPS earlier!!! Like at least 1.5 hours before gun time, if you want to do proper warm up and, most importantly, empty your bladder before the multi-hour run. I was SHOCKED by how long the queue outside of the bathroom was. I waited for 40 mins for the bathroom, the race had already started before I finished.
Take home message: make sure you factor in lots of time before the start!!!
- It is going to be a GRIND. So just RELAX and ENJOY
I worried about my training, my fitness, my injuries, my tummy, the weather… just way too much that could have done better and gone wrong. Which was fair enough, it was my first ever marathon, I didn’t know what to expect, I would hope that everything was under my control and my training could support me throughout the race. Now looking back, I wish someone could have told me that –
It IS going to be a GRIND, doesn’t matter how much training we’ve done, it is going to be a torture to run our first 42k! Hitting our goals or not, this is going to be our FIRST EVER MARATHON! Which is already something to be proud of, so let’s stop worrying and ENJOY THE RUN!
the HRUNGRY KITCHEN 
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