Been there, done it, got the T-shirt … but still making mistakes! No matter whether you are an elite athlete, a club runner or a novice, it is a guarantee you have made numerous mistakes during your running career, and probably are still making them! Running is a sport in which you never stop learning so here we look at some of the more common, as well as some of the more unusual, mistakes us runners make.
It goes without saying that within the next few weeks some of the more common mistakes will be made by marathon virgins and some of the more experienced athletes alike.
The marathon is the longest common road running distance and it therefore offers more time for things to go wrong, and more time to make mistakes, than you would in a 5km race for example.
Completing the marathon is the sole target for some, but others don't even make it to the start line never mind the finish. Take one American runner many years ago, for instance. He was about to step into the unknown, his first marathon, and as race day loomed he was getting more and more nervous about whether he was up to the task. Had he really done enough training? He had run half-marathons but was concerned when more experienced marathoners talked about the fact the halfway point in a marathon is at 20 miles, not in distance terms maybe, but how many of us have felt great at 19 miles and yet found ourselves going backwards with a capital B by 21?
It continued to play on his mind so to assure him he was up to the marathon distance he ran 26.2 miles around an indoor track just two days before the actual race! He found he had done enough training; he did complete the marathon distance, but only in that training run. Two days later he failed to complete the race.
That's one of the more extreme marathon mistakes, although a true story, but you can bet your bottom dollar that by the end of January many who have been accepted for London are already on the treatment table and losing valuable training time simply because they increased their mileage too quickly.
Experts always tell runners not to increase their mileage by more than 10 per cent per week, or that your long run should not make up more than one third of your weekly mileage. But both rules of thumb will undoubtedly be broken as runners accepted into the marathon suddenly go from little mileage to long runs well into double figures – one of the quickest journeys to the treatment table.
How physiotherapists must love the first four months of the year, hundreds of runners picking up injuries due to increased mileage, and when we do get injured we never like to stop training do we?
“Can't afford to miss any days training, I'm preparing for a marathon”. One or two days off at an early stage of the injury is better than a few weeks out when we make it worse by trying to run through the pain.
One experienced female club runner, good enough to pick up a few prizes, could not shake off an injury a few years ago and was forced to seek a physio for treatment and advice. The treatment soothed the pain, but the advice went in one ear and out the other, for she ignored the suggestion of not running more than two miles per day until he saw her next. The following day she took part in the Orion 15 – a very testing 15-mile cross country race in Essex . Not all running mistakes lead to injuries, but some deserve to! When experienced club coaches set training schedules for their athletes, they assume their many years of wisdom are being respected, that they know more than the novices they advise; otherwise the runner would set their own schedules wouldn't they? If a coach sets a schedule they expect the athlete to stick to it.
So one such coach was surprised when one of his athletes approached him early one week and asked for the following week's schedule. “Why do you need it, we've got the rest of this week to complete yet?” he said. “I know,” came the reply, “but I've already completed the training you set me for this week. I felt good so I added the days together and have done my week's training in three days.”
Another thing London Marathon competitors will have to get right is tapering down, that is easing down the training in the last couple of weeks or so. Ease down too early or too much and the legs will probably feel sluggish going into the marathon.
Going from high mileage to next to nothing is a shock to the system so it is better to at least keep the legs ‘ticking along'. But if you don't ease down enough your legs will feel heavy - and isn't the marathon far enough without doing it on tired legs? It doesn't just apply to the marathon, and not just to relative novices for good standard runners also get it wrong sometimes.
Shoes and kit are another area where runners can go wrong. “The Flora London Marathon is a spectacle, and I want to look good on the big day. If I look good I feel good, so I must get new running shoes and kit especially for the marathon.” Think again! Don't wear anything for the first time going into the marathon, and preferably not for any race.
Blisters are an obvious problem over such a long distance and almost inevitable if you wear new shoes. Tony Milovsorov of Tipton Harriers has run the marathon inside 2:10, but has also had bad experiences in London and once dropped out at 21 miles because of blisters caused by new shoes – so even Britain's best have made novice mistakes.
‘Runner's nipple can be a discomfort to some, and if grease or Vaseline is not applied they can look a painful sight after completing 26.2 miles, and you don't want your favourite running vest covered in blood do you? The message is, don't try anything in racing that you haven't done in training. The marathon is far enough anyway without making it harder for yourself. If you want to stock up on carbohydrates on the night before the marathon, then also do so on the eve before long training runs. You are training your whole body for the marathon, not just the legs, don't surprise it on the day by doing something different. You want to reach that start line feeling great, in the best shape you could possibly be in. But because you have prepared well, and eased down going into the race, you will feel so fresh there is a temptation to go off too hard.
Don't spoil all those months of hard training by blowing your race in the first five miles. You will get held up by other runners in the first few miles, but do not get irritated, they may be doing you a favour. Two minutes gained in the first half could be half an hour lost by the finish if you run too fast and blow up. Remember, if you weave your way through the masses trying desperately not to lose time you will use up extra energy and end up running quite a bit more than 26.2 miles … and isn't the marathon far enough already?
Like many seasoned runners, you will also make mistakes, but let's hope like them you will learn from them and go on to achieve your best.
copyright realrunner.com 2004