The result you get in a marathon depends on many factors. If you have trained well and with the right continuity, taken care of your daily nutrition, identified a good supplement protocol for the race, and have sky-high motivation, you are definitely in the best condition to get the result you want. However, the last aspect you need to consider is race strategy. What is the best solution: make hay by starting strong and then manage fatigue? Do you start slow and then speed up in the second part? Or do you aim for a steady pace? This aspect is very important because with equal preparation it can give you different results at the finish line. Your goal should be, as in any race, to obtain the maximum result while incurring the minimum possible risk. Environmental factors you can’t control but you can certainly choose a marathon that has a course that suits your characteristics in terms of surface, elevation gain, weather conditions, etc. One of the determining factors in choosing a race strategy is the goal you set for yourself. It is very different if you are simply aiming for your personal best or if you have to compete for a placing or a win. In the first case, you need to adopt the strategy best suited to your characteristics and preparedness condition. In the second, on the other hand, you have to adapt to the race performance of the other athletes. On average, an analysis of the performance of top athletes shows that there is almost always a loss of speed and performance in the final parts of the race. The decline occurs statistically after the 30th km. This happens all the more for amateurs. After 30 kilometers, muscle glycogen is almost depleted, muscles become sore, and then the level of perceived fatigue is such that it becomes very difficult indeed to maintain performance. In an amateur like you, the technical problem also intervenes because the efficiency of your running when you are tired gets worse, going to increase energy consumption. In a nutshell, not only are you tired and fatigued muscularly but you even need more energy than in the first few miles to maintain the same pace.
Don’t start off too strong!
For these very reasons, a strong start is the least advisable strategy. This amplifies the problems I have just described with the risk that energy depletion is matched not just by a slowdown but by an actual collapse in performance. In fact, the system that has most often ensured the achievement of world records is the opposite. The ability to start at a controlled pace especially for the top of the class is an important advantage. By starting slow they are able to consume a high percentage of fat as energy fuel while retaining some of the sugars for the final miles. For high-level athletes, it is a viable strategy because the loss of running efficiency is marginal-in fact, they are sometimes able to take advantage of the lower body weight in the second half related to partial dehydration. It is often implemented in races where you want to break the record of the race itself or make a world record. By freezing the competition through pacer support, the top athlete can conserve physical and nervous energy and then use it in the final stages. Instead, when athletes compete against each other with no holds barred, the starting pace is often very high to encourage an initial selection and reduce the number of potential competitors. In this case after fast and nervous starts also characterized by changes in pace and repeated attacks, the final kilometers saw the collapse of many competitors and a drop in pace even for the leaders. We return to the pattern of fast start and suffered finish characterized by a drop in performance. When an athlete or the organizer of a competition wishes to set a record, it is important to start at a moderate, steady pace.
The strategy for amateurs
On the other hand, as far as you are concerned, this strategy is much more difficult to implement precisely because of the inability on the part of so many amateur athletes to change pace after so many miles of racing. The difficulty is both physical and mental. On the physical aspects I have already given you some explanations, but the mental aspects are also not to be neglected. This is why it is very important to approach the long and very long runs before the marathon with an increasing number of fractions to be run at race pace. You have to prepare not only your heart and muscles for the effort manche your head to cope and manage the effort. Very often your brain makes you slow down before you really need to. The head must get used to the feeling of fatigue and “competitive suffering” that accompanies the last moments of every marathon. Only then will you be able to react to signs of fatigue and keep your pace up until the end of the race. For all these reasons, the best strategy you can choose is definitely the third one. The one that involves a consistent and appropriate pace throughout the marathon. You should not take risks in the first kilometers or be forced to accelerate in the last kilometers of the race. In other words, the marathon is the kind of race where you have to know before you start what time you are going to run. Only then will you be able to plan the race pace well and manage it throughout while dealing with any moments of difficulty and fatigue that come along. In all of this, you obviously can’t leave out pre and during the race energy replenishment. Even the best athletes do not have enough sugar on hand to finish a marathon. So it is important to stimulate well in training the consumption of fat as an energy source during exertion. You will also need to supplement sugars at set intervals to keep your blood sugar stable and avoid hitting the famous marathon “wall” that occurs when you completely deplete your sugar supply or are totally unable to sustain the technical gesture of running. Train well for your next marathon by taking care of every detail of preparation. But once you get to the big day, choose your race pace carefully to reap everything you sowed in training. (Main image credits: Daxiao_Productions on DepositPhotos.com)