MARATHON COUNTDOWN:With less than five weeks to go to the Dublin marathon, Emmet Malonelooks at where you should be now regarding your training
Personally, I didn't really need any confirmation but the fact that I hadn't exactly maximised my distance running potential last year was reinforced when I arrived home a little bleary eyed from a concert on the Saturday night before the race and read the piece by John Treacy in this paper's special race supplement in which he suggested that nobody who had a pint in their hand a month before the big day could be considered a real marathon runner.
Still, I achieved my own target time of just under four hours some 36 hours later and, after a disappointing 10-mile race in midsummer, it was a decent run in the half-marathon that convinced me that five months of training really might have a happy ending.
Those who did well on Saturday in the Phoenix Park, where a record 4,500 took part in the half-marathon, will doubtless feel the same way but as Adriele Prina-Mello, an experienced runner and specialist marathon coach at Dublin club Crusaders, points out, you needn't necessarily have done well to get something useful out of the last big race in the countdown to this year's Adidas Dublin marathon.
"If it was not good, then you have to analyse what went wrong," he says. "Was it physical or mental? Either way, unless it's a serious problem there should still be plenty of time to recover. If it's physical, consult a specialist. If it's mental, the super long run will fix it if you go out with the proper attitude."
For Prina-Mello, the "super long run" is the culmination of all the tough work would-be marathon runners do to build stamina in the months leading up to the race. It is the pinnacle of your preparations and after it you should start the process of winding down or tapering so as to allow your body recover from all the exertion in order to have it in good shape for the biggest test of all.
"The half-marathon is good preparation," he says. "There are some tough hills with good stretches that allow for recovery in between. If you've come through the weekend without any problems then you should be happy as you head into your last few weeks.
"Really, at this stage, you should only be thinking about doing one more long run, probably next weekend, and my advice would be to think less about the distance that you run and more about the amount of time you run for or time on your legs. Ideally, you should look to do exactly the time you expect to do in the marathon, you should run it more slowly than you will in the marathon itself but the distance is not so important and you should also allow five minutes every hour to stop, take water or gels and do some stretching.
"It seems a lot to ask to go out and run for maybe five hours. It might seem very boring but a few weeks later you will be running around the course wearing the smile of someone who knows they can do it."
In addition to helping 15 or so members of different abilities at the Irishtown club to prepare for next month, Prina-Mello, who has completed about a dozen marathons himself, conducts distance coaching with runners in Italy, the US and the Netherlands. He's also off to the Berlin marathon in the hope of bettering his 2:40 personal best so right now he's aiming to practise what he preaches.
"After your last really long run you should wind down, to 70 per cent, then 50 per cent because really, your training is done," he says. "In the last week or two you need to make sure that you get plenty of rest so that your body can recover as much as possible.
"During this time you should get a massage if you can, even if you have had no injury problems you will feel the benefit: it's like a warrior going to the arena, it gives you an extra boost. And if you have had blisters or a problem with your knee, or anything else that might prove a major problem during the race, then you need to try to sort these things out with the help of the professionals.
"The weekend before the race you should run no more than 70 or 80 minutes but you should use the run as a dress rehearsal for your marathon. You should get up at the same time, eat the same breakfast and run in all of the same gear. Ideally, you will look to wake up three hours before the race time, eat and then go back to bed and relax. In terms of your racing gear, it's best to have done your last long run in it and you should have run at least three times in it because it is important to make sure it will not cause you any problems in the race."
If you haven't given much thought to your diet yet, he suggests trying to eat more carbohydrates (brown rice and wholegrain pasta are the best) and drinking more water. He urges anyone preparing for a marathon, especially if it's their first, to be realistic about what it is they can achieve.
If Saturday went well then don't let yourself in for a disappointment by making the mistake of expecting to do twice the distance in twice the time; you should add another 10-15 minutes to get a more accurate idea of what you are on course for. If it did not go well, and you realise you haven't done enough work to achieve your original target or if some other factor beyond your control changes, such as the weather is warmer on the day than you had hoped, then you have to lower your expectations, he cautions.
"Think clearly about what you are capable of and plan accordingly," he says. "Slow down in the first half of the race so as to conserve your energy for the challenges to come from Milltown Road on. Like a mountaineer going to climb a great mountain, approach base camp slowly and then use what's left of your energy for the assault on the peak."