How to Burn Fat for Fuel on Your Marathon Run

There is so much information out there, often conflicting, about how to become a faster marathoner.  What I know from personal experience is that after 16 miles of so, my pace slows.  My conclusion is that I have run out of energy, duh.  But why?  I carb load, I fuel on the way, etc.  I know I can't get any more glucose into my muscles, liver, or blood.  The answer seems to lie in increasing my ability to use fat and sugar better.

 

Here are two really great articles on the subject:

http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/MandBFuelOnFat.cfm

http://www.teamoregon.com/publications/energy.html

 

In short, if you load up on sugar (Gatorade, Gels, Fruit) before your run, an insulin reaction prevents your body from switching to fat.  Also, if you have little glucose left, your body is going to switch to burning fat.  So, I am trying to see how not having my normal banana before a run works to help kick my fat triggering.  I am a week into the change, I'll let you know.

Core Strength Exercises for Marathoners

My Marathon coach, Coach Marcin, shares this core strength training routine. Do this 2 times per week in addition to your regular running. I do it on days I am not doing weights. Core strenght will help you on those long runs and in general make you feel good.

The Core Muscle Strength & Stability Circuit:

Position the watch on the ground where you can easily see it
Assume the basic press up position (elbows on the ground) - as in the picture above

1. Hold this position for 60 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
   Lift your right arm off the ground
2. Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
   Return your right arm to the ground and lift the left arm off the ground
   Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
3. Return your left arm to the ground and lift the right leg off the ground
   Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
4. Return your right leg to the ground and lift the left leg off the ground
   Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
5. Lift your left leg and right arm off the ground
   Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
6. Return you left leg and right arm to the ground
   Lift your right leg and left arm off the ground
   Hold this position for 15 seconds (rest for 15 sec)
7. Return to the basic press up position (elbows on the ground) - as in the picture above
   hold this position for 30 seconds

What do you think?

Arthur Lydiard's Marathon Training Guide

Arthur Lydiard is probably the most well known coach in the marathon world. Linked below is a guide to his training methods created from an Iowa seminar given in 1999. It is worth a read. Simply put, Lydiard's conditioning revolves around volume and intensity. If you train at near your lactate threshold (75-80% of max) with lots of miles (up to 100 MPW) you can move your running game to a whole new level. This meads 10-11 hours or running each week and runs every day.

http://lydiardfoundation.org/pdfs/al_training.pdf

I'm 40-50 mile per week runner with personal best of 3:42 in a hot OKC marathon about a month ago. My next big run is the Chicago Marathon on October 7th. The next few months of this blog will give a first hand account of putting Lydiard's methods to a test with a 45 year old running looking to move from 3:42 to 3:30 in 4 months putting Lydiard type training to the test.

OKC Marathon - A Run to Remember

At the end of April I ran the OKC Marathon.  This is a great race.  The timing was good and the trip short, so I decided to run it.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  The whole city comes out for this and spirits are high.  The run is a memorial to those who lost their lives in the OKC bombing in 1995.  You have to go walk through the memorial before the run.  It gives great meaning to the event.

If I had it to do over, I would have opted for the half.  The route is a long series of very easy hills.  After 20 miles, it got a little old. 

While I set a personal best at 3:42, I am still 12 minutes away from my 3:30 finish goal to qualify for Boston.  A couple of factors came into play.  First, it was but my real issue was bodily.  I started slowing down at about 16 and by 19 I was dragging due.  Knowing I was about to lose it, I searched for a porta-potty.  Finding one open at 23, I have never so thoroughly vacated so quickly.  My pace went up immediately by 45 seconds.  Lesson?  When you need to go, just go.

The real issue here was over-carbing the days before.  Some would argue that this is not possible.  What are you going to do?  You know you need more glycogen stores, but you can not load any more.  I try to answer this in my next segment.  In the meantime, consider the OKC Marathon.