The purpose of this talk is to get you through the Marathon. The marathon is in you; you are 100% done with the training [physical part], what is left is 90% psychology and 10% luck. [lucky weather, December can be hot] The Honolulu Marathon date was picked not for the coolest weather but for lowest visitor season. Lucky weather means no rain for wet shoes.

This talk takes you through next Sunday (race day) until noon; the talk the Sunday after that will cover the rest – what to do in the off-season, until the clinic starts up again the second Sunday in March.

Enjoy the week, the expo, the tents; make it a celebration of life. Enjoy the 20,000 or more visitors. Attend the clinic party, Friday 5:30pm to 8pm at Dr. Jack’s house.

Depletion – by exercise (last run on Wednesday); in the past, the thinking was depletion by protein-only diet, but current thinking is to eat normally until Thursday. The depletion, Atkins-type diet makes one feel bad, exercise depletes the same amount. Carbo-depleted muscles are tricked into taking up 25% more glycogen than normal storage. After 40-minutes of running the body switches to fat metabolism which in inefficient; works best with about 10% carbohydrate. The muscles have only about 6-miles worth of carbo/glycogen stored at the start. Eating pretzels and drinking the provided -ade drink will replace what we use.

Thursday – switch to eating carbohydrates (low sugars and starches)
Saturday – restrict further to avoid roughage to prevent gas; for example, white bread grape jelly sandwiches.
Sleep – performance follows a 48-hour cycle, sleep in on Saturday if you can, and don’t worry about a sleepless Saturday night and early rise Sunday AM.

Race Day Schedule:
2:00am – wake, black coffee [hot, caffeine]; light meal if you must
4:00am – stop fluid, fast (3-4 hour) runners may bring a fluid to the race start (six ounces of flat, diet cola; caffeine, no sugar); longer runners can wait for the first aid station to drink.

[Beginners – meet Norm at lobby of Ala Moana hotel by 4:00am or, like Rosemary, go directly to at Ewa-most toilet in Ala Moana Park. We’ll walk to the start from ther at around 4:45am].

Clothing: Wear nothing new, expect that even familiar clothes may chafe because race-day tension may change our running style. Make sure you race number is visible on the front for photographers; make a statement with your clothing. Shoes should have around 200 miles on them (not brand new). Use Vaseline [or baby oil] on your feet and anywhere that clothing may chafe. The well-dressed runner is the one that slips off the bus seat.

Race Start – at the gun, take a few sips of the flat, diet soda; dispose of remainder safely. Caffeine speeds up switch to fat metabolism. Stand by the sideline, don’t cross line yet, relax, enjoy the fireworks, settle down. [Beginners – we will walk from Ala Moana park to the sidelines, and then when ready as a group, step through the spectators and cross the start line.]

Pace: Plan to run the first half slower than the second half. Studies show that runners who do a negative split finish 4% faster than those who do not. [The second half begins at mile 20]. Mistakes made in the first ten-miles show up in the last six miles. Write down your pace plan, and if at any mile you are ahead of pace, then walk to get back on track. [Beginners – we’ll pace the first 16-miles at a 15-minute mile, and probably hold that pace the entire day. At Hawaii-Kai, anyone who wishes is free to speed up].

Water Stops: Don’t stop at the first table [Beginners – go to the later tables, get water walk and drink and we’ll all look for each other, when we reassemble, start running again.] Stop water at mile 22. [So, we need to drink 6-7 hours worth of water *before* mile 20; with 10 or 12 water stops, that amounts to 3 or 4 cups of water at each stop]. We say 10 ounces of water every 20 minutes, enough to avoid water weight loss. A loss of 5 to 6% of your body weight puts you at risk of heat stroke.

Food: As with water, all food should be eaten early, since as we tire, the stomach shuts down. But, we don’t need to eat a lot of food; since we are running on 90% fat metabolism. Eat a few pretzels at each water stop; the salt in the pretzels will protect against hyponatremia (low sodium) for those of us on the course more than four hours.

How to Finish: At mile 15, check how you are feeling head-to-toe; if green, hold your pace. If amber, stick to your plan. At mile 18, if green, pick of the pace a bit. If still green at mile 22, then start your sprint. If at any time, things are not green, focus on making the next aid station, and then the one after that … and then the finish. The Galloway method is to walk 4 minutes, and run 1 minute.

Finish: Look good, slow down, enjoy the moment. [Look up at the cameras at a slightly early “false finish”, with banner across the road].

Take fluids – two to three cups of cola to avoid post-race collapse.

Sunday after the Marathon – last clinic meeting for the year. Come to park wearing your finisher T-shirt for the graduation photo!

ODE TUIT
T’was back in march when whom did I meet?
The Honolulu Marathon Clinic
A cachophany of runners…
All so unique!
At 7:30 every Sunday they’d gather,
As to age, sex or size, it just didn’t matter!

I learned Doc Scaff in his entertaining way
Was teaching them the rules of running as play.
Me? Run 26 miles, and do it the same day?
“It can’t be done” they were heard to say.
Deep down I hoped someday I could do it
And I told my friends I’d try, when I got “a round to it”

The faithful appeared come rain or come shine
And eagerly listened to Doc’s every line.
“Do a marathon? of course you can!
So listen up because here’s the plan”

Only 1 hour 3 times a week
Drink beer, eat carbs by the heap
Be faithful, conversational
And get lots of sleep!
Before I knew it, the months flew by
5 miles then 10…wow I’m in Hawaii Kai!
There were bus rides, parties, picnics and fun,
Through it all, I couldn’t believe how far I’d come!
Now with vim and vigor
I’m up at sunrise
I’ve changed my visage
And am down one more size!
Good night, it’s December
And race day draws near!
Have I done enough miles?
Ah yes, there’s some fear.
The starting gun fires,
I’m pulled by the mass.
I desperately keep my pace
So I won’t run out of gas.
Then I wonder, can I make it to the end?
Doc’s words echo in my head as I round the bend.
“Of course you can…
Now here’s the plan”
Go from aid station to aid station,
And maintain your pace
As doc says “water, water, water”
You’ll finish, you’ve got the base!
Though the course lies ahead,
The year flashes past
The friendships, the runs,..
I realize….this won’t be my last!
To you dear reader,
My gift’s from inside
It’s from my heart
Which is bursting with pride.
As you can tell, not only am I into it,

But I hope you’ll be too,
When like me,
You get a round tuit.

Group Reports:
Red Group:
By Jeff Beard
The Red Group was out in full force on Sunday – looked like about a dozen people running with the group. I say “looked like” because I arrived at Triangle Park 15 minutes late – as I was coming around Diamond Head towards the park, they were already running back towards Kapiolani Park! I decided to head out in the other direction – I ran from Triangle Park out to Hawaii Kai and back, for an “easy” 14 miler. I didn’t see any sense in doing 18 miles, since I’ll be doing the NikeTown 30K next Sunday. Cloudy skies and a nice breeze made for a good run – much easier than the last few muggy weeks. For those of you also doing the 30K, I’ll see you at the bandstand around 4:30 a.m. For the rest of you, I’ll see you on the 2nd. Either way, run safe, run aware, and run negative splits!

White Group:
By Blair Hoashi
At 7:00a.m., six hardy runners met at the second beach park to do an easy 14 miler. Gerald, Laura, Dennis, Donna, Rob, and I took in Kahala Ave. on the run in to Kapiolani Park. We met up with a few more runners at the park who accompanied us on the circuit back. Staff leader Ivie, who did the Komen race earlier in the morning joined the group as well. Thanks Nelson for the Gatorade at Triangle Park. For members who are doing the 30K, good luck! For members who will be attending the clinic, we will be doing an “easy” 18 miler.

Blue Group:
By Andy Hirono
The Blue Group decided to do a 17 mile run since we started at 7:00 am. From Triangle Park going around the Hawaii Kai loop we had a nice even pace. We started with about a dozen folks. Coming back, Norman lead the faster runners the last 7 miles back to the park while Andy and Kelly kept pace with the rest of the group. This may have been our longest run of the year as we will continue to do 16 miles the rest of October.

Beginner’s Bits:
Norm’s Group:
By Norm Uyeda
Some of the Beginner’s group took part in a familiarization run of the downtown portion of the marathon. We went through the pre-start sequence for Norm’s group and followed the actual marathon route from Ala Moana through downtown to Kapiolani Park. This run covered the first 6 miles of the marathon and completes the familiarization process for the entire marathon course of 26.2 miles. Runners who have completed the training runs over the course of the year have now done the ENTIRE marathon course from start to finish. Only thing left to do is to do it all in one day…

Good news is that the downtown streets seem to be in much better shape than last year, with minimal potholes and steel plates.

AB’s:
By Fiona McNeill
A group of 18, mostly familiar and a couple of new faces met, at Ala Moana Park, Magic Island today at 6.30am. We ran a total of almost 14 miles, taking in the front end of the Honolulu Marathon route, with an additional run around Kapiolani and Ala Moana/Magic Island Parks. During the run, we ended up waiting around at too many traffic lights, but that gave us all a chance to check the scene. We talked about the Honolulu Marathon start line, what to expect….the usual stuff that most of us already know only too well, but information that the AB’s are completely in awe and fascinated to know. After the run, the beautiful water and weather was too hard to resist and most jumped in for a splash. Good luck to the AB runners who are running in next week’s race.

Tidbits:
Niketown 30K (18.6 miles), Oct. 26:
A good test of your fitness under race conditions. Based on previous years’ experience – starts at 5 a.m.; lots of early parking at the bandstand parking lot; start line by the Kapiolani Park tennis courts. There are bathrooms close to the tennis courts but is usually very busy so use bathrooms by the parking lot or elsewhere.

15:
This is the number of gels Lance Armstrong consumed in his first marathon in NY in 2006. He finished in 2:59… I am sure Doc and your staff leaders have mentioned the need to replenish your energy source. And, many suggestions are mentioned – Doc’s favorite – pretzels; power bars, gels, jelly beans, seedless ling hing mui (my mouth is puckering as I mention it), etc. and of course, Gatorade. On longer runs like the marathon, refueling is essential and the “What and When” will be very important factors. It is a good time to “fine tune” your “eating and drinking” strategy. Check with your staff leaders for suggestions or any questions.

Have a great week!

Blair

You will hit the wall once you run out of muscle glycogen. If you don’t want to suffer the ignominy of a crashing slow down in the last hour of the race, you must wait for fat metabolism to turn on during the first hour. Once you are running efficiently on a combination of fat and glycogen, you can run for a long time at your desired race pace.


There are two ways to think about your race pace: It’s the average pace that you are capable of holding for the race as a whole, and it’s also your pacing strategy. You won’t really know how to predict your average marathon pace unless you have run a marathon recently. Training runs are not good predictors because racing is radically different from training.

In lieu of running a marathon, you could do a series of shorter practice races (up to 30K) or a series of long time trials. Time trials and practice races can give you the experience necessary to predict a reasonable and accurate finish time for a marathon. Once you are able to predict your average pace for the whole marathon, your pacing strategy will determine whether you achieve your personal racing goal.

Do you personally want to finish and enjoy the race, or do you mostly want to compete and perform? The way you answer this question will determine your pacing strategy. There are only two effective ways to pace a marathon, and they both involve going out slowly. But how slow is slow? Our racing experience in BC Endurance Trainings indicates that you should complete your first hour between four and eleven percent slower than your average predicted marathon pace.

The slower you run the first hour of the race, the faster you’ll run the last hour. Therefore, if finishing and enjoying the race is your goal, then you should complete your first hour about 11% slower than your average marathon pace. You won’t finish the marathon with your fastest possible time by using this strategy, but you’ll be amazed by the energy you still have at the finish. And it’s fun to blow by people in the last hour or two of a marathon. This pacing strategy involves a gradual increase in pace from start to finish of the race.

Some athletes are more concerned about how fast they go than how much fun they have. If you are concerned about your finish time, you must run as evenly as possible, while also allowing time for your body to warm up fat metabolism. Our experience indicates that finishing your first hour 4.2% slower than your average predicted pace will enable you to achieve your fastest possible finish time.

Running 4.2% slower than average marathon pace for the first 10K of a five-hour marathon means you will have lost three minutes. Those three minutes can be made up easily in the middle miles once you are running efficiently on fat and glycogen. This is so simple, yet a five-hour marathoner who goes out three minutes faster than five-hour pace ends up running six minutes faster than he/she should.

Beware. Abundant energy and an aggressive racing attitude can wane and disappear by the mid-point of a long race. If you want to finish with a best effort and your fastest performance, you must be prepared to hold yourself back in the early going, shave a little time in the middle miles, and hold on for dear life at the end.
Pacing is the name of the marathoning game. If you can predict your time to the minute, and you can be honest about your personal goals, then you ought to be able to calculate your pace for the first 10K and pace yourself accordingly for a successful marathon experience.

This article is courtesy of Brian Clarke, BC Endurance Training, and is endorsed by the Hawaii Sports Foundation and the Honolulu Marathon Clinic.