How Long Is A Marathon? Marathon In Kilometer and miles

The first question that anyone who is considering challenging themselves to a marathon is likely to ask is “How long is a marathon?” The question is an easy one to answer; 26.2 miles long. That translates into 42.195 kilometers.

The distance is an odd number, but one that dates back to the run of Pheidippides, who was a Greek soldier famed for running across the country as a messenger who survived the Battle of Marathon.

It is run to commemorate his run back to the city of Athens to tell his tale.

1908 Summer Olympics in London

The International Olympic Committee agreed in 1907 that the distance for the 1908 London Olympic marathon would be about 25 miles or 40 kilometres.
The organisers decided on a course of 26 miles from the start at Windsor Castle to the royal entrance to the White City Stadium, followed by a lap (586 yards 2 feet; approximently 536 m) of the track, finishing in front of the Royal Box.
The course was later altered to use a different entrance to the stadium, followed by a partial lap of 385 yards to the same finish

The modern 42.195 km standard distance for the marathon was set by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in May 1921 directly from the length used at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
The original marathon was traditionally a road race, but as runners began desiring an advanced challenge, and wanted to test their will, trail courses, hills, mountains, mud and just about every other obstacle has been added to the list of marathon races available.

What Is Endurance Running

The question "What is endurance running?" is a very subjective one. Some people would insist that running to the end of the mailbox requires a lot of endurance.
Endurance running is different for everyone and every running level.
For those who are runners at heart, endurance running is somewhere in the range of eight to ten miles, 12 to 16 kilometers. For seasoned athletes, however, it could mean 50 miles (80 km) or more.

The definition is really relational to your perspective, how natural running comes to you, and how long you have been doing it. Some people run all their lives who barely break a sweat and think of a ten mile run as a quick one

while others believe that a five-mile run is a significant challenge. Almost like the glass is either half full or half empty, endurance running is defined by the runner themselves.

If it is a challenge to you, then it is likely to test your endurance. Don’t try to define it, just go for it, go hard, and go as long as you can while still enjoying the ride.

 

Preparing For Your First Marathon

Often people announce their intentions to run a marathon as if they are running for office. Likely, they make the commitment aloud to their friends and family to confirm for themselves that this is something they are ready for.

If you are willing to try your hand at one of the biggest challenges of a lifetime, and one that you can carry in your preverbal back pocket forever, then the first step to preparing for your first marathon is to have a good mindset about it.

Keeping it light and incorporating the goal into your life instead of making it your life, is an excellent way to approach the big race.

Don't be too hard on yourself

The key to training is not to put too much pressure on yourself. Committing to a marathon is a big deal, but you have to put it into perspective.

Often people psyche themselves out, go at it too hard, or make it such an obsession that it becomes more punishment than enjoyment.

The second step is to enlist the help of other people in your life. Whether it is those people who love you and will keep you honest when you just don’t feel like keeping on anymore, or it is a trainer who is knowledgeable about what steps to take to prep

find the most supportive crew to push and encourage you to the finish line.

Enjoy the training as much as the race

Training for a marathon is like any big challenge in life, it isn’t going to be easy, but no worthwhile accomplishment is.

Prepare for your marathon run by staying positive, not overdoing it, and remembering above all, you are human, and if something should happen along the way, there is always another marathon right around the corner to try, try, again.

A runner knows that it isn’t as much about the finish line as it is the joy of getting there. Don’t be in such a hurry to cross it that you fail to recognize the accomplishments you have made along the way.

Cr: worldsmarathons.com

بخشی از زیبایی دویدن در سادگی آن است. شما نیازی به تجهیزات خاصی ندارید. تنها چیزی که نیاز دارید عزم و اراده و پاهایتان است. در عین حالی که این فوق العاده است، ما اغلب به سادگیِ عمل اجازه می‌دهیم تکنیک را تحت الشعاع خود قرار دهد.
At one point or another, most runners hit a plateau in pace or even become injured.
One solution to these issues could lie in your cadence.

WHAT IS CADENCE?

Put simply, cadence – also known as stride rate – is the number of steps a runner takes per minute (SPM). It’s the most common metric used to measure running form and remains important for several reasons.

For starters, the shorter your stride length and the quicker your stride rate, the faster and better you run. If you have a low cadence, you likely also have a long stride. Runners who overstride tend to lock their knees and slam their heels to the ground on every step.
This slows you down, creates a choppy, bouncy gait, and puts extra pressure on muscles and bones, making you more susceptible to injury.

By increasing your cadence, you’re doing more than moving your feet faster; you’re changing the positioning of where your foot lands. Rather than having your foot land in front of your hips, with a higher cadence, it lands underneath you – in your center of gravity.

This naturally decreases your stride length and increases your turnover, which means you’re wasting less energy moving up and down (from the ground to the air and vice versa). Rather, your body is focused on moving forward, making you faster.

When you increase your cadence, you also limit the force with which your body hits the ground. If you have a low cadence, you’re spending more time up in the in-air displacing your body mass so you hit the ground much harder than if you had a high cadence. The more steps you take per minute, the less time you spend in the air, equaling a softer impact on landing.

FINDING YOUR CURRENT + OPTIMAL RUNNING CADENCE

For many years, running experts encouraged runners to increase their stride rate to 180 SPM to achieve optimal running economy. This was based on legendary running coach Jack Daniels’ analysis of the strides of elite distance runners at the 1984 Olympics. He found the fastest and most efficient runners had a cadence of at least 180 SPM, with some runners reaching as high as 200 SPM.

But more recent studies show cadence is not one size fits all. Your optimal cadence depends on several factors, including your height, weight, and running ability. Cadence also varies based on the type of run you’re doing. A training or long run cadence will be slower than a speedwork or racing cadence, so you should determine your base cadence for your different types of paces (easy, normal, tempo, marathon, etc.).

To do this, find a smooth, flat surface. A track or long stretch of road works perfectly. From there, you have two options. You can:

• Use the Wahoo Fitness app paired with a TICKR X heart rate monitor to automatically calculate your cadence – no math or counting required – by just running as much or as little as you like.
• Count your steps as you run. You don’t need to count both feet touching the ground for an entire minute, just count the number of times your right foot hits the ground in 30 seconds and multiply it by four. Repeat this a few times to ensure accuracy.

Note you’re more likely to run naturally and less likely to adjust your cadence, whether consciously or not, when you run with the Wahoo Fitness app than when you’re concentrating on counting your steps. It’s similar to breathing – once you start focusing on it, it’s all you can think about it.

INCREASE YOUR RUNNING CADENCE

Now that you have a number, you can work on increasing your steps per minute for your different types of runs.

Simply take one of your base steps per minute and increase that by 5 to 10 percent to find your personal goal cadence number. For example, if your base running cadence is 162 SPM, your goal cadence should be between 170-178 SPM.

Even if it’s not as fast as the elites, this small increase will still improve your running performance and reduce your chance of injury.

And, like anything with running, it’s crucial you take it slow. You can’t increase your cadence overnight and if you try, you’ll likely get injured. It can take up to two months for your body to adapt to a faster cadence and for it to feel normal. Don’t increase your cadence for your entire run. Increase your cadence either by time one minute of a faster cadence followed by three minutes of your base cadence – or by Distance: run every third mile or so at a faster cadence.

Once that starts feeling like second nature, increase it slightly again and again until you reach your personal goal cadence number.

Some additional tips that can help you increase your steps include:

• Run to a beat

  One of the most old-school yet effective ways to increase your cadence is by using a metronome; a device that produces a set number of beats or clicks per minute. Instead of counting your steps, you run to the rhythm where each beat equals a step. Don’t be surprised if after a while you start hearing the metronome rhythm in your head without it actually playing.

• Focus on smaller steps, not on running faster

  Speed will come naturally after you increase your cadence. For now, think baby steps, literally. A treadmill is a great place to practice as you can set the pace.

• Track your progress in real-time with the Wahoo Fitness app or on the RIVAL Sport Watch.

  Remember that it’s important not to increase your SPM too much, too soon, and the app can help you stay on track.

• Do workouts geared specifically for faster turnover

  Workouts like downhill sprints and running in place train the muscles in your body to move quicker.

Runners of all abilities, from beginner to advanced, can benefit from working on their cadence. While adjusting your stride might feel a little awkward and unnatural at first, if you stick with it, you’ll be on your way to becoming a faster, less-injury prone runner.

Cr: eu.wahoofitness.com

The marathon brings many of those experiences to each and every one of us, but we are told that if we use energy gels , running will be much less miserable, and we will feel better in those final few miles of a race.

Is there a best energy gel for running?

Today, we’re going to outline exactly how energy gels and other carbohydrate supplements work, which will help you understand exactly when and how often you should be taking them to help you find the best energy gel for you.

Why Is It Important To Take In Energy Gels During A Race?

It wasn’t long ago that runners relied solely on water, sports drinks, and maybe some flat cola as their primary carbohydrate supplement during marathons and half marathons.
Dick Beardsley told us about how he would grab a cup from a spectator in a marathon, look to see if it “looked” clean, and if so, drink it…and this is someone who almost won the Boston Marathon and was the feature of Duel in the Sun, one of the greatest Boston marathon finishes of all time.

You probably know by now that we like to think of ourselves as Boston marathon central, so we loved that story.
Luckily, our understanding of sports nutrition (specifically how glycogen is used during the marathon) has improved to the point that we now have an unlimited number of products to choose from, each designed to speed glycogen to our working muscles.
The problem these days is not in finding a glycogen delivery product, but rather in finding the best energy gel for you and then developing a strategic nutrition strategy to make sure you take in enough energy on race day.

Your body needs a lot of energy to run a marathon

Your body uses two primary sources of fuel to feed the muscles when you’re running – fat and carbohydrates.
Fat is a largely abundant resource, but is broken down into usable energy slowly, making it an ineffective fuel source when running anything faster than about 60-70% of your VO2max (roughly equivalent to your aerobic threshold or marathon pace).
Therefore, your body relies on carbohydrates as its primary fuel source when racing.

Here’s the deal: The faster you run, the greater the percentage of fuel will come from carbohydrates.
The problem with carbohydrates is that we can only store a limited amount in our muscles – even when you complete the perfect nutrition marathon taper. Typically, we can store about 90 minutes of muscle glycogen when running at half marathon pace and about 2 hours when running at marathon pace.
So, if you’re not an elite, you’ll be running out of muscle glycogen long before you cross the finish line.

What do energy gels do?

They are designed to replenish carbohydrate stores that are depleted when running.
Sounds like energy gels are a savior, right?
Unfortunately, energy gels don’t provide a simple one-to-one replacement (something you won’t read on the label of your favorite gel) because the glycogen we ingest from gels doesn’t always make its way to the working muscles.

Why?
Because carbohydrates are stored in both the muscles and the liver and your performance on race day relies on using the glycogen stored in the muscle.
For glycogen to make its way to the muscles, it must first be digested, make it’s way through the intestinal wall, and then absorbed by the muscles.
This process takes time and isn’t very efficient.
However, gels will often “wake you up” in a very noticeable way because our brain only runs on the glucose stored in the liver.

What’s the bottom line?
energy gels help replenish the glycogen and calories you’re burning when racing hard.
Energy gels aren’t very efficient or a simple one-to-one replacement, so timing and frequency are critical factors to avoiding the bonk.

Should you take an energy gel for running a half marathon or 10k?

We recently looked deep into the research about races half marathon and under, and we had some interesting findings that showed even just swigging a sports drink (without swallowing) is enough to give you a boost in a shorter race.
Here’s what we found: A 5k is definitely too short to need carbs, either before or during your race

When it comes to a 10k, it will depend on how quick you are. If you are able to run the 10k under 40 minutes, you do not need to take on any carbs, but if you run between 45-60 minutes, you should take a swig of a sports drink if you feel like you need to.
The benefits of taking on fuel do not make too much of a difference until you are running for 60-75 minutes though, so if you are running under that, there is not really a big need for it, unless you want to take something to wake you up!

When Should You Take Energy Gels For Running?

If only there was a simple answer to this, but:
Just like almost every facet of running, the timing of when you should take your gels is individual.
Each runner absorbs and processes carbohydrates at a different rate – some can feel the effect within three minutes while others might take up to 15 minutes. This variation in absorption rate has to do with how efficient your stomach is at digesting carbohydrate and the type of carbohydrate you’re consuming (which we cover in this article).

This is important: When running hard, your body often diverts blood away from the digestive track to help give your legs more blood (and therefore oxygen).
Sometimes, your body shuts the stomach down completely while other times it just slows down.
This is why it isn’t uncommon to see runners throw up fluids or gels right after ingesting them late into the race. Therefore, you want to begin taking gels relatively early into the race.
By taking the gels early, your body shouldn’t be under great duress and you have a better chance of processing the sugars faster and without stomach issues.

When should I start taking gels?

Somewhere between 45-60 minutes, depending on how well you generally react to gels in training.

Should I take a gel before the race?

Some runners like to take a gel right before the gun goes off.
While there is no problem with this from a physiological standpoint, I find it better to consume a more substantial breakfast, with less simple sugars.
This helps you avoid eating nothing but simple sugar for 3-4 hours.

What’s the bottom line?
My suggestion for breakfast would be a bagel with peanut butter, an energy bar, or oatmeal. Read this article for a full breakdown of pre marathon nutrition guidelines.

How Often Should You Take Energy Gels For Running?

As we’ve already discussed, the speed at which you’re able to digest and process energy gels plays an important roll in how often you want to take them.
Because the digestion process will be slowed or halted the further you get into the race, you need to be careful not to overload your stomach.
Therefore, I suggest waiting about 45-60 minutes between gels before taking another one. Most runners should be closer to the 60 minute mark, especially if they have sensitive stomachs.
The second reason to wait 45-60 minutes between taking gels is that you don’t want to speed too much simple sugar into your blood stream at once.
Remember, the simple sugars from the energy gels will first be absorbed into your blood stream as glucose.
The sugar will stay in the blood stream until absorbed by the working muscles or other organs. If you continue to pump sugar into the blood stream, you’ll suffer the same fate as your children if left alone on Halloween – sick from too much sugar.
The other aspect to keep in mind is that your digestive track is trainable like most every other part of your body.
So
f you eat gels in training, particularly if you do it at set intervals that correlate to when you will take them during the race, your body will learn to keep the digestive track running and you will digest the gel more readily.
This is why it’s critical you practice your exact fueling strategy as often as possible in training.

What Else Do You Need To Know About Energy Gels?

Now that we’ve covered some of the basics of how energy gels work and how to properly strategize a marathon nutrition plan or half marathon nutrition plan, we’ll cover some practical tips that can help you execute on race day.

How to take energy gels if your stomach is upset

Like we’ve discussed, it’s possible that your stomach might shutdown during the latter half of the race.
If this happens to you and you’ve been unable to take energy gels late in the race, try eating only a small portion of the gel, but in closer intervals.
For example, eat 1/4 of the packet every 20 minutes.
You’ll still consume the energy you need, but you’ll give your stomach a better chance to properly digest without getting sick.

ALWAYS take with water

Always take energy gels with water, never alone and NEVER with Gatorade.
Without water, energy gels will take longer to digest and enter the blood stream. If you take an energy gel with a sports drink, you run the risk of ingesting too much simple sugar at once.
Taken together, a gel and sports drink could be delivering close to 60 grams of pure sugar – yack.

Test out flavors and brands to see which energy gel is best for you

Not all energy gels are the same. Some are more viscous, some taste better, and each flavor can be delicious or wretched to another runner.
The important thing is that you have to experiment and find something that works.
At the 2008 Olympic Trials, Desi Linden (Davila) had trouble keeping down her fluids and gels. Everything she took in came back up. So, after fading to the finish, Desi implemented gels in practice, but even that process wasn’t smooth.
During long workouts, Linden would force herself to drink and eat gels, but her system still rejected it.
In her own words: “It was actually kind of disgusting”. However, knowing she could never make the podium if she didn’t figure out the issue, Desi continued to force her body to adapt.
Eventually she found the right combination of gels and fluids to train her stomach to handle the sugars and she went on to run 2:22 in Boston.
Next time you think “I just can’t do it”, imagine what an Olympian would say to that.

How To Make A Marathon Nutrition Plan That Works For You

As I’ve mentioned in this article, there are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to when and how often you should be consuming energy gels .

• How many carbohydrates are you burning and how many do you need to replace?
• How efficient is your stomach at digesting carbohydrates?
• What type of sugar does your energy gel contain?
• Will this need to change later in a race?
• What type of gel is going to work best for you?
• How do you factor in the sugar you take with your sports drink?

 

 

These are the type of individualized questions that make following a generalized nutrition plan difficult. You need to develop a strategy that caters to your physiological needs. That’s why we’re conducting a special Marathon Nutrition Webinar.
During the webinar, we’re going to discuss how to calculate your physiological data (how many carbohydrates you’ve stored, what percentage of carbohydrates you’ll burn, how much fluid you’ll sweat, and more) along with a step-by-step plan in the final few days before the race to help you create a nutrition plan that works.

Cr: www.runnersconnect.net