5 Marathon Race Mistakes and How to Avoid Them!

Let's talk about marathon mistakes. Over the past 10 years, I've run many different marathons, and I've connected with thousands of athletes around the world who have all run a lot of marathons as well. And I've definitely noticed several common mistakes that keep coming back, not just in my own personal racing, but in some of these other races from other athletes as well. So let's discuss what are some of these common mistakes and what can you do to avoid them. One mistake I see frequently is not having a race strategy in advance. If you have a specific goal time, for example, you're trying to run sub-3-hour marathon, you know your average split is going to be 6:50 minute mile, or it has to be 6:50 minute mile. And so at the beginning of a race, many people start out quite fast, they feel really good, and so they might be hitting 6:30 minute miles, 6:20 minute miles. And so actually having a race strategy of, I know I have to hit 6:50-minute miles on average, but I don't allow myself to go faster than, let's say, 6:40-minute miles, it can really help reserve some energy for later on in the race when things get tough. If you don't have a specific goal time and you just want to run by feel, that's totally fine. But do make it a strategy to at least hold back to some extent at the beginning so you're not gonna run by feel and just go out fast because your legs feel so great. It takes quite a bit of marathon experience to realize what it feels like to have energy left in the tank at the end. And so to truly hold back at the beginning so later on you can actually finish a race strong. So when you go into a race actually knowing this is gonna be my goal time, this is gonna be the splits that I'm gonna hit for, and then actually going out and executing and being well disciplined to actually follow your race plan. Of course, there's going to be ways that you can adjust a plan, and if things work out towards the end, you can always pick up your pace at that point. Don't start too fast. One of the most common mistakes I'm seeing out there. Another common mistake that I see is not having a nutrition strategy or a hydration strategy. And this is absolutely crucial for a race. In advance, know what your plan is. How are you gonna intake calories? And actually knowing as well on the course, what kind of hydration are they gonna have over there? You're gonna stick with water and bring your own gels? Are you gonna drink whatever energy drink they might be providing? And have you actually trained with that as well? For example, for my last race, My strategy was to drink water at pretty much every aid station and to take a gel every 30 minutes and a salt pill every hour. And then to remind myself, I would set an alarm on my watch every 30 minutes to go off to make sure I remember to take in my calories. So before your next race, make sure you know what are you gonna do nutrition-wise, what has worked for you in training, and how are you gonna execute that on race day. If you're gonna rely on aid stations, that's all good and well, but make sure you've done your homework. The third common mistake that I see is athletes dressing way too hot. You want to be cold at the beginning of a race. You want to be standing at the starting line and actually feeling fresh. What you want to do is dress for mile 3. Once you're warmed up, that's when you want to be comfortable. You don't want to be hot over there. One strategy for me for races is that I go to a thrift or the week before, I buy long pants, long sweatshirt, and I wear that all the way until 5 minutes before the gun goes off. And then I take it off and I put it in one of the clothing donation bins around the start line. That way I stay warm until the beginning and then I'm cool at the beginning of the race again. If you dress too hot, your heart rate is gonna increase faster. And so you wanna make sure you keep it cool. The fourth common mistake is not knowing the course. Always in advance of a race, study the course. Where are the aid stations going to be? What is the elevation like? One thing that I do is I go on Strava, see if there's a previous race, um, elevation profile. Because if you look at how other people have raced it in the past, you can really get an understanding of how all the hills are, what that grade is, how steep it is. And so study that course so you can mentally prepare for what's to come. For example, for the Boston Marathon, it's really nice knowing when Heartbreak Hill and some of the other hills are going to come up. This goes hand in hand with point number 1 of actually having a race strategy. So truly studying the course and knowing what to expect, it's just going to bring a sense of calm over you. So the more things that you can control on race day the better, because there are going to be some unexpected things that you already have to kind of work through. The last but not least most common marathon racing mistakes that I see is trying new things on or around race day. Race day is not the time to try and experiment new things, and even the days leading up to it are not. And so this is where training runs come into place. You don't know how your body is going to react to certain nutrition, to certain hydration, For example, some of your socks or shoes might actually start giving you blisters. And you find these things out on long training days. You don't want to find that out 2 hours into a race. Another example— oh, really loud truck. Another example is if you've never ran in a certain shirt or shorts or hat before, then don't race with it. If you've never trained with those sunglasses, you don't know how it's going to be in an actual race. It's one thing that it feels okay 30 minutes into a training run, but then if you're actually 2 hours into it, that's when some of these things are going to show up that you haven't previously experienced. I've personally experienced it. I've taken some energy bars that I thought my stomach would totally be able to handle. I took it out on a long training run, and sure enough, it gave me really bad stomach cramps. And at to use the restroom right away. You don't want that to happen at mile 20 of a race when every single second counts for you in order to hit your, uh, goal time. So definitely make sure, do not try anything new on race day. One other thing to mention about nutrition: if your race starts at, let's say, 7 AM, and normally you want to eat 2 hours in advance, make sure to test what it's like to wake up before 5 AM to consume a meal at 5, wait 2 hours, and then start your run. Once again, long runs come into play over here. To summarize this video, make sure you have a race day strategy and don't start out too fast. Number 2, make sure you have a nutritional strategy and a hydration strategy, so know when you're going to eat and drink throughout your race. Number 3, don't dress too hot, so actually dress for mile 3. Number 4 is know your course, actually know where the hills are going to be, know where the water stations are going to be. And number 5, I just forgot number 5, so I got to look back at my notes. I know again, number 5, don't try anything new on race day. So go out on several long runs and test your entire race day strategy execution so there's not going to be any surprises there. I would love to hear from you, what are some of the marathon race mistakes that you have made and experienced, and what have you done to overcome this? Please let me know in the comments. Thanks, and, uh, Have fun out there with your races. Good luck, guys. Later.