Back It Up
Salvaging a disastrous marathon
By Kevin Beck
As featured in the April 2000 issue of Running Times Magazine
The plan also requires a firm belief in your capabilities. It may seem unlikely that you can throw your hat in the ring two weeks after bonking at 20 miles. But as Byrne Decker, a 2:26 marathoner from Maine, says, "Some of my best marathons have come soon after blowing up in my ‘goal’ race—the ‘crash’ race in effect becomes a marathon-pace run."
Preparing for a backup effort also demands careful attention to specific physiological factors. "Salvaging a race performance for a better opportunity requires a balance of two elements: recovery and maintenance of conditioning," says Kyle Heffner, M.S., an exercise physiologist, 2:10 marathoner and member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. "The recovery aspect involves determining the optimal point to ‘shut down’ the initial race to avoid a total utilization of physical resources available for the backup effort, while the conditioning aspect means maximizing the training effect of the initial race itself."
It Happens
There are two basic things that can ruin your goal race: bad weather or a plain lousy day. Whichever it is in your case will dictate what sort of salvaging plan you’ll employ.
You can almost always get a decent training run out of a bad-weather day. But if you have great conditions, only to bonk or fall victim to blisters, dehydration or injury, you’re faced with demoralization on top of the physical consequences.
In either case, you should schedule a backup marathon for two weeks later. This will allow adequate recovery time while still preserving your aerobic conditioning. These days, it’s not difficult to find a second quality event, as just about every weekend in the spring and fall features a major marathon somewhere.
It’s wise to sign up for both marathons in advance if your backup marathon has a limited field size. You probably don’t want to select a goal race too late in the spring or fall, because finding a backup that suits your geographical, family and other needs may be more difficult in the relatively
dormant seasons of summer and winter. On the other hand, you don’t want to race too early in the fall or the spring, because it’s precisely then that you may encounter adverse race-day conditions, and be limited by the weather in training.
Scenario #1: Bad Weather  |
| Sunday: goal "race" (18- to 20-mile hard, controlled run) |
| Monday-Thursday: easy running |
| Friday: 4- to 8-mile tempo run |
| Saturday: easy running |
| Sunday: Somewhat long run, about 2/3 of your typical long-run distance |
| Monday: fartlek running incorporating 3 to 5 800-meter pickups at 5K pace |
| Tuesday: easy running |
| Wednesday: 4 to 6 miles at marathon goal pace |
| Thursday-Saturday: easy running |
| Sunday: backup race |