Raise Your Marathon Plateau

Strategies to help you find your breakthrough race

Most marathoners are aware of the need to load up with extra carbohydrate and fluids before long races and long runs. They are, however, often lax about their day-to-day eating and drinking habits, which can affect the ability to train at their desired mileage and intensity. "If you are training more than 60 miles per week, then you need extra snacks or small meals to get in enough calories and carbohydrates," says Pfitzinger.

Research has shown that the sooner carbohydrates are ingested after running, the more quickly glycogen stores are replenished. Therefore, bearing in mind that as a marathoner-in-the-making you're probably only a few miles away from glycogen depletion much of the time, you should be in the habit of keeping something-a sports drink, some fruit-on hand for consumption after every training run.

Kellogg suggests that taking some ordinary table sugar within the first 45 minutes after a depleting workout, followed about an hour later by a meal rich in complex carbohydrates, is perhaps the best way to replenish glycogen stores. Though many runners don't like to eat immediately after exercising, you can think of it as part of your training, as important as a proper cool-down.

Twice is nice

One common question asked by runners dabbling in higher mileage is: What are the relative merits of running twice a day rather than once, even if the overall mileage is the same?

In simple terms, running twice a day will make you a "stronger" runner, while running the same distance once a day carries purely aerobic benefits not gleaned in a pair of shorter runs. Some coaches and physiologists feel that distributing a given number of miles among more runs reduces the likelihood of injuries, since most non-acute running ailments befall runners toward the end of their jaunts.

The bottom line is that running twice a day is extremely useful in raising your overall mileage, and, based on the results of the current crop of Japanese marathoners and the American greats of the 70s and early 80s, raising your overall mileage is the surest route to marathon success. Says Kellogg, "Consistent high mileage over a number of years is by far the most important element for success in running." If you've never experimented with twice-a-day running, begin cautiously-a pair of easy three- or four-mile runs for a few weeks, then three of them, building on the length and frequency as much as your time and energy allow.

How fast, how far?

It's tempting to pigeonhole long runs into two distinct types (I'm guilty of this myself): "ordinary" long runs done at an easy pace for the simple purpose of building endurance, and MP runs meant to mimic race conditions as closely as possible. But there's an in-between zone with distinct benefits: picking up the pace in the last half-hour or so of an otherwise easy long run to near-marathon pace.