Guidelines for Marathon runners

According to legend, Pheidippides , a greek soldier, was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce the result of the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message to the city, he collapsed dead from exhaustion.

The specific legend expresses exactly why a marathon runner, especially an amateur runner should plan the run, know the precautions and learn to identify the danger signals of the body. Today often marathon run of different distances are getting organized even for general sedentary people of different age.

We need to know the necessary guidelines to be adopted especially by the amateur marathon runner. No other sports push the body’s metabolic stress as far as marathon run might do.

First time marathoners-
should gradually increase the practice run from a comfortable lower minimum to maximum 75 to 80% of target distance. 25% practice exercise should be covered by non-weight bearing exercises like cycling, swimming or any such program. It is important that training should not be more than 5 days week where two days must be given to the body to recover from the excess workload. Increase in muscle strength and power help running economy. Weight training for Upper Body, Abdominals, legs will definitely improves the performance.

Regular stretching increases flexibility which will reduce the chances of injury. During the preparatory phase conscious effort should be given to the technique that knees and feet point in the direction of running and the upper body has minimal sideways motion.

HEART RATE:
Increase in heart rate is the main controlling factor for performance. We need to remember the hr is about 5-6 beat lower in the morning, increases at high temperature, dehydration. Anxiety on the performance day also pushes the hr without any physical activity. This is why predicting racing heart rate from training hr is difficult.- many athletes use heart rate to determine how fast to run during a race, then they run quite a bit slower than planned, because with the excitement of the race, heart rate gets elevated.

While getting ready for a marathon, one need to consider the Nutrition; Biomechanics; Physiology; Environment, warm up & Cool down process to prevent from possible Injury.

Warm up-Before any physical activity, warming up is most essential. Many people wonder that during warm up exercise, we may spend some of our limited resources of energy. Therefore they restrain themselves from doing proper warm sessions. It is like transferring fixed account to current account. Whatever limited resources we may have, warm up session makes them available to the working session. Otherwise even if we have large amount of potential energy, it will not be available during activities.

	Gradual warm-up helps to increase the body temperature.
	Increases blood flow to the muscles without causing fatigue or reducing energy stores.
	Increases the speed of contraction and relaxation of the muscles.
	It facilitates oxygen utilization by the muscles because haemoglobin releases the oxygen more readily at higher temperature.
	Warming up process stretches muscle-tendon unit and therefore allows for greater length and less tension at any given load on the muscle-tendon unit It facilitates nerve transmission and muscle metabolism at higher temperature.

The two important physiological reasons:

	Blood and muscle lactic acid levels decrease more rapidly during exercise-recovery than during rest-recovery. Thus, warm-down would promote faster recovery from fatigue.
	Mild activity following heavy exercise keeps the muscle pump going and thereby prevents the blood from pooling in the extremities, particularly the legs.

DIET:
The nutrition includes diets, sports Drinks and hydration process and CHO loading. After the run the focus should be mainly on nutrition and recovery process. The body's preferred fuel for running is muscle glycogen. If glycogen stores become depleted, the result is fatigue and inability to maintain training and racing intensity. Therefore diet during the pre-race training period needs to be high in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and low in fat. But on the day of the event the emphasis should be on only CHO including starches (breads, grains, pasta, potatoes, etc.) fruits, and vegetables.

2-3 hrs before any major run one can consume a CHO rich full meal but at closure to start of the event, it is advised to take limited amount of semisolid or liquid meal like pudding, porridge, blenderized fruit shakes with tofu or soy yogurt or custard to keep one’s blood sugar level maintained.

Athletes who have a "nervous stomach", may find liquid meals easier to tolerate before competition.
Keep resins in your pocket. It will be very good quick supplier of energy during the run, and small portion keeps the inflow of energy slowly.

Pre-game meal
During an endurance event one should aim to drink enough to be sure you lose no more than about 1-3% of your pre- race weight.
Isotonic and hypotonic drinks are recommended.

Sports Drink:
It provides the fuel for muscle, as glycogen stores drop and also fluid is required to avoid dehydration.

Recommended drink for the marathoner - Isotonic drink which quickly replaces fluids lost & supplies a boost of carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate source is glucose in a concentration of 6-8%. 6% drink can be made by mixing five tablespoons of table sugar with each lit of water
In addition to carbohydrates, sports drink also supplies electrolytes which is necessary for replacing the sodium and potassium that are lost through sweat.

For athletes working out for 60 minutes or more, diluted fruit juices and fruit drinks help to maintain the body's energy supply while replenishing lost fluids.

When to drink	Approximate amount
2 hours before exercise	2 cups
10 – 15 min before exercise	2 ½ cups
Every 15 min during exercise	½ - ¾ cups
After exercise	1 cup for every kg lost

DEHYDRATION

	Decline in blood volume
	Increase in heart rate
	A drop in blood pressure
	An increase in body temperature

DEHYDRATION CAN RESULT IN PRONOUNCED

	Thirst
	Fatigue
	Loss of co-ordination
	Irritability
	Dry skin
	Decreased urine output
	Elevated body temperature

EFFEECTS OF DEHYDRATION

	Heat cramp
	Heat exhaustion
	Deadly heat stroke
	Electrolytes (so?ium & chlorine ) losses occur together with water loss.

INJURY

	Knee pain
	Dehydration
	Blisters
	Quadriceps pain
	Muscle cramps
	Exercise-associated collapse
	Muscle strain
	Skin abrasions
	Hematomas
	Lightheadedness
	Gastrointestinal (GI) distress
	Back or joint pain

HYPERTHERMIA

	Symptoms
	Headache
	Nausea
	Dizziness
	Clumsiness
	Stumbling
	Excessi?e or insufficient sweating
	Confusion
	Other mental changes

Treatment

	Stop your activity
	Sip fluid
	Seek shade
	Ask for help

RECOVERY
The First Few Hours and Days: Fatigue and soreness for hours and days afterwards. Recovery goes backward. At first feel worse than better. Rehydrating, refueling, and reducing soreness-to be done
Keep moving. Moving prevents stiffness. 15- to 20-minute walk is helpful

After the competition

	Nutritional intake following the event should be focused on 3 R’s
	Rehydration
	Repletion of glycogen stores [0.75-1.5 g/ kg BW/ hour (continue this for 4 hours)]
	Restoration of electrolyte balance

Drink and eat.
Refuel with carbohydrates and fluids soon. Drink until your urine runs light yellow or clear.

Ice
Contain swelling in painful areas by icing for 10 minutes or so. Repeat for the next few hours (and days) to combat inflammation.

Fueling and Rehydrating
It takes 3 to 5 days to refill glycogen stores. Go for carbohydrates hard enough after the marathon.

Returning to Training Pace and Speed of work
Take easy according to how you feel. First aim to run without soreness. Gradually go back to original training schedule. Muscle cells take up to a month to recover from the microscopic damage inflicted during a race. A few off days, then a few short runs, then a gradual increase in weekly mileage until you reach your normal, pre-marathon peak level.

Post-Marathon Cold
One in seven marathoners will get a cold during the first two weeks after the marathon.
The intense level of marathon racing lowers immunity temporarily to upper-respiratory tract infections