A First Time Marathoner Part 4 – Damn You Pheidippides!

The history of the marathon begins with Pheidippides, a Greek soldier who ran from a battlefield to Athens in Greece to deliver the message that Greece had won the war over the Persians – he then keeled over and died. And that’s exactly what I felt like doing after I got through my longest ever run of 24kms on the weekend – it was horrible!

I learnt a little lesson during this run, something called preparation. It was another typical Sydney summer weekend, hot and humid. So I did as any good Sydney sider does when it heats up and went to the beach all day Saturday to soak it up. Little did I know that I was soaking nothing up, with the sweat dripping out of me all day as I lay there in the sun and me not thinking to bring a water bottle down. I was left dehydrated and sunburnt. And when you’re dehydrated and sunburnt what do you feel like when you get home from the beach in the evening? Yes, exactly, a cider and a couple of glasses of wine!

So Sunday morning the alarm goes off at 6am and I climb out of bed with a nice pounding headache and I think “This is going to be fun!” I managed to get through the first 8kms comfortably enough but from then on it was a battle to keep going. The temptation to stop and walk home was always in mind. I got there in the end, 24kms in a bit over 2hrs. So the lesson is that your long run starts the day before – even a few days before. Hydration, nutrition, sleep, these are things that need to be addressed. As is making sure you stay out of the sun the day before a long run, drinking water and electrolytes days leading in to your big runs, getting enough sleep and staying away from alcohol the night before! I’m glad I experienced this tough run early in my training as it would break me if it happened on a 30km+ day or even worse if it happened on race day. Preparation – lesson learnt!

The problem now is that because this damn Pheidippdes ran so bloody far it means I have to somehow build the fitness and endurance to run an extra 21kms on top of that 24kms aaarrgghh! (Great Ocean Road Marathon is 45km not 42km) So I’d be lying if I said I don’t have doubts about getting through the race. This left me wondering how did they actually come up with this ridiculous distance of 42.195kms for a marathon. What’s wrong with 20kms for a marathon? That would have been much more sane! They aren’t exactly sure how far this Greek soldier ran other than a long way but when the modern Olympic games began in 1896 his legend was revived with a 40km run from Marathon to Athens. The distance of a marathon was not fixed until 1924, it had ranged from 40-42.195kms, with the current distance being set because in the 1908 Olympics the course was from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium which was 42.195kms, so we have the Brits to blame for what I’m sure is a quad shattering last 2.195kms.

This week is a much needed recovery week for me where I will not leave the house without my water bottle and some carbs to snack on and with every run I seem to be learning something new that I hope to be able to put all together come race time.