Hi, any marathon runners out there?

[DebbieP]

Just bout to register for my first ever marathon and its held in Greece!
I would love to hear from ny runners ith long distance experience- I have run many half- mrathons but never the full. Any tips out there?.
Better still, anyone else running the Classic Marathon in Athens this November?

 

[Redkite]

No experience Debbie, but just wanted to wish you luck! You've picked a great location 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Only ever done a half myself... Though I know there are a few here who have run whole ones.

Have you checked www.runsweet.com ?

 

[Julia]

Hi Debbie,
I ran the Manchester one last year in 3:37 (my only road effort, prefer off road in general)
Anything in particular you want to know? In the last few miles I took on more carbs (drink) than I planned for - don't know why, felt knackered 🙄 and hoped I wasn't going low (but didn't test mid-run). I was high at the finish line (around 14 from memory) and then didn't manage my levels very well at all after. There was a massive delay in getting bags and it was really cold (don't think you'll have that problem in Athens!) and by the time I checked again (an hour or so later) I was up in the mid 20s! 😱 Given that I normally bolus at least one unit immediately at the end of a run (as I know I have an immediate post-exercise spike), it was hardly surprising (in hindsight) - not ideal and I didn't feel great. I guess there were even more counter-regulatory hormones (glucagon and the like) than normal kicking around from the marathon effort.
Good luck with the training! My mate did Athens last year and had a good time (as in he enjoyed it). Not exactly flat!!!😛
There are some other long distance runners here too who will have some good tips and will manage their levels a lot better than me!
Julia

 

[Julia]

Hello again,
Sorry I meant to ask how you manage your insulin/carbs on the half marathons. Have you found what works for you doing this distance and what kind of regime are you on normally?
Don't think there's that much difference between half and full - mainly mental. Talking of the mental challenge, someone advised me to split it into 4 chunks - 8, 7,6,5 mile "quarters". Not necessarily in speed, but so first "quarter" 8 miles goes quickly, at 15miles you think "halfway", then at 21 miles you think "nearly there!".
Would love to hear from anyone who has done multiple road marathons and what they have found with their blood sugars, as n=1 for me!
And of course, I meant to say welcome to the forum in my first post! There are some lovely and v helpful people here, with all sorts of different experiences and approaches.

 

[Copepod]

Welcome to the forum DebbieP.

I'm another person who prefers off road running with navigation eg 2 day mountain marathons, trail runs, orienteering etc, both competing and marshalling. I have found www.runsweet.com very helpful, for background physiology and case studies of individual sports.

You'll also find more threads about marathons etc in Exercise / Sport section of this forum.

Whenever I hear about long runs in Greece, I think of Helene Diamantides, was in winning pair for 1992 Dragon's Back Race, beating many all male pairs. As Helene Whitaker, she was 4th runner overall and 1st woman in 2012 DBR. see http://www.berghaus.com/community/?p=6794 The man she ran with in 1992 didn't enter the race, but 2 other men and 1 other woman did. A great privilege to be involved as a race volunteer 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello again,
Sorry I meant to ask how you manage your insulin/carbs on the half marathons. Have you found what works for you doing this distance and what kind of regime are you on normally?

Hi Julia

I only have one race (and a bit of training) experience, but here it goes anyway...

Breakfast before the race with bolus reduced to 80% of 'normal'.

Approx one hour before race start, set temp basal rate at 20% of 'normal' to run through expected race duration.

During the race use 'top up carbs' at approx 20-30 min intervals. I used Lucozade and got through one 'normal' bottle (approx 60g).

It was probably a bit of a fluke/beginners luck, but when I ran in March my levels were really good with that system.

3.00am - 7.3
8.00am - 7.5 Breakfast
9.30am - 7.9 Milling around before start
1.00pm - 7.0 Finish
2.51pm - 6.8 Lunch

 

[BigMalc]

T2 man myself and only the one marathon to base any opinion on, and at 5hrs 43 and struggling with cramp in last 10m, probably not alot of use to you.

So will just say best of luck and whilst keep hydrated well, dont over do it on the water either!

Have fun and let us know how you get on, and what you do if it works!

 

[Rudie Scholten]

Running with pump

Hello Debbie, My fifth marathon will be begin august in Monschau in th Eifel Germany. This weekend I did the training there over 33km. Iregulated my pump back to 25% 90 minutes before the start and keep it on that level during the training. The bolus with breakfast was also about 30% from normal. I try to start with a BG from 12 to 15. Directly before the start I take some bread and some dextro. Stops wher at 11 km and 22km.
There I took some time to control and eat another bread, some dextro and an energy bar. Total 60gram of Carbonates. My BG was there about 6.
Training long distances is never a problem. The problem comes for me with the marathon itself. More stress and a higher speed. I will need more carbonetes than my body likes. That is why I am slower with the marathon as with the trainings for the marathon. This marathon is 11 august, I will try an even lower setting with the Veo pump.
Greetings Rudie Scholten.

 

[Copepod]

Welcome to the forum Rudie Scholten. Always good to hear from another active person with T1D.

Have you heard of "MAD" Mountains for Active Diabetics (Facebook group with many members from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, especially, but not exclusively English speaking) or www.runsweet.com (UK based website for anyone with T1D who takes part in sports, not just running)