Top 3 Marathon Mistakes to Avoid

3 Marathon Mistakes

RTA Coached athlete, Fung Lam, on his way to a 2:47 and new PR at the Berlin Marathon.

Running a marathon is EPIC!

Anyone can do it, but there are a lot of common mistakes that can easily be avoided in order to keep you healthy, maximize results and complete the race in a time you will be proud of.

Here are the top 3 marathon mistakes we often see.

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1. Running TOO Fast

The biggest mistake endurance athletes make is that they run too fast (even when they think they’re going easy) on their “easy” days. As a result, they fail to meet the objective of the training session. Whether it be meant to build their “aerobic engine” or it be an active recovery day. This leaves athletes in the “grey zone” and often leads to them plateauing in performance and / or NOT improving as quickly as they could otherwise.

Being disciplined and having a coach to provide additional accountability helps significantly.

2. Aggressive Mileage Ramp

Week over week mileage should not increase any more than 10% for most runners. Ramping up mileage too quickly or adding intensity too soon, significantly increases the risk of injury.

3. Neglect Fueling & Nutrition

Properly fueling on race day, can make a HUGE difference in how you feel and ultimately your results. However, it should not be done only on race day. A proper nutrition protocol while training will produce more effective training sessions and help you to recover quicker.

Also, fueling while training allows athletes to figure out the correct dosage and the products that agree with their stomach and work best.

Nutrition is composed of 3 parts:
-Hydration - 1 bottle per hr (~24 oz)
-Calories - men: 275; women: 260 / hr
-Electrolytes - depends on product (~700 mg sodium / hr)

(Amounts listing 👆 are starting points and need to be practiced and tweaked as necessary BEFORE race day)