How to Avoid the Wall in Your MARATHON: 4 Top Tips 

I remember a saying a good friend once told me. "The marathon is broken into two equal parts. The first 20 miles and the last 6."

To me it's useful to differentiate between between 2 different flavors of hitting the wall: 1. Lactic acid buildup/muscle fatigue. Usually caused by pacing incorrectly. This can happen at any race distance and is probably more common across the running population as a whole. If you hit this at mile 10 in a half it won't kill you but if it happens at mile 15 in a full you still have a very long way to go and it will be rather unpleasant and you can probably kiss your goal time goodbye. 2. Glycogen depletion. This seems to be mentioned a lot more often but it is pretty specific to marathon+ distances., and is usually caused by insufficient nutrition. I haven't experienced it personally but it sounds a lot more difficult to recover from.

Never realized how important the amount of carbs per hour were until I finally started getting into runs that were over an hour. I used to struggle going beyond an hour of running, but adding a gel every 30ish minutes made a world of difference!

As a 3:03 Marathoner I found this to be a very good introductory VLOG. You’re doing a good job at informing beginners how to avoid a terrible experience.

All said is 100% correct. I have bonked twice in my first few marathons, no strategy, no watch ... and its horrible. Fuel the body and manage your heart rate.

Great tips! So glad I found your channel!

Thanks for the tips!! Really didn't realise how critical gels were in my last year of training until I did a 35km long run recently on only 2 gels and really banked at the end. Going for my first 'official' marathon tomorrow and will try and have at least 4 gels which will hopefully see me through at my target time of sub 4! 🤞 thanks again!

Thanks for the video! Very helpful as a newbie marathon runner ❤

Thanks Jane!! I’m 5 months out from my first marathon.. seriously cannot wait!

BQed in my first marathon last October (Hartford) but bonked at mile 21. Had a sub 3 pace turn into a 3:07. Really trying to make the cutoff for Boston 2025, so I'm doing "pancake flat" Sri Chimnoy in Lake Congers NY in August. I've been doing 13-15 miles per run 5 days per week this offseason

Who has the time to do a 50-60 miles a week! 😮 I have to make sacrifices to run 20-25 miles!

It happened to me, I ran pretty much the last 10 miles with "the wall" feeling. I only trained for about 1 month, which is definitely not enough. I managed to finish in 4 hours and 4 minutes but running on just willpower is definitely not the way to go😅, it was very demanding and draining. I'll definitely prepare better for it and hopefully enjoy the experience more next time. Thank you for the tips.

Thanks so much.

In the past I’ve done a gu every 4 miles. That was ok when I was younger. Now I’m going to try every half hour, especially since I get nauseous at the end. I’m also going to try some actual food this time like I did for my first couple of marathons. Nerves have gotten so bad for my last few marathons that it’s hard to eat. Thanks for your videos!

Thanks for a great video. I’m the king of an 8:45 pace the first 20 miles and a 10:30 pace the last 6. My sub 4 marathon turns into a 4:10 very quickly. I’ll try your advice with slowing down and consistent long runs in training. Thanks for the video!! And good luck at Boston!

3:59 The heart doesn’t necessarily get “larger” as you exercise like other muscles might. The walls become more elastic and the effective volume of the ventricles gets larger. Also, the heart doesn’t have a higher stroke rate from exercise and likely the opposite. It does have a larger stroke volume, the amount of blood the heart pumps per beat.

Preparing for my 1st (and quite possibly ONLY) marathon in March (personal goal before I hit a milestone birthday) and I'm so glad I found your channel. I've been toying around with carb sources during long runs, but I'm curious if there are any substantial "food options" instead of relying on liquid/gels? I spotted Honey Stinger waffles and was curious if they're worth a try to have on hand. Anything else that might work in your experience? New subscriber btw!

I am doing my first half marathon in may It going to be first experience for me and I am going to enjoy myself .

there's another great vid, WOW Jane, I thought you were 7 feet tall and made of steel !!! and your 100lbs or so, no wonder I start feeling a "little wonky" on my long runs of about 1 hr45 min., I'm 200lbs. and burning way more calories than you, I actually NEVER thought about total glycogen stored , but yeah, nearing the 2 hr mark, I've nearly exhausted those 2000 calories of glycogen and I'm not even close to 20 miles - guess I need to recalculate some stuff, thank you, have an Awesomeness week

I hit the brick wall hard in my first marathon. I think I took three gels altogether. Need about seven next time it seems like!

I've run 13 marathons and never taken a gel either in training or in a race. Key to running without gels are fasted runs in training. Just a single glass of water before going for a run is key. I've run even pacing my last 3 marathons, 3:09 being my last marathon.

You are the best

Thank you Jane!!! Out of the 3 gels you recommended which is the best for a sensitive stomach? I can’t do chia seeds and I will be utilizing the high dose of tailwind that you recommended in your other video. I am planning for a 4hour 50 min to 5 hour 10 min marathon.

thank you for the video. What is your take as for fueling during the long runs? Should i do it? should i do it only sometimes? Or should i maybe intentionally get my body used to run on low glycogen by not fueling or fueling less?

Great video Jane, thanks. I’ve been fueling pretty much as you recommend and it works for me, but I’ve read some recommendations from prominent runners for running in ketosis (no carbs and no fueling during the race). I haven’t tried it myself but I’m curious. What are your thoughts?

I thought the worst will be at 20miles, but it turned out that it got harder each mile, and the 26th mile was the worst.

Im almost 194lbs male at 36 yo, so I need around 65grams per hour. man that really explains why my muscles are sticking at mile 10, I been having 10 grams per hour lol. so if I gonna go proper ghetto a snickers bar and some salt tabs every hour for me

I do a lot of fasting and when I fast for several days I still do some easy 5-10k runs. Since I'm completely out of glycogen and my body works solely on fat, how do I don't get any effects of the marathon wall? Is it the fasting that trained my body to use fat, or it's just the low intensity of my running? I need to mention that after 3-4 days of fasting I can do only easy runs.

Hello Jane! I am a beginner at running I started 1 month ago.I would want to run a marathon and not hit the wall.I want the result to be around 4:30 or 5 h max.would be a good strategy to run 10km/h the first 32km and then walk until finish? Thanks!

My first marathon coming in April…if I’m running at easy pace, maybe even 30-40 seconds easier…can I ease off gel intake? Or due to longer time on course, just take gels every 30-45 minutes at % of my weight? Would love to finish strong last 10k…although Big Sur has some elevation.

Jack Daniels says, no long run longer than 150 minutes; what is your take on this?

All above but As a 3.05 runner have a reward at the end, omg i would of run thru a building for a Pint of the black stuff Guinness

1. longest long training run should be atleast 20mi or 4 hours 2. 40 mi per week in peak week of training 50-60 better 3. body only hold 2000 calories of glycogen, 100 calories per mile. need fuel 4. 1/4 to 1/3 of bodyweight in lbs of carbs per hour, 5-8 gels 1 per 30-45mins, dont wait till hungry 5. pace you self no go too fast

I’ve bonked every one of my marathons and ended up jumping on the struggle bus between miles 16-18 lol

I'm a hefty 185lbs so I guess I'm taking in 46-60g of carbs, oh boy

I used to take in carbs like there was no tomorrow. Now, I run with just water and coffee in my stomach - and don't eat for several hours after running. For long runs, I use a diluted sports drink. Once you're fat adapted, you don't need all the carbs (I still have carbs, but far less than I used to have). Less carbs, less inflammation, faster recovery 🙂

Jesus you’re beautiful

😞 ｐｒｏｍｏｓｍ