Top 4 Marathon Race Day MISTAKES: Avoid These! 

I can't believe you don't have more subs. Great production, clear dialogue and useful information. I'm working my way through all your vids now.

I love your videos and signed up for the emails. Thanks so much for providing such clear useful content. It really is a great help! Would you advise running along side a race pacer? I'm doing the Paris marathon and aiming for 4h45 but think I could do 4h30 so don't know which pacer to go with.

Wonderful advice. Thank you !

Very practical advice - always good to hear. I've run quite a few events but I still pay careful attention to pre race logistics! Where is it ie how do I get there? How long will it take to drive and where do I park? For me I make sure i know the position and opening times of nearest Costa coffee! Nice and early - coffee and sticky bun... toilet facilities! It is really only after my coffee do I start thinking about the run itself: of course I know well in advance the course profile and terrain, facilities, I look at previous numbers who attend + times etc and with my experience of running I already have some idea of the pace I should run. HOWEVER I still have to check my Garmin regularly to stop myself taking the first few miles too fast!

Gastric trouble has always been a problem for every run I've done from 5ks to a marathon - too easy to forget to top up supplies every 45mins. Decided to plan out a pace with energy gels for next time!

Thank you for posting this! I went out too fast and finished in 3:20:01 (could not even break 3:20, by TWO SECONDS!). Because I went out too fast (1:33:45 front/1:46:16 back). Had I gone out in 1:40 I may have been able to run 3:15 with a 1:35 finish. Point 4 is the biggest and most common, as you said!

Thanks for the great video

Love this! Thank you

Great video! Running Paris this week. Nervous but super prepared! Third marathon in eleven months. Bonked bad in the 2nd. Overcoming it this time for sure!

Thanks for the great video!

Thank you so much. I enjoy a lot watching your videos and knowing all this information before doing my first Marathon. I'm planning to do it in a few months from now. And I am already excited and overwhelmed 😅. Wish me luck.

Your tips will be with me in Ibiza in 6 days! 🙏

Thank you very much

I did 1 marathon in 2019 just to see if I could, now gonna try another later this year. Your last tip is so true! I'm working to improve on my pacing now.

amazing tips!

Thanks for sharing

I watched this video before my 1st marathon and still committed 2 of the mistakes to an extent. I used carbon-plated shoes that I had run half marathons in before. They worked beautifully in the halfs. Turns out your feet can swell at longer distances and I bruised my big toes pretty badly. I was able to run a few days later but this was my biggest raceday casualty. The other issue is that you have a realistic range of what you can hope to achieve. I chose to go for the more aggressive end of that. I might have gotten away with it except the temps got over 70 F, definitely hit the wall around mile 20. More a muscle soreness/lactate issue than glycogen. So aim for the mid to slow end of your range in first 15-20 miles on your first marathon, you can always swing for the fences some other time.

A banana will take up to 3 hours to just get out of your stomach. Plan accordingly.

Great tips and very helpful content throughout your channel. One suggestion though: I don't think the background music is necessary :)

My first half marathon is in 3 weeks. This helped a lot thank you sm! ❤️

I did my first in San Diego and had no clue how race day would unfold. Due to a knee issue I was forced to take it slower and finished good. The next year I started in a group way too fast and was exhausted a little over half but still finished slightly faster. Because SD tracks everyone separatly I will started in a slower group to avoid to start to fast this year. My stomach is normally fine but after 20 miles I really have a hard time eating anything.

That last one is me😅 I just ran a marathon on Sunday, and I honked HARD. 1:30 first half, 1:54 second half. I thought I was in 3:00 shape when I was likely 3:05-3:10 shape, and followed a pace bunny who definitely didn’t run the plan I wanted. Lesson learned though!

I got my big Des Moines marathon tomorrow. I’m getting all the nerves and watching as many videos as possible. Wish me luck

First marathon approaching - regarding pacing, a conversational pace would imply zone 2, would it not? Im surprised as I was planning on atleast a high zone 3 pace, sub threshold

Watching this video as I pack for my first marathon tomorrow. I skipped the marathon on my way to 50k, but I'm so darn slow, I figured I'd dial it back and work on my speed. Glad I found your channel! I'm going to try to binge them all before tomorrow...I need all the help I can get! 😆

I just ran my first marathon and I got caught up in the adrenaline of the race. I went out too fast and was actually able to hold a faster pace for the first 20 miles. The last six, you were spot on, sucked. I slowed from a 3:20 pace to finishing at 4:13 😂 I will be more conservative on my next run.

lol i want to follow directions on gels just as you described..........seems so simple right? start line and every 45 minutes!! i usually get distracted by other things and fail and to do this!! WISH ME LUCK

Learned about the pace the hard way. But it was my third marathon in 16 days, and I was a bit too excited. Ran 21k too fast and then started suffering. So, the pace went down from around 6:05 to about 7:37 min/km.

I have NYC in three weeks. I ran three marathons since 2018. All 3 around mile 20, I had empty stomach and hit the wall badly. 2021 had bad cramps on the last 4 miles. I brought enough t GU gels all the time.

Sweet map

I usually enjoy a chipotle burrito bowl pre race 😊

The huma gels are the best, all natural ingredients no maltodextrin and they taste good

Conversational pace Me: so...walking??

can't tell if you're norwegian or scottish

200 miles!? That’s like a new pair of shoes every month

If the shoes are high quality why are you replacing them after 200 miles.

I've done #4 so many times it's embarrassing

Im getting stomach issues from this video i hate to think what its going to be like marathon day 😢

Not me coming here after running my first marathon and realizing I did all those mistakes. I did have gels and I did not walk but I did hit the wall and I did slow down so much that I ran about 25 minutes more than what my average pace in zone 3 predicted. 🥲