Four years ago this month, I was among 35,000 runners pounding the pavement in one of the world's great races, the
London Marathon. It was my third marathon and I was determined to redeem myself after a disappointing run in NYC six months before (I finished in 5 hours and 32 minutes after walking most of the second half due to severe calf cramps).
As anyone who's ever prepared for a major endurance race knows, you do everything you can to ensure a successful race day. For me, that meant arriving in London a week early, staying off my feet and hydrating. I even avoided eating out for fear of getting food poisoning. Breakfast, lunch and dinner came pre-packaged from
Marks and Spencer (a UK department store/super market). I ate
a lot of sandwiches in my hotel room that week.
But despite all my efforts to ensure a successful race, I made one major mistake four months before that nearly cost me a finish. During the race at mile six, I took a bottle of Lucozade Sport drink (their version of Gatorade) and downed most of it. By mile 12, my stomach was churning like a Maytag washing machine. The Lucozade was not sitting well. But I refused to stop to use a portolet. I was determined to finish with a faster time. At mile 18, my hands and feet became numb and I was seeing stars. Still refused to stop. The next eight miles, I walked, ran and hobbled in absolute misery. I eventually crossed the finish in 4 hours and 50 minutes. Better than NYC. And not bad given the extreme circumstances (the result was encouraging enough to get me to run Chicago six months later and finish with a 4:19).
The moral of the story? If you do a marathon overseas, find out what kind of sports drink they'll be serving on race day. If it's a foreign brand, do everything in your ability to get a hold of it and most importantly, train with it months before the race (so your body can get accustomed to it). In preparing for London, I wanted to train with Lucozade (which is not sold in the US), but the idea of ordering a four-month supply from the UK seemed like a real pain. Well, we know how that ended up.
To be fair, there's obviously nothing wrong with Lucozade as a product. I just broke one of the most important rules in marathon running -- never,
ever try anything for the first time on race day. It's hard enough to conquer 26.2 miles. The last thing you need is add to the suffering.
DLM
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