Hitting the Wall...

What do you do to get through the infamous wall late in the marathon?  Every marathon I have ever run I come up against it and the wall usually wins.  I usually fall apart around mile 22-23 and I just can't seem to get it back together to close out the race.  By this point in the race I can't seem to stay focused and in the moment....

I'm curious to hear your tips or tricks on staying focused in a race/marathon.....  :)

No advice but just want to put a disclaimer here: THE WALL IS NOT INEVITABLE!  Think I may have hit it in the last 100 yards of London in 2010 but I was having a hideous race and was desperately trying to get a PB (35 seconds off didn't help my mood!) but in the other 5 I have yes, found it tough but no wall to be had.

I hit the wall very early in the 2010 London marathon (mile 8) and to help me along the way I was helping myself to the spectators beer, vodka redbull, cider and coffee, which aided me in my task in hand very nicely!  I would not recommend this to everyone, only to those who are in such bad pain, are too pig headed not to drop out and want to finish the course no matter what!

I think once you hit the wall, mental strength matters more than physical. More often than not, once it happens I also crumble so it's mental strength I've been trying to work on in particular this year. The one notable time I stayed mentally strong was during Berlin where my gfs family lives. There'd been a big heated discussion between them all the night before about the best places for them to spectate and they still hadn't agreed on all the spots by the time I was at the startline, so I didn't know everywhere they'd be. And as there was no way I wanted my future in-laws to see me as a soppy, weak, stumbling loser, I convinced my battered body it had to stay strong the whole way in case they saw me. So now I  have first hand experience that it is possible for mental strength to win over.

There are highs & lows in a marathon which you have to press through regardless but if your legs die on you completely, which is what I understand 'the wall' to be, it's generally going to be because you ran at a pace which your training & fitness did not justify, in my opinion.

Lack of mental strength is my problem as well.  I'm trying to figure out ways to get some positive self talk in my head to keep me chugging along in the last 3-4 miles.  Instead I start to run/walk like I'm taking the walk of shame...  :(

Yes, that that has happened to me in a marathon last year and the last 5 miles were like a death march.  But the same thing happened to me in an ultra I ran last fall but I was running it with a friend and he kept yelling at me to keep going and I managed to keep going...but it was painful....I don't know..maybe the answer is to have someone running behind me yelling at me to keep going.....  :)

I think it's a combination of the speed you have been going and the state of mind.

I have been trying to stay in control this year-not like last year where I would fall apart over the last miles (doesn't matter if it was a marathon or 10k).

The silverstone half last Sunday was a great practice as I stuck to my 10:30/mile and despite the heat I didn't stop for a single meter and even pciked up a fellow runner at mile 10 (he just stopped running lol).

I will try to stick to my planned speed and I believe that I will be able to run for longer than last year at the VLM.

But that's not 'mental strength', it's just fear of looking bad (or vanity). Your desire to look good was stronger than your desire to take it easy. I'm not convinced there is any such thing as "mental strength" or willpower.

Well, my desire to look good as you put it, was not somthing that my body was physically trying to impose on me as it was the desire to take it easy. It was something my mind was telling me it wanted. It wasn't going to inflict any physical effect on me if I looked good or not so I'd say that was a mental thing. Unless you're saying that everything that happens in the mind is just a manifistation of physical or chemical reactions in the brain or whatever.

Have hit the wall 3 times in London,think it's a combination of setting off to fast and getting a bit carried away in the first few miles and a mental thing as well.When I get to the docklands it's in my mind that I,m gonna hit the wall.Hopefully this year will be different start of a bit more controlled and be mentally tough.Who knows it might work,but if not I,ll give it my best shot and enjoy it......

No, I'm saying there is no transparent 'mental strength' that you can just turn on, it only occurs in the context of a motivating factor such as you described. At least, as far as I am aware. I often hear people say that they have no 'willpower' etc as if it were some magical force, but I don't buy it.

Actually it can be very helpful if you think about it. Take that 'celeb' woman we were talking about the other day. She thought it was her 'dream' to run the marathon, but she rapidly realised that there were other things that were more important to her. So she has something there which taught her about herself, if she is willing to be honest.

On the other hand, if you know yourself, and are clear about what you really want (and not what you think you 'should' want) and can define concrete goals accordingly, you can ride the motivation like a wave and see things through.

Personally, I find people often say to me that I have 'mental discipline' or whatever, but I have no idea what they are talking about.

Everyone will have a point (point y) at which they actually physically can't do any more. They'll also have a point (point x) at which they think they can't do any more. For most people point y will be way way way past point x. Barring a physical stimulant (drugs or being chased by wolves) to get past point x you're likely to need mental strength however it might occur. Until you get to point y where you have a heart attack.

Ok - but I would substitute 'motivation' or 'desire' for mental strength. It's a subtle difference, but significant I feel, for students of human psychology. Humans are complex creatures, and there is always a parallelogram of forces at work under the hood.

I hit a wall at mile 15 on one of my training runs but it was because I'd got my pace and fuel all wrong.

I didn't hit a physical wall on the day but I did hit a psychological one at mile 21. Because I'm so slow I'd been going for 7 hours by that point and had no idea where I was, how long I was running/walking and how I was going to get to the end. I had a really good wail and cry for five seconds then grunted and started to pump my arms and set myself small targets. The first being to take ten steps and to get my breathing back under control. From that point on I just kept setting myself tiny goals...the next lamp post, keep in front of the man behind me, 20 steps forward, keep my head up, list all the reasons I was doing it, remember training runs etc. I just had to distract myself from what I was doing rather than focus on the fact the finish was still five miles away. I've been told I'm a pretty determined person but I think it's more that I know how my mind tends to work and what I need to do to stop myself from spiralling into a weeping heap on the floor!

As for when your legs 'go', I guess it's a similar thing. Just one step at a time and don't focus on the fact it's rubbish and you look like you've had more ciders than flanks on a friday night, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Keep hydrated, get fuel into you and tell your body that you're not going to let it give up.

But as Clairey said, the wall is NOT inevitable and if you get the pace and fuel right then you might not have the joy of experienceing it!

Firstly prepare as well as possible.  Long training runs will help. 

In Training on your long runs get used to running within 30 seconds of your race pace - This will give you strength.

Make sure you are well rested and take plenty of carbs in the lead up to the race.

Try and drink some isontonic energy drinks on the way around.

When the hard part of the race comes and you start to slow set mini goals.  If your slowing at 20 miles and feel the wall the thought of 6 miles could seem almost impossible.  Set yourself a mini goal when you hit the wall to get to the next mile marker in a certain time.  Make sure you set yourself a goal you know you will achieve.  This will help mentally then do the same for the next mile and so on.  Its surprising how this helps.

Good luck...

Just my tuppence about mental strength:  There is some confusion sometimes about neurological and psychological responses from your brain.  In some cases (it can include hitting the wall I understand) your brain sends out signals to your body to stop working, in order to protect it.  It is indeed in your brain, but not in your mind, and therefore no mental strength will get you through.

We're not human psychology students or brain scientists. We're just runners who get a bit knackered about 20 or so miles.  At that point we're not at our absolute physical limit, it just feels like we're pretty close and in need of some kind of lift and whatever it actually is or wherever it actually comes from doesn't need to be analysed in such detail, by us anyway, we just want to get to the finish. Passing a landmark or mile post or seeing your supporters gives you a boost right. It makes you think come on just keep going a bit more when you might not have thought that otherwise. That's why people always say how great the crowds are and print their name on their shirts. Most of us are not thinking hmmmm if someone shouts my name what reaction will it cause in the neurological and psycholgical pathways in my brain.

I didn't mean literally students in college or something. I meant anyone who takes an interest in how people act, not just how they think they act. For example, I hear people all the time going on about wanting to diet, wanting to exercise, but not having the 'willpower' to do it. It's bollocks. 

Laurent is talking about the limit point where physiology takes over and stops you, which isn't the same as just flagging a bit.