Keep On Keeping On

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Marathon advice from people who've been there... and back.The face of the marathon has changed dramatically over the last 25 years. More and more Americans are running road races of all distances, including the marathon. In 1980, there were 143,000 marathon finishers in the United States. By 2007, that number had swelled to 412,000. 

Women accounted for just 10.5 percent of marathon finishers in 1980, but now account for 40 percent. Masters runners (40+ years old) have increased their proportion from 26 percent to 46 percent over the same period.

At the same time, today’s marathoner takes a lot longer to cover the course. From 1980 to 2007, average times have slowed from 3:32 to 4:20 for men and from 4:03 to 4:49 for women.
These statistics may also reflect a change in the reasons why most people run. Once seen as primarily a competitive event, the marathon has become a sort of everyman and woman’s Mt. Everest, with the focus on finishing rather than turning in a fast time.

The diversifying demographics have been embraced by the running community and have invigorated the sport. However, the rapid changes in marathon participation may mean that our old ways of thinking about training for and running the event no longer apply to many participants. 

In many ways, today’s marathoner has much more in common with ultramarathoners. Consider, for example, the amount of time spent out on the course. Many marathoners today complete the marathon in five or six hours. Their physiological needs are quite different from highly competitive marathoners, who take just two or three hours to complete the course. Ultramarathoners, on the other hand, have plenty of experience running for longer periods of time. 

Barney Klecker of Minnetonka has accumulated his share of experience and wisdom over the course of his career. “It’s hard training for the marathon,” he says. “You’ve got to have respect for the distance.”

 Klecker, 56, knows a thing or two about difficult tasks. He set several world and American records for ultra-distance races during the 1980s. Some, including the 50 mile American record, still stand today. Klecker covered 50 miles in 4:51, a pace of 5:49 per mile. 

Training for and running ultras taught Klecker some important lessons for the marathon. With regard to training, he says, “One lesson that I learned quickly was marathon runners do not typically put in enough long over-runs. I’d do runs of 30-35 miles in length. In the marathon, I never hit the wall, like some runners do around 20 miles.”

He feels that many of today’s training programs do not adequately prepare runners for the challenge of the marathon. He notes, “You have programs training people on just 3 days a week, and they might build up to one 20 miler, and then they rest for three weeks. Then, when they get past 20 miles in the marathon, they hit the wall. They’re not ready for it.”

Rather than attempt to jump right into lots of runs beyond 20 miles, Klecker says, “you have to build up to it over time.” Klecker coached is wife, Janis, to be a master of cross-training.

Injury-prone Janis biked, pool-ran, swam, and snow-shoed her way to new levels of fitness (and the 1992 Olympic Marathon in Barcelona) without the pounding of excessively high mileage. “She might do a 25 mile run, then jump in the pool for another 30 minutes, and it would be like a 30 mile run,” says Klecker.

Kurt Decker of Minneapolis holds the Minnesota state record for 100 miles. He offers this advice on the mental aspect of running longer distances. “Break it down to little parts, like three mile sections,” he says.

In addition, Decker points to the benefits of staying positive when things get tough. “I try to focus on what the goods things are that I am doing or have done during the race. That helps pull me through the tough times.”

Klecker recalls occasionally hitting those rough patches. He often set out with quixotic aims in mind—breaking world and American records, for example—and he often succeeded. Occasionally, he did find himself in over his head, a position he cautions marathoners against. “You have to be smart,” he says, “but at the same time you have to believe that you can do it.”

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