Should I run two marathons within 10 days

"Hi Gary ' loved Lorraine's Book so did my wife. Just great! Have just finished Ironman (16hrs.07min) ( my second) in good nick. A friend wants me to do Rotorua Marathon with him early May - after 10 days will my body cope ok with training for another marathon ?

I'm 58 in good condition - not perfect though - do have some calf muscle issues both with bike and early running off the bike then it gets better. Have downloaded your Training Manual (58 pages) - thanks. In essence should I take on the Rotorua Marathon ? My running time for the marathon during IM was 6 hours 18min - half of it walking. Do enjoy slow jogging 8min per k."

David
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Gary Moller advises:
David, it is not a good idea to be pushing your body as hard as you are. Your age is such that running back-to-back marathons will result in irreparable joint arthritis in just a few years. We simply do not hear about the distance runners, Iron Men, etc who grind to a halt with ruined joints, muscles and suffering chronic fatigue - we are talking about health issues that can take a terrible toll on quality of life. Sadly, the popular sports magazines want you to hear of the stories of incredible physical feats and not the disasters of which there are plenty. I get to see some of these silent casualties. Sure, there are freakish individuals who are capable of super human feats - similar to the stories of the Centenarian who smoked since childhood. But these are the exceptions.

Lorraine, holds the unofficial world best for longevity as an internationally ranked running athlete. Few of those who competed against her lasted more than four or so years at or near the top. When you read her book, you will realise that she was able to take enormous punishment but eventually succummed, knowing when it was time to back off and retire - fortunately! She managed 28 years at or near the top by caring for her body, retiring with everything in perfect working order. We should learn the lessons that come from those who survive and those who fall by the way.

When there is wear, such as happens during running, the human body must have sufficient rest to allow repair and growing a little stronger. The more running etc that you do, the more rest you must have between. The older you get, the longer the rest between sessions. One of the most common training faults is old men and women being given a young person's training and competition schedule by a naive fitness expert. This is a recipe for disaster, including risking permanent harm.

Lorraine has some advice about recovery in this video interview.


Her general rule of thumb is: One day rest for every mile run. So, if you run a marathon, you should take about a month of gradual buildup back to full training and then take another 3-4 months before doing another marathon or Iron Man. Two to three marathons per year is about all your body should be subjected to. A similar formula can be applied to cycling. I work on the basis of a day of rest for every 5-10 miles raced. Cycling is so much easier on the body compared to running the pavements.

David, why not explore other forms of running? Your body thrives on variety. Get out of the grind of long, slow running. Try joining a running club and doing lots and lots of short 3-8km cross-country and road races. Go do some short course off-road triathlons and adventure runs. Team up with a friend and share the load - you do the run or the bike. This way you spare your legs while upping the intensity. Its exciting running and your occasional marathon and Iron Man will benefit because you will be fresher and faster over the longer distances.

How much vitamin C should an athlete take to avoid colds?

It is the common experience of many athletes to finish an exhausting event like a marathon or iron man triathlon and feel surprisingly good; only to crash several days later going down with a virus an injury like tendonitis or feeling very depressed and tired or all of the latter. This may be fully or partially due to the delayed effects of the extreme oxidative stress suffered during the exhausting exercise (This can be either from competition or heavy training). In many cases, such as multiday events there is the added stress of sleep deprivation which hammers one's immune system.

"A practical way to reason is that, if a person carrying out heavy exercise feels that he or she has colds too often, he or she could (should?) try vitamin C.

The doses have been about 0.5 to 2 grams per day in the controlled trials and that kind of doses are safe for ordinary people (and cheap). In the US nutritional recommendations they consider that safe range goes to some 2 g/day. That is a conservative limit in my opinion, but with the current knowledge, I do not think it makes much sense to use substantially larger doses even though I consider them safe.

If we assume that the oxidative stress caused by the marathon would b protected against by higher vitamin C levels in the body, I think that the time scale would be initiation a few days before and continuing a few days after the marathon (one or two times per day I would think)". Harri

(Excerpt from correspondence between Gary Moller and Harri Hemilä, MD, PhD,Department of Public Health,University of Helsinki, Finland. Dr Hemilä is one of the world's leading researchers into the benefits or otherwide of substances like vitamin C and vitamin E).

Dr Hemilä's impressive work in this area makes fascinating reading.

With what we know about free radicals and how they are generated during exhasting or intense exercise, it would make good sense to anticipate excessive oxidative stress to your body and take preventive measures, if you are doing heavy training or have an exhausting competition coming up. This migh also apply to work and personal situations that may be emotionally as well as physically exhausting.

Using Dr Hemilä's advice as our guide, here is my guidance:

• If you are doing exhausting training take 1-2,000mg of vitamin C per day
• If you have a history of frequent colds, take towards the upper level (2,000mg)
• Take 2,000mg per day over the 2 days before an exhausting competition and for 2 days afterwards
• If you are taking Wagner Ester C, then you could reduce these guidelines to 50% and you will probably get the same protection or still better.
• Regardless of vitamin C supplementation, take a daily Super Smoothie that has red berries and whey protein added and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Go to sleep before 11pm every night and be out of bed by 7am
• Get plenty of sunlight on your body to boost your vitamin D levels. Get a blood test of your levels.
• An athlete requires more minerals and B group vitamins than most
• Other antioxidant food extracts like high potency garlic extracts could be added to the diet
• Have recovery days within your training schedule and take 3-5 days rest after an exhausting competition like a marathon.

I will be posting some guidelines about use of vitamin E which is currently a confused and controversial matter.