Hitting the Wall

What is the ‘Wall’ and is there any way to avoid it?

The wall is a sudden feeling of fatigue brought on by endurance-level exercise, it is characterized by a total drain in energy and enthusiasm
It is mentally and physically very challenging
Often happens mile 20+ of the marathon
Also characterized by a local energy and the loss of all running form, runners may struggle to even pick up their legs, every step requires willpower, strong desire to walk or simply quit.

What is going on with your body

Your glycogen tank is empty.
During exercise the body gets fuel from its primary fuel source, it’s glycogen reserves (used during intense exercise like running), after that it exhausted we try to use a secondary source: fat metabolization, this is much slower and not so easy to access.
The typical person stores about 1,500 calories worth of glycogen in their body.
Running burns about 700 calories per hour, so glycogen is depleted after a couple of hours, therefore we hit the wall around the 5 to 3 hours mark

What happens when the fuel tank is empty

The body hunts for more supplies of energy, usually turning to fat, unfortunately, it isn’t used to metabolizing fat quickly into energy and isn’t very efficient at it, so halfway through the race or long run, we run out.

How do we avoid the wall?

During training, we need to run long distance
By following a training plan of at least three months, the gradual increase in long run distances will signal your body to increase its glycogen store capacities, it may also promote some fat burning for energy.

Strategies for avoiding the wall

Carb load properly: the week before the marathon, carb load in a structured way to load up reserves. Ensuring a proper taper also helps with this.
Eat carbs during your run as the body isn’t efficient enough to process immediately but it will help (gels are useful but, there is a maximum rate they can be processed)
Don’t go out too fast because if you do you will signal your body to provide a spike of fuel if you use it too quickly - another reason for maintaining a constant pace.

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15 June, 2020

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