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How to (Not) Prepare for a Marathon

Route

The modern standard marathon distance used in all Olympic games since 1924 was set by the IAAF in 1921 directly from the distance used in the 1908 London Olympics. The organizer of 1908 London Olympics decided the course of 26 miles from Windsor Castle to the royal entrance of the White City Stadium, with an extra 586 yards 2 feet lap of the track, finishing in front of the Royal Box. Olympic marathon races before 1921 did not use a fixed distance, but were all around 25 miles, roughly the distance from Marathon to Athens by the longer, flatter route followed by the modern Marathon-Athens highway (EO83–EO54).

However, some suggested that Philippides might have run a shorter route of 22 miles with a more steep climb in the first 3 miles.

Be it 22 miles or 25 miles, the original marathon route in the historical legend is a trail route, not a road route.

Dress

Most runners attending modern marathon dress in revealing 1 sportswear 2, while it was said that Pheidippides the Greek messenger discarded his weapons and even clothes to lose as much weight as possible. 3

Time

Usually road marathons will cut off at 6 hours to reopen the roads, which is much faster than the normal travel pace in DnD (3 miles per hour). 4 However, 6 hours cut off allows for finishing a half marathon in a normal DnD travel pace. And a level 2 human monk can finish a marathon in about 5 hours. 5

Training

If the goal is just to finish a marathon, without considering time, then it is possible to train 100% in the aerobic zone. A simple way to figure out aerobic zone is to read a paragraph aloud during a talk test. For example, a paragraph from Pheidippides by Robert Browning.

Knowing the aerobic zone, then it is the time to start running in mostly aerobic zone (except for warm up and cool down). And build mileage gradually, from 1 mile 1a to 20 miles 6 per week, in a combination of easy runs, long runs, optional cross training, 1b and most importantly rest.

Message

Pheidippides run to send a message νικώ. 7 That brings me to the question: Do I have a message that I need or want to send which requires a marathon to deliver? My answer is no. Therefore, should I have started to prepare for a marathon in the first place, just in case one day I might have a message to send? I don't think so.

Footnotes

  1. By traditional standards, e.g. the Islamic code of modesty. ↩

  2. There are exceptions, e.g. María Lorena Ramírez Hernández competes in her long skirt. ↩

  3. Pheidippides is depicted naked in Luc-Olivier Merson's 1869 painting. ↩

  4. Normal travel time is 24 miles per day, which is 8 hours of travel, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of downtime. This is roughly 3 miles per hour, a fast walk. At a cost of minus 5 passive perception, a DnD player can travel 30 miles a day, (PHB p181) roughly 4 miles per hour, or at a 35 feet speed (in DnD speed is calculated based on rounds and one round lasts 6 seconds, and 35 feet per 6 seconds is about 4 miles per hour). This is still not having enough time to finish a marathon within 6 hours. Also, a marathon is considered as a long distance travel, so I think dash is not applicable here. I cannot imagine continuously dashing for so many rounds. ↩

  5. A human base speed is 30 feet, and a level 2 monk can increase their speed by 10 feet when they are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. Adding up 5 feet increase at a cost of minus 5 passive perception, a level 2 human monk can have a speed of 45 feet, which is about 5 miles per hour. ↩

  6. A study on training sessions from the 16 weeks preceding 151,813 marathons completed by 119,452 runners showed that the average mileage for runners finishing a marathon between 5 hours 30 minutes and 6 hours is 2.9 runs and 19 miles in total per week. As for runners finishing a marathon between 4 hours 30 minutes and 5 hours, they run 3 times a week with a weekly mileage of 21.4 miles on average. ↩

  7. IPA /niˈko/ ↩