Rob Murphy

How bad was it? Mile 15, mile 20, mile 25 of the marathon? Did it force a slowdown, or was it just a feeling? Did you get good sleep the night before?

I was just talking to my wife about it Sasha. Maybe sleep? Been dealing with sick kids and such the last couple nights and sleep has been hit or miss.

It was bad enough so I felt like I might fall off the treadmill. I had a similar feeling around mile 22 of the Deseret News Marathon in 2010. I stopped and had about five cups of Gatorade and was saved.

It's called being old! ;)

Hmmmm..... You might be on to something there Jeff.

Rob:

Yes, getting older does not help, and it is something we cannot escape - part of God's plan and things in the end would be miserable without it - but we can do some things to fight it.

One thing we noticed in the Del Sol Relay in 2008 is that older runners lost more in the morning legs than the younger ones, or in other words the lack of sleep hit them harder. So the older you get the more sleep you need to perform at the same level because your nervous system becomes weaker and harder to activate.

In your case I think you have some kind of a weakness that results in the malfunction of adrenal glands when you are under heavy stress. The older you get the more it will show. But the cure, I think, is to sleep more, eat better, and relax as much as you can. On a stressful day or after a stressful week, still run, but ease off on the pace, maybe even cut the mileage a bit, and do not expect much of a workout. After a hard workout, give yourself more time to rest. If you know it is not going to happen, adjust the workout.

I'd put money on electrolyte imbalance. Welcome to my world!