You are with Ask Coach Parry and on this episode we answer the question from Leboa. Leboa says “There is always a time at a race where I start to lose focus and confusion sets in.

Especially between the 32km and 37km mark. I would always be on time to make a sub 4 hour marathon but then the wheels start coming off.

Could it be purely a lack of focus and how can I keep that focus, or could it be my inexperience or lack of long running training?” I'm presuming that he is talking in a marathon here.

I think the phrase ‘The Wall’ comes into play here?

Brad Brown: You are with Ask Coach Parry and on this episode we answer the question from Leboa. Leboa says “There is always a time at a race where I start to lose focus and confusion sets in.

Especially between the 32km and 37km mark. I would always be on time to make a sub 4 hour marathon but then the wheels start coming off.

Could it be purely a lack of focus and how can I keep that focus, or could it be my inexperience or lack of long running training?” I'm presuming that he is talking in a marathon here.

I think the phrase ‘The Wall’ comes into play here?

Advice for everyone

Lindsey Parry: Unfortunately we only have a few pieces of information that give us some clues about what is potentially the problem. What is happening there could be from a number of reasons and I think for the benefit of all the listeners’ maybe I should cover all of those.

But in this particular instance just the fact that they say ‘could be a lack of km’s or a lack of long runs’ tells me that there probably is a disconnect between the short distance runs times and the marathon.

And that would then be because there isn’t enough endurance or there isn’t enough long runs in the build up. The converse of that is that you would then need to readjust your marathon times to slightly slower than expected – so pacing yourself better.

Maybe you’re not a sub 4 hour marathon runner at the moment based on your training. Therefore you wouldn’t hit that phase of hitting the wall or being dizzy. The fact that you become confused, dizzy and disorientated does mean that there could be other things at play.

Those would range from not getting enough energy in during the race, so at that point in a race you are going hypoglycaemic and perhaps getting access to coke or whatever other drinks are on the side of the road then will allow you to come right and be ok for the closing 2 km’s or so.

It could also be a question of over hydrating, although I suspect that the dizziness then would not clear up so quickly. Certainly if you are getting quite swollen fingers and feet, there is a risk that you are taking in too many fluids.

Confusion and particularly aggression are early signs that you are starting to go into hyponatremia or water intoxication. I would have a look at the nutrition on race day, check what your water consumption is and make sure that you aren’t just force feeding water for too long.

And it certainly sounds like; in this case, a little bit of either we need to increase those long runs and build that endurance or we need to set a new target. Go out a little bit more conservatively and then you will run a bit slower but you will be more comfortable because you won’t hit that dizzy, disorientated patch.