Train Your Brain for Marathon Success

Matt Fitzgerald
For Active.com

Every marathon runner dreads "hitting the wall," or being overwhelmed by fatigue before the finish line is within reach, forcing you to slow way down or even stop. Different things cause this in different runners and most runners assume they know what hitting the wall is.

Muscles run out of glycogen--their favorite fuel--and as a result, there is no longer enough energy available to hold pace. Or perhaps muscles produce too much lactic acid, which builds up to the point where the muscles stop working properly. Or maybe the runner becomes too dehydrated and fatigue results from heat accumulation in the muscles.

Whatever the specific cause, hitting the wall in a marathon--or any other run--is the result of some type of functional breakdown within the muscles that impairs their ability to function at the desired level. Right?

Wrong. Cutting-edge research in exercise physiology demonstrated that...