RACE DAY
Limit your
sipping. Yes, you
need to stay hydrated, but no major drinking 30 minutes before the gun; sip if
your mouth is dry or it’s particularly hot out. Some athletes will take a
mouthful and use it as a rinse and spit. Your best bet is to stay hydrated
throughout the day. Aim for half your body weight in ounces. So for instance,
if you weigh 200 pounds, aim for 100 ounces of calorie-free fluids like water
each day. If you weigh 160 pounds, aim for 80 ounces per day.
Arrive
early. Get to the
race at least one hour before the start so you’ll have time to pick up your
number (if you don’t already have it), use the porta potty, and warm up. You
don’t want to be running to the starting line.
Identify
yourself. Put your
name, address, cell phone number, bib number, and e-mail address clearly on
your race bib, or better yet, use a RoadID, which you can wear on your wrist or
shoe.
Bring a
trash bag. A
heavy-duty trash bag can provide a nice seat so you don’t have to plop down on
wet grass. If it’s raining at the start, you can use the trash bag as a
raincoat.
Bring
extra tissue. The only
thing worse than waiting in a long porta potty line is getting to the front and
realizing that there’s nothing to wipe with.
Don’t
overdress. It will
probably be cool at the start, but don’t wear more clothing than you need.
Dress for 20 degrees warmer than it is outside. To stay warm at the start, you
may want to bring (expendable) clothes that you can throw off after you warm
up.
Set at
least two goals. Set one
goal for a perfect race and another as a backup in case it’s hot, it’s windy,
or it’s just not your day. If something makes your first goal impossible
halfway through the race, you’ll need another goal to motivate you to finish
strong. And it’s best to set a third goal that has nothing to do with your
finishing time. This performance goal could be something like finishing,
running up the hills rather than walking them, or eating the right foods at the
right time and successfully avoiding GI distress!
Fix it
sooner, not later. If your
shoelace is getting untied, or you start to chafe early in the race, take care
of it before it becomes a real problem later in the race.
Line up
early. You don’t
want to be rushing to the starting line, so don’t wait for the last call to get
there.
Start
slow, and stay even. Run the
first 10 percent of the race slower than you normally would, with the idea that
you’ll finish strong. Don’t try to “bank” time by going out faster than your
goal pace. If you do that, you risk burning out early. Try to keep an even pace
throughout the race, and save your extra energy for the final stretch to the
finish.
