Preparing for the Boogie - Part 3

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.