Race Day Preparation

The finish line is in sight! It's time to prepare for the race.

Leading up to the Race

  • relax, avoid stress, sleep well all week before the race;
  • starting several days before the race, increase your fluid intake. Your body will store fluids that you can "use" during the race;
  • get on old sweater, e.g. from the Salvation Army or Value Village for $2-3 that you can wear until the start and then throw away. A garbage bag is useful to keep you dry if it is rainy before the start, the Salvation Army usually collects leftover sweater from the start
  • cut toe nails, black nails from the race don't look very attractive and you certainly don't want to loose toe nails. Don't cut them toooo short though!
  • it's a good idea to get a paceband from the expo or print yours from the web, e.g. the clinic has a pace band generator - don't print on an ink-jet! Your GPS gizmo is a terrific guide but not always accurate and comparing your time against the times on the paceband is still the way to go;
  • remember if the markers on the course are in miles (for Portland) and kilometres (for Victoria/Kelowna), know your mile pace if you do your own pacing based on those markers, every 5km should be a marker, too;

The Day prior to the Race

  • stay of your feet as much as possible;
  • go for a short (20min) run on the day before the race to loosen up your muscles; important: ignore how bad it feels!
  • organize what you are going to wear on race day, attach your race bib to the shirt, avoid the stress of searching for that favourite shirt of yours on race day morning!
  • pack your gear to be checked: clothes to wear on the way to the race, cell phone, special foods, dry (warm) clothes to change afterwards, you will likely feel cold;
  • don't have a huge all-you-can-eat pasta dinner, make sure! you won't feel stuffed when the race starts;
  • do eat a decent, easy digestible dinner, preferably home cooked so you know what's in it - very difficult on a destination marathon;
  • you won't sleep much the night! before the race, so sleep early the night before that (Friday! )
  • prepare your gels, snacks, drinks for during the race. Portland has Glycos, Victoria and Kelowna (appears like it) uses Gatorade. If you have trained with anything else bring your electrolyte drink of choice - do not start taking anything new if you never tried it before;

Race Day

  • get up at least 2h before the race, drink 500 ml water or Gatorade type fluid, don't drink anything within 30min before the race
  • have! a light , low GI breakfast, e.g. bagel, this will help provide you energy during the race, avoid milk and acidic item on the menu (don't start anything new, do what worked for the long runs!)
  • don't overdress! It might seem cold early in the morning but you will be boiling 4h later; you warm up quickly;
  • chafing: use Bodyglide or similar. This is the one thing you could do different on race day if you have never used it before! Chafing ruins the all fun of taking a long shower after the race!
  • you may have to remember my statement regarding dressing in a garbage bag if it really rains.
  • give yourself plenty of time to get to the start, find parking, check your gear, and go for the port-a-potties;
  • find out where to meet the pace bunnies if you plan to run with one (Portlands pace bunnies don't do walk breaks!, Victoria is looking for pace bunnies);
  • have a high GI snack, e.g. gel, 30min before the start;
  • DON'T START TOO FAST, run the first one or two miles 20-30s slower than your race pace; many get caught up in the euphoria and run too fast in the beginning
  • don't start from the start line but stay within your pace group, the race is chip timed and it is so much better to run with people your pace than being passed by hundreds of faster people because you started right from the start line!
  • don't change your running habits, if you have trained with walk breaks, do walk breaks during the race; you may relax your 10 and 1s slightly to take advantage of water stations, e.g. extend the run period to 12 minutes, avoid significant changes
  • don't forget your nutrition and hydration over the excitement during the race
  • you don't need to bring water and/or electrolyte replacement drinks if the water station intervals work for your drinking habits; larger events usually have more frequent water stations; research what electrolyte replacement drink and flavour is available on the race course - don't switch your drink on race day, e.g. don't suddenly substitute Ultima for Gatorade on race day!
  • the first 1st 1/3 should feel easy, the 2nd 1/3 just right and the last 1/3 will be the hard work we trained for
  • remember to smile at the finish line!!! :-)

After the Race

  • keep walking, that is no fun but will help your recovery;
  • get out of your wet clothes, dry and warm clothes will help keeping you warm;
  • cold water or ice on your legs is good, well hottub "feels" good :-)
  • stairs will NOT be your friends for about 48h after the race, it is no shame to use the elevator or walk down stairs backwards :-)
  • go for a walk on Monday to stretch your legs;
  • do not go running for one to two weeks after the race - but do not disappear without a trace, e.g. let us know how it went - we have to organize a get together when the races are done!!!



Copyright © 2009-2011 Carsten Rathsack - All rights reserved.