Your Prerace Game Plan
How to taper and plan to get a personal best!
You may have started training for a half marathon or marathon race four months ago. Now that your race is finally here, you want to get to the finish line well rested, in top form, injury free, and excited to race. Here are a few tips from Colorado Runner to run your best race.
1. Taper
The taper phase of a marathon training program aims to drastically cut back your training so that you are ready to perform at your peak on race day. Just as you took a few days to adequately recover from your hardest long runs, the taper phase of your training program will allow your body to rest and recover from the months of hard training that you’ve been putting in. But you don’t want to rest too much and give up all of your hard fought new fitness, so this phase can be a time to focus on shorter, but still intense workouts.
Most marathoners will give themselves a two to three week taper period before a key race. This is only done for a race that is very important and for which you want to race at your absolute peak. And a three week taper is only necessary if you have put a significant amount of stress on your body, meaning that you’ve truly been training at a consistently high level. This means that your longest run will be performed two to three weeks out from your goal race date. The volume of your weekly mileage will drop about 20% each week until race day.
2. Prerace
Checklist Make a prerace checklist. There’s nothing worse than training for months, only to show up on race day without your shoes. True story – my wife was running a half marathon last fall and a guy near her was running in sandals. Not on purpose, but because he forgot his shoes. About halfway through the race, his wife stopped him on the side of the road and gave him his running shoes. Here are some items that you may want to include on your checklist: bib number, safety pins, hat, shoes, socks, sports bra, top, shorts, possible throwaway clothes if it’s cold at the start, another outfit to change into after you finish, a towel, deodorant, body glide, any energy or hydration you plan to carry, such as gels, a fuel belt, sunscreen, hair ties, cellphone, breakfast, GPS watch, a jacket, chap-stick, compression socks, arm warmers, and baby wipes. If you’re traveling far from home, you might want to pack a few extra race clothing options. What if the forecast changes and you need a jacket or gloves? It’s better to overpack and not need the extra clothes than to have to spend money at the race expo on clothes you’ve never tested during training. And don’t forget to fully charge any gadgets that you plan to run with. You don’t want your GPS watch to lose it’s battery power three miles from the finish line.
3. Nutrition
Just like you don’t want to wear a new pair of running shoes on race day, you don’t want to try new foods leading up to a key race either. Hopefully you’ve experimented with various foods and drinks on your long runs and you know what works best for your body. It’s easy to get nervous before an important race, so I like to cut down on my fiber intake the day before a race. It’s important to make sure you are getting enough carbohydrates, like pasta and rice. Since you’ve cut back on your mileage, don’t go overboard and eat too much. That can lead to feeling bloated or sluggish. Eating simple, easily digestible foods is best in the 24 hours before the race start. Many athletes like to wake up early on race day and eat breakfast two to three hours before the start. Sip water or electrolyte beverages throughout the morning to stay hydrated. Many runners will eat energy gels during a long event as well.
I hope these tips can help you get to your next race starting line feeling confident, well rested, and ready to run!