Zooma Half Marathon Race Plan
Posted: March 30, 2009
This essay reviews what you to be doing the week before your race, during your race and after your race. Never do anything new in a race that you haven’t already tried on a long run. That applies to apparel, GU, Powerade, shoes, inserts in your shoes, etc
The week before:
Starting Monday: hydrate and eat healthy. You should hydrate every day, not just wait until a couple days before your race. Hydrate this week very well. Eat foods that are as least processed as possible.
Thursday and Friday:
Hydrate: alternating water bottles and bottles with half water/half Gatorade. Number your bottles to make sure you get enough. Cut down on the soda, alcohol and coffee.
Food: Carbo-load, but don’t forget protein (for ex; grilled chicken sandwich for lunch, chicken or fish with pasta for dinner). Friday is your most important day in terms of what you eat.
Rest: Friday is your most important night to get a good nights sleep. (Studies have proven it!) Also if you get a good nite’s sleep Friday nite, then you won’t be worrying if you don’t sleep well Saturday nite.
Tell your family this is YOUR weekend. It’s all about YOU! Even if the kids want happy meals from Mc D’s. Tell them, no, we’re going to Zen!
Take it easy on Friday. Don’t spend a lot of time on your feet. Pick up your packet, but don’t start any home improvement projects! Visualize the course a couple times this week. If you have not driven the course then look at the map and the elevation as well as any descriptions written about the race and study this as you think about feeling good. Take 10 minutes and do this.
Friday Night: Don’t eat anything that night that you haven’t tried before. Don’t eat too late. Get a good nights sleep. Keep water by your bedside during the night to drink if you wake up.
Apparel: Expect it to be warm and humid but be prepared for anything. It could be that in Zooma cool in the morning, or it could be warmer than it has been lately. Best to have several plans. The faster you run, the warmer you will get. If you are running your normal easy pace that you do on our Saturday morning long runs, then dress the same. Those planning to “race” this, you will warm up faster than on our usual long runs. So I wear short sleeves and shorts, even though it is usually well below 50, since I am racing it.
You can always tie a long sleeve shirt around your waist if you get too hot. Or some people wear “throw-away” clothes: a shirt that they can toss at a water stop, knowing that they will never see it again. A large plastic garbage is also good to keep you warm, but then throw away.
Gloves: very important as it will could be cold the whole race. You can wear throw-away gloves, but your hands might get cold again later on in the race. Better to tuck them into your shorts and then you can always put them on again.
Remember Body glide!
Pin your race number to your shorts and not your shirt in case you take your shirt off during the race. You can pin a packet of GU to the waistband of your shorts. Tuck inside if it is cold so the GU doesn’t get too stiff. (But be sure to put Bodyglide there so you will not chafe from the packet.) When you approach the water stop you can pinch the top with your fingers and rip it off easily. Or you can put your GU in a plastic gel flask before the race, add some water, and it's easy to swallow.
Race morning: drink one bottle of water. It takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to pee it out, so drink it early enough that you can pee it out before you need to get into the start line crowd. Get to race at least one hour early.
5 things to do before race starts: Pee (as soon as you get there, when there are no lines at the porta potties), get chip, 10 min warm up, leave bag of clothes at truck that will be transported to finish line and drink a cup of water. Pee again, but get in line by a half hour before race start time because the lines could be long.
Race strategy: Dont start out too fast or you’ll start slowing down at the end. For those of you racing this, best to try for even splits. If you are feeling good, you can pick it up slightly mile 11 and 12. Mile 13 should be your fastest mile but not too fast because you want to be able to run in strong to the finish line!
For those taking walk breaks, you can do these the entire race. Or if you are feeling good at mile 10, stop taking them for the remainder of the race. Taking them at the beginning helps your legs at the end.
On the hilly miles expect that you will be slower on those miles, but don’t worry. You ‘ll make it up on the downhill miles. Take advantage of the downhill. It is important to run by effort.
From mile 10 to the finish: it’s all about form. Remember to use running arms: keep your arms parallel, hands by your hips, so your shoulders will be relaxed. Think about standing up straight, no "sitting". You dont want to start sagging as you get tired, and put more stress on your hips.
Mental: think about the race as one third done, halfway done, ect. Do worry about how much further you have to do. Relax and do not worry about racing this. That might help you not go out too fast.
Drink at every water stop. You can alternate water and Gatorade. Drink thru mile 10, at least. After 10 the water/powerade you drink doesnt get into your system to help you in the remainder of the race. (But a good head start on recovery.)
Take energy gels like you have been practicing on the long runs.
After the race, follow our usual recovery tips:
Hydrate immediately, protein and carbs as soon as you can, massage (a light one immediately after the race, or a more intensive one a few days after), Ice bath as soon as you can post race. Even taking one later that day when you return to Austin would be benefitial.
