Let’s run a marathon

After a wet and windy winter, Sunday looks like being a great day for the Adelaide marathon festival. I am sure there will be many Lakers toeing the start line of one of the 4 events on offer. Hopefully your preparation has gone well and you are going into the race confident and ready to run fast.

With just 2 days to go now is the time to get all the little things right

• Make sure you know the course. If you can’t run it then memorize it as best you can. Know where the main hills will be- Park Tce, Adelaide oval, Morphett Bridge, Frome road and mentally workout various checkpoints along the way such as; 5km to get to the Cathedral, 5km to go when you get to North Terrace. Breaking up the course into key landmarks can help make the distance a lot easier to navigate on race day
• Be clear on your pacing plan, what will you use- HR, pace, power, feel, the pacer (Adrian will be leading the 3 hr 30mark). Adrian aside my experience suggests it is best not to rely on the pacers as they are notorious for getting it wrong. My preference is to use HR combined with a bit of pace and feel, but the main thing is that you go in with a plan that starts out as if you are running too slow and builds through the run
• Refine your nutrition plan. For most a 36hr carb load (faster runners may need 8-10grams of carb per kilo of body mass on Saturday) is required, a good carb based breakfast on race morning (1-2g/kgBM) and then more carbs during the run (this will depend on your size and pace but somewhere between 30-70grams per hour). Be clear on what is on course and at what aid stations or if you are self-sufficient how much will you need and how will you carry it. Will you need to use a special needs option
• Are you comfortable with your equipment- socks and shoes especially
• Are you all over the logistics, the circus is in town so this may make parking a little bit of an issue, so maybe check out your options. What time will you get up, eat breakfast and arrive? What warm up will you do? There probably isn’t one perfect answer to all these questions just make sure you have a plan
• Spend some time reviewing your fears by working on your If- Then- What now plans
  • If this happens I will do…
  • What can I do now to prevent it from being an issue
• The big one is always about the mental game
  • Can you check your ego and not get sucked into running too fast too early?
  • what tools do you have at your disposal for when fatigue and pain sets in –
    • distraction works well
    • focus on technique or breathing
    • counting steps
    • tell yourself you have got this I feel great
    • break the course up
    • use mantras
    • have people around the course to lift you up
    • keep smiling

As Oscar said to me the other day, when he is racing he just tells himself 20seconds more. I was pretty impressed that he had learnt at such a young age a simple skill that can help us navigate the pain of racing. Get through another 20sec and the pain my disappear, you could break your opponent or you could get yourself ready for another 20seconds.

Whatever is in your tool kit make sure you have a wide variety of strategies ready to go

Good luck everyone and enjoy the day.