Last 1/4 or last 1/2
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We had a beautiful, sunny and warm day for our last group training run before race day. 17 people showed up at Deep Cove for a brief chat with Curb and I. 13 of those decided to head back to LSCR for a last 1/4 trip. And 4 of us, including me, Don, Lori and Christine (one of our volunteers this year), headed out for a gentle run on the BP for an out and back. During our pre-run poop talk, we gave a few last minute thoughts about conditioning and nutrition. Curb offered his thoughts about doing some runs this week with 3 to 5 minute bursts but of course nothing that will strain the muscles too much. And if you're going to run on the Friday before the big day, make it very gentle or better yet not at all. Sleep is an issue as well so be sure to get your 8 hours per night as much as possible all week and don't expect much of anything restful on Friday night. I added a couple of pointers about nutrition with the number one rule holding true for everyone. Here are my top ten suggestions for race week and race day to take or leave as you see fit: 1. Eat and drink what you know works. Try nothing new this week and especially on race day. 2. Eat steady, small meals throughout the week and don't concern yourself with "carb loading" until later in the week. Proper carb loading is actually very hard to do well and is essentially meaningless for most of us. Simply increase the quantity of carbs toward race day and stick to fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains for at least 80 percent of your carbohydrate diet. Do NOT have a great big pasta meal on Friday night unless you have trained your body to handle this before each of your previous long training runs. Remember Rule #1 !!!!!!!! 3. Stick to lean proteins and plan your pre-race meal to include some sort of easily digestible protein. This might include egg and egg whites, yogurt, protein powder and even some wheat germ, A muffin made with these ingredients and some fruit would be perfect. 4. Eat mostly monounsaturated fats and hold off on much of the saturated ones. This means getting your fat mainly from olive oil, nuts, seeds, and also from natural peanut butter and foods like fresh flax meal and, again, wheat germ. Greasy fries and foods like fatty meats just don't cut it if you want to give your body a chance for good recovery and healthful rest. This applies to being sure you eat modest size meals as well. 5, Show up race day well hydrated. Stay away from alcohol except in very small amounts if you must. Take a water bottle with you to drink on the way to the race. Do not drink just water through the race unless you are taking electrolyte tablets. You need to replace your electrolytes to keep a clear head and relaxed muscles. 6. Eat early, small, and often during the race if that is generally how you have trained. Some people don't need to do this but likely you are not one of them. Your entire food consumption for the race should be planned in advance. There is a complete listing of aid station food right here. 7. Carry only one water bottle as there is lots of water and other drinks at the 11 aid stations. Water and food is very heavy so only carry what you absolutely have to. Refer to rule #1 if necessary. 8. If you get sick and throw up during the race because of food or another reason but are not near an aid station, report your race number to another participant and just take it easy. There are lots of people around to help so you won't be left alone very long. (If you have to leave the race route for ANY reason, be sure someone associated with the race knows where you are. We track everyone from start to finish very carefully.) 9. Finish up the race with a drink of protein and carbs in a 4 to 1 ratio. This might be 10 to 15 grams of protein powder and 40 to 50 grams of carbs. There are a number of ways to get this mixture and it will help immensely with your recovery. Then be sure to have a Honey's doughnut and other goodies at the finish line. 10. When all else fails, refer to Rule #1. If you have any questions on these points or want to know more, send me an e-mail. There's a lot to read between the lines if you are interested in knowing. Well, back to our training run today. My group of 4 took the climb out of the Cove at a "reasonable" pace. Just before we left I joked with Curb that his group would likely catch up to us at some point on the way from LSCR. And sure enough, after we had made it to the top of the Seymour Grind on the BP and had made our way back to the rolling curves and bouncy bridges of the last leg, along came Curb and Glenn to to show us how it's done. They were sweating and working pretty hard but I'm sure were looking forward to finishing up a nice short run and already thinking about coffee and treats at Honey's. I think most people finished up well under or near 2 hours. The last group training run always seems surreal for me since it is the culmination of several months of long weekly runs and, in a sense, the signal to an end of another season. Of course there's still lots of good running weather ahead and, well, why stop? Everyone thinks we're a little touched already anyway so really there's no need to hang up our shoes just yet (unless they smell). There's even a few good races still to come before the year is up and I know lots of people with plans to run some of them. My point is, be sure to enjoy your high level of fitness one way or another. Remember that Friday this week is a mandatory meeting for all first time Knee Knacker runners. Package pick up is Thursday and Friday nights at North Shore Athletics and you will be getting a wristband when providing personal identification. E-mails have been sent out to all runners with these details and more but show up Friday with any questions. good luck on race day and be sure to have some fun, |
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