5 tips for your upcoming race!

For those of you gearing up for a fall race, pat yourself on the back! The hard part is over. You should be proud of everything you have accomplished up to this point. Now it’s time to taper. This is the part of training where your coach will tell you to take it easy. I always appreciate my coach ten times mores when he tells me I don’t have to run as much! Race day is a reward for all the training you put together. It’s a chance to celebrate your hard work. It’s nothing more than another opportunity to show off your fitness. No matter what race you are doing, I encourage you to not look at it as an end all be all event. Instead, be grateful for the simple fact that you get to compete again! Below are a few tips I still need before races. 1. Do not overreact to the good or bad miles! In the longer distance races you cannot afford to lose control mentally because you hit an off mile. You will go through several different emotions during a distance race. Stay poised and take things mile by mile. If you are off plan, refocus and work to get back into it in the next mile. 2. Every time you want to speed up in the first half of the race, don’t! In the marathon especially you will want to drop the hammer the first 10 miles. Other runners will be passing you and you will want to run with them. Stay relaxed and use your energy for the back half of the race when most people will be falling off. If you run smart from the gun, you put yourself in great position to be successful. 3. Do not sell your soul to your GPS watch! Our watches are a great tool but they aren’t 100 percent accurate. I encourage my athletes to use the lap button on their watch for manual splitting the course mile markers. Your GPS will always be a little off. Trust your legs and body. They are doing the work. 4. Run your own race! You have worked so hard to get to this point. There will be a point in the race where you will hurt regardless of how fast you are running. You owe it to yourself and the training you have put in to compete in the back half of the race. Every time you want to quit or slow down, remind yourself of all the miles you have run. Don’t get caught up anyone else’s race. Focus on you! 5. Have fun! To run your best race you need to be in the best spot mentally. Step on the starting line knowing you have done everything in your power to be prepared to race at your best. Control what you can control. It’s possible to challenge yourself while enjoying the process. You have done it every day in training, now do it on race day. Good luck!