Category Archives: pre race

Quieting the Pre-Race Nerves

This Sunday I will be completing my first Olympic distance triathlon. That is a 0.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. And I have to admit, I am pretty nervous!

I know I can finish each distance on their own, and I’m actually pretty comfortable with the bike and run together, but I think what is getting me the most anxious in the swim.

Before last week’s triathlon, I was actually excited — I had done the same race twice before and knew what to expect. I know the temperature of the water, the many speed bumps to deal with at the beginning and end of the bike, and the rolling hills on the run. I also went into the race with a pretty low pressure approach of just finishing, and not worrying about time, especially because of my calf pains earlier in the week.

This week, however, I have had butterflies in my stomach thinking about the longer race. I guess it is kind of like doing your first road running race at a new distance too. You are confident in your abilities, but the newness of it makes you a little more uncertain.

With all this in mind, I have been doing my best to quiet these pre-race nerves. For example, I swam twice this week including once while wearing my wetsuit. I’ve only worn it one other time before, so trying it out again made me feel a little more comfortable and not so constricted.

My calf has a few knots in it still, but no pain. I am taking it easy again this week with hopes of picking up the miles a little more next week. I’ve been stretching and rolling every day, and plan to get in some yoga either today or tomorrow.

Otherwise, I am focusing on having a positive mindset and confidence in myself that I know I can complete the swim. I am picturing myself being comfortable in the water and finishing the swim strong, then crushing the bike and the run, and having lots of fun! The mental preparation always helps me a lot the week of a race. Dreaming of happiness at the finish line, like this:

Do you get nervous before races? How do you calm those pre-race nerves?

Running a Half Marathon Relay

1st Half of 2013

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Tomorrow I’ll be running my first half marathon of 2013 — The Davis Stampede! I’m both excited and nervous. I haven’t done as good of a job preparing as I have for other races, but I know I’ll be able to make it across the finish line. I’m kind of considering it as sort of a training run for my March half marathon.

From Davis Stampede Facebook Page

My friend was able to pick up my race packet on Friday for me, so I’m all set to go in the morning. Luckily it is only 20 minutes away from my house so we don’t have to get up too early. Whoo hoo!

After the race we are having friends over to hang out and watch the Super Bowl!

Can’t wait to tell you all about it! Looking forward to half #9!

Who are you cheering for in the Super Bowl? I always want to see a good game. 🙂 But I will be cheering on Joe Flacco and the Ravens since Flacco graduated from the University of Delaware where I also went to school. Go UD!

Three Things Thursday: Pre-Marathon

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1. Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas so my husband and I can each run our own first marathon! I have so many emotions right now…excited, nervous, excited, scared, happy… and excited! I know I’m starting to feel a little antsy with tapering and nervousness because I have been dreaming about the marathon and probably accidentally kicking my husband in the middle of the night with my “sleep running”. But I am seriously so freaking excited! I know I will make it to that finish line, even if it isn’t as fast as I hope. Like I wrote the other day about tapering…I need to trust in my training, and keep my mind strong in these final days.

2. The weather for Sunday looks nice. High temp of 70 degrees. Since we start at 3pm, it will be warm at the start, but should get to be a nice temperature before I get halfway through. I don’t think it will be much cooler than 60 degrees by the time I’m finished, so it will be perfect for running. Probably the thing I’m most nervous about is eating during the day, since I didn’t really do much night training. I’ll try to post as soon as I can after the race to let you all know how it goes!

3. Some fun stuff that’s not running…last night I saw the Trans Siberian Orchestra. They have put together a new show, and it was awesome! Cute story. Awesome rock show and lights. So much fun!

Davis Turkey Trot Half Race Goals

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Tomorrow is the Davis Turkey Trot. I will be completing the half marathon distance race. As I start my taper, I need to be sure to get in a few more quality workouts. So for this race, want to have some good goals to achieve and keep me focused.

Turkey Trot Half Marathon Goals:
1) Start slow! I mentioned in my post about last week’s race that I started a little too fast. I would like to make myself practice starting slow at the race, and not let the race day excitement make me run to fast and cause a burnout.

2) Negative split, or maintain consistent pacing the whole race. Although I didn’t do too poorly at this my last race, I didn’t really do well either. I really don’t want to burn out at the marathon. Practice makes perfect, so I’m going to practice this too!

3) Try to enjoy running in the rain. We haven’t had much rain for the past few months, so I haven’t really trained at all in the rain. I don’t mind the rain, but I’m just not used to it. So even though it will be cold and wet, I want to again be sure to have a good time. Weather is predicted to be 100% chance of rain at the race start!

For running in the rain, I just saw some tips by Aron from Runner’s Rambles. Some of the best tips, I think are:
– Wear a hat. It really helps keep the rain off our face and out of your eyes
– Don’t wear cotton. Sticking with wicking fabrics can really help a rainy run be comfortable. Cotton gets too heavy and you will really feel wet. Similarly, you might also want to avoid cotton socks. Wool socks are much better at keeping blisters away.
-Be careful not to overdress. It doesn’t always get cold when it rains, so keep an eye on the temperature before you go out. Wearing layers can help with this too.

I already did packet pickup (actually a friend got my stuff for me yesterday!), so I really just need to get to Davis and be at the start on time. By the way, the women’s tech t’s are pink! I’ve never seen a race with pink shirts, so that’s kind of fun. Or if you don’t like pink, the men’s tech shirts are an awesome maroon-ish red! Very fall colored. I kind of like that they are different colors.

Even though this is another training run for me, I always love the race environment. I’m looking forward to another fun race weekend!

Starting the Taper

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Now that I’ve done my last 20 miler before the marathon, I’m officially in taper mode. This mainly means that my long runs won’t be quite so long. I run three times per week, so for most of my runs, my legs are fairly recovered. I will be continuing to run at this consistency for the next few weeks as well.

In the next two weeks, I have two more runs planned:
1) This Saturday is the Davis Turkey Trot Half Marathon. I am still trying to decide if I will run this at tempo pace (~my half marathon pace) or slower (just faster than or about marathon pace).
2) Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning. I talked about this run a few days ago, but this will definitely be run at a nice, easy, relaxed pace. This run will be for fun and enjoying the day.

Ideally, I will also do one other longer run of around 8 miles the week before the race, but I’m not sure if I will be able to fit that in with the Thanksgiving holiday (Ry and I are going away for the weekend). Many websites suggest to run 80% of your volume three weeks out, 60% two weeks out and 33% the week of the race.

I will be doing my best to eat healthy, especially with Thanksgiving and some travel thrown in the mix. But at least carb loading gives me a good excuse to eat lots of mashed potatoes and stuffing! I will also be focusing on hydration. Sometime I forget to drink water during the day, so my goal will be to drink at least one full bottle (I carry a big water bottle with me every day) by the end of the work day.

The next two weeks I also plan to do this series of hip and glute exercises (great video and exercise explanations, by the way!). I noticed during Clarksburg that my glutes and hamstrings were really getting tight, and I could feel a little bit of IT Band soreness. None of it was anything to be concerned about, but with 3 weeks left, I could do 2 solid weeks of exercises and stretches to make sure I am strong for this race.

How do you taper for a marathon?

Any thoughts on my pace for Saturday’s race? I could use some advice…

20 Mile Race Prep

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Sunday I will be racing in the historic 20-miler as part of the Clarksburg Country Run. This will be my third run of 20 miles as part of my marathon training program. See my other long run recaps here and here.

I am really looking forward to this race, and am hoping to use it as a good check-in for how well my training has gone. The course is nice and flat, so I won’t have to worry about any crazy hills like at the NWM in October.

Looks hilly, but check out the elevation bar on the left. Basically flat. Ha!

My goals for this race are:
1) take in adequate nutrition and hydration along the route (although I think I do pretty well with this in my training runs, I always think race conditions feel a little different since I don’t carry my own water)

2) Finish with a 10:00/mile pace (this is my goal marathon pace, so I hopefully I can fare well on this 20-miler. I also did my other 20 mile training run in a 10:17/mile race, so I think this is attainable)

3) Finish strong and not hit the wall

4) For every race, I want to be sure to have fun!

Sunday’s weather is looking a little chilly, but generally nice. Sunny!

I am really hoping to learn some good lessons from this race and afterward feel completely prepared for my marathon in a few weeks.

Anyone else racing this weekend?

Defy Your Limitations

moving forward, one step at a time