• Random Quote

  The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare. — Juma Ikangaa

• Pages

  • Contact
  • Quotes

• Poll

  How many miles do you run a week?

  • 0-9
  • 10-19
  • 20-29
  • 30-39
  • 40+

  View Results

   Loading ...

• Categories

  • Gear
  • Miscellaneous
  • News
  • Quote
  • Running
  • Spotlight Runner
  • Training
  • Uncategorized

• Archives

  • November 2008 (1)
  • September 2008 (1)
  • August 2008 (1)
  • July 2008 (4)
  • June 2008 (7)
  • May 2008 (1)

• Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

• Calendar

  November 2008

  M	T	W	T	F	S	S
  « Sep
  					1	2
  3	4	5	6	7	8	9
  10	11	12	13	14	15	16
  17	18	19	20	21	22	23
  24	25	26	27	28	29	30

There are many opinions on what you should do on the day before a race.  Here I have put together a list of what I do before an event to be prepared.

• Get at least nine hours of sleep two nights in a row! Two good nights rest makes quite a difference versus one night of rest.
• Eat healthy the day before.  Have complex carbohydrates for dinner, and stay away from soft drinks.
• Go on an easy run.  It doesn’t have to be long or hard, 30 minutes will be just fine.
• Plan out your race!  Planning your race the day before means it will be fresh in your mind.  Think about the plan as you lay in bed.  Think about it when you wake up the day of, and then stick to it during the race.
• Start hydrating a little extra.  If you hydrate a little bit extra the day before, you know you will have plenty of water starting off on the day of the event.
• Pack a ‘race pack’.  Having everything you need in a pack that you can grab is nifty.  If something comes up and you need to be ready in 20 minutes, have no fear!  You already packed a bag with your spikes, socks, race clothes, water, and a snack.  Throwing in your ‘lucky’ items would be a good idea too, because then you will be sure to have them if they are a must.

Whitney M. Young Jr said it best:

“It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”

Many runners up their mileage by running twice every day.  I have heard many opinions on the helpfulness of two-a-days.  Some people believe running twice in a day is more hurt than help.

This article on two-a-days goes through the benefits of running twice and when you should start your new training.

My personal opinion is that it can’t hurt to run twice a day, but if you are on low mileage maybe only run two-a-days on 2-3 days of the week.

Distance running is largely about learning how to manage pain. There are many runners who are physically fit but lack the mental toughness it takes to be great. These runners will never quite reach their potential.

Part of training is building muscles and stamina, but an equally important part is building mental toughness. Mental toughness will allow you to train harder and to race faster. Here are some questions to determine how mentally tough you are:

Do you always have enough energy left at the end of the race for a really strong kick–stronger than those around you? It could be that you will always have enough energy to do a fast sprint at the end. However, I believe that if you normally have that much energy, you could probably run faster for the rest of the race and get a better overall time. I certainly believe this is the case if you are always passing people at the end of the race. If this happens, try a different strategy. Go out a bit faster and pass people at the beginning. Find someone who is normally faster than you and stick with them. You may surprise yourself. If you have a weak kick at the end, at least you know you’ve left it all on the course.

When you go running on your own, do you find yourself running more or less than the goal you set out with? Running on your own can be mentally demanding. There is no one to distract you. There is no one with whom you can compete–only yourself. Usually you’ll have a goal of how long or far you want to run. Meet that goal! If you can, go a little further. Sometimes I will force myself to run a certain distance by heading in a straight line away from my house and not turning around until I’ve completed half of my goal. If I’m tired on the way back, I have to learn to face my doubts and negative thoughts and go all the way, after all, there is no short cut.

Have you developed ways to eliminate negative thoughts? Many runners allow negative thoughts to destroy them. This is evident when a “good” runner has a terrible race. A truly good runner can run well even when he or she doesn’t feel well. One way I maintain positive thoughts is by singing positive songs in my mind. Another good way I’ve maintained positive thoughts is by designating points on the course that are mine. For instance, for one race I found a turn out of which I decided I would accelerate. During the race, we hit that point and since I knew it was my turn, I gained an advantage over my opponent. A final way to find positive thoughts is to watch inspirational movies. Two that I recommend are Gattica and Rudy, but try to find your own.

Do you slow down when someone passes you? One strategy I use during races is to speed up when I’m passing. It can really destroy the mind of your opponent. But don’t get on the wrong side of that tactic! Know your strategy and stick to it. If someone passes you unexpectedly, either speed up or maintain your speed, but don’t slow down.

Do you find yourself looking back at the end of a race? Believe me, I’ve looked back and I know exactly what it means: “I don’t want to go any faster and I won’t go any faster unless someone is going to pass me.” Boston knew what they were talking about–don’t look back! Leave everything on the course. Don’t be lazy. Go as fast as you can so that the person that might be behind you gives up.

The Tour de France is in full swing. Michael Barry, a professional cyclist, wrote in a New York Times piece that:

Everybody in the Tour de France will suffer; the winner will probably be the one who is prepared to suffer the most.

The same is true for distance racing. Don’t think that it’s just a runner’s stamina that got him/her first place; it was also his/her mind.

Finding the right shoes can help you immensely when you run.  Running shoes without the right amount of support can hurt your feet and legs.  I found an awesome in-depth article about running shoes: Finding the Right Running Shoes.

The article explains where to get shoes, what kind of shoes to get, and how your shoes affect you.  A point of the article that needs to be repeated is go to a specialty running store.  Store clerks at specialty running shops most often are runners themselves, and know exactly what you need.  Answer their questions honestly and you will get the shoe perfect for you.

My favorite place to shop for shoes in my area (Boise, Idaho) is Bandanna Running and Walking.  Everybody in the store is friendly and knows a lot about running.  They allow me to take a test run of any shoes I try on.    Bandanna even gives discounts if you run for your high school.

Find a shop in your area that you feel welcome and the people know what they are doing.  You might meet a new person to run with, or hear about races you would normally not hear about, but most importantly you will get a good pair of shoes.

Using mental power in a race can be an excellent way to cripple the competition, but when you allow yourself to be crippled by other people you will lose.  I have found many ways to use my mind in races and practices to help me reach my potential.  I hope these will work for you:

1. Plan your race ahead of time. Planning your race out in your head (even better on paper!) is a helpful way to keep you on track.  Knowing when to speed up and when to attack makes it so that you can focus on form and breathing.  Having a race plan also gives you confidence in what you do during the race.
2. Tell yourself that you can do it. When you tell yourself that you are not tired and can speed up, then you are more likely to speed up.  Focusing on the negative things means you are not focused on the important things.  If you find yourself thinking negatively, snap yourself back on track!  Relax and set your mind on breathing and form.  Breathing and form are the best things to focus on during a race because they help you stay calm and help you run more efficiently.
3. Bargain with yourself. Tell yourself that when you get to that certain turn or rock or tree that you will give yourself a break.  Split your race up into sections and tell yourself what you will do during the next section.  During a 5k your might say “I have 2 more miles to go.  I can run a mile really fast, so I will run this next mile hard and see how it goes.”  Giving deals to yourself will help you push your body.
4. Focus! Keeping your mind on the task at hand is the most important thing you can do as an athlete.  Do not let your mind wander, and when you catch yourself wandering away from the race, slap your mind into shape!  Focus not only on your breathing and form, but on your pace and your place in the race.  If you have goals set, which I highly recommend, think of those goals and push yourself to meet and break them.

These tips should be used at your practices as well as races.  You would not race without practicing your running, do not go into a race without mentally exercising too.

“Once you’re beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line.”

- Todd Williams

This quote is very much true.  Any racer who does not have the will to win, will not win.

Go give yourself a mental sweat.

My first 5k (3.1 mile) race was a huge success.  I blame my success on my inexperience in racing.  When I started the race I was behind most of my team.  Questions popped into my head:  “Am I going fast enough? Do I need to slow down? How far have I gone?”  That is when I remembered advice given to me before the race by one of my brothers, “Start hard and set a quick pace.  If you think that you can go faster then do it.”

This advice resulted in me starting hard and setting a quick pace.  I had hit the one mile mark when I thought I had done only a half mile!  Hitting that mark early made me think that I could go faster, and faster.  Which I did.  Increasing my speed throughout the race helped me achieve my race goal.  When I started passing people near the end it helped me remain curious of my running potential.

My school’s coach has always told the cross country team to “Go ballistic at the finish.”  Some runners think this means ‘when you can see the finish line, start sprinting.’  Personally, I believe it means during the last third of a race pick it up.

Finishing the last third of the race fastest, while all of your competators slow down, helps you to feel faster.  Feeling faster helps you go faster.  The end of the race is the most important part, and if you run it well you will feel great.

The article Finish Strong in Every Race from Runner’s World lays out a helpful training routine so that you can dig deep at the end of the race.

Explode and go ballistic before you see the finish line!  Push yourself and remain curious of what you can do in the last third of the race.

The New York Times article, Real Thought for Food for Long Workouts, published June 5, 2008, discusses how the body recovers from long workouts. Some interesting points from the article:

• “During exercise, muscles stop the biochemical reactions used to maintain themselves such as replacing and resynthesizing the proteins needed for day to day activities. It’s not that exercise is damaging your muscles; it’s that they halt the maintenance process until exercise is over.”
• Muscles don’t need much protein — a 176 pound man would only need about 20 grams after a long workout.
• Muscles don’t need many carbohydrates either: only about 1 gram for every kilogram of body weight.
• The two hours after the workout is the best time to replenish protein; the 4 hours after is the best time for carbs.
• “Although studies by Dr. Jeukendrup and several others have shown that consuming protein after exercise speeds up muscle protein synthesis, no one has shown that that translates into improved performance. The reason, Dr. Jeukendrup said, is that effects on performance, if they occur, won’t happen immediately. They can take 6 to 10 weeks of training. That makes it very hard to design and carry out studies to see if athletes really do improve if they consume protein after they exercise.”

Interesting stuff for those who swear by protein shakes and PowerBars.

Next Page →

• 

• About

  This is my blog where I write about running, training, races, and anything else running related. Because I run for Mountain View High School I may write about my team and opposing teams in the Treasure Valley. Everything written in this blog is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of my coaches, my teammates, or my school.