Running is like accounting, a picture in time. Your balance at noon today could be A, the bank processes your monthly service charges, your interest and at 12:01 your balance is B. How does this relate to running? You run, you train, you prepare, today you feel like a Kenyan but tomorrow it all feels awkward and clumsy. When the act of running itself seems so arbitrary how can an individual set a goal and then even more miraculously achieve that goal? Is it that the stars have perfectly aligned? Karma is working in your favour? Maybe there is less chance to having that perfect race then we think; maybe we just get in our own way.
The saying goes, race how you train. This is not ambiguous and it means exactly that, if you trained with it, race with it, if you haven?t-don?t. No room for interpretation here right? Number one asked question two weeks before any marathon/half marathon; ?What should I eat for breakfast?? Second most asked questions; ?What should I eat during my race? AND ?How much water should I drink?? If you?ve been following along you already know the answers (hint: read the opening line of this paragraph).
The week following any major race (regardless of distance) is dissemination time. It is the time to write down not what you think you did during your race but exactly what you did including details such as weather, fluid, solids, electrolytes and bathroom breaks. Next is to broaden the circle by making note of what you did and ate the day before, and the day after. Did you drink wine with dinner, did you sit in the hot tub, did you spend three hours at the race expo, did you pump water out of your flooded basement or did you sit in a cool room with your feet up sipping water and noshing on small carbohydrate meals?
If you want to know why things went wrong or better yet right, take the time and document it so you can repeat or not repeat your behaviour, and remember RACE HOW YOU TRAIN!
On May 17th Wendy McCoy placed second in her age group at the Ottawa Early Bird Triathlon (500/22.8/5), crossing the finish line in 1:35:01 on a wet, windy, cold day. At the same time in warm, steamy Florida Mike Myers (5:26:28), Tara Rawluk (5:36:50) and Richard Bonathan (6:52:16) raced the Ironman Florida 70.3 (2/90/21).
May 23/24 is race weekend in Ottawa. As one of the biggest spring races in Ontario many locals will be in attendance running distances from the 5k to the marathon. If you can?t make it to our Nation?s Capital to watch check your favourite runners progress by registering for updates to your phone. Sportstats and Events Online have teamed up to send text messages to your phone as your half marathoner crosses the 9k point and finish line and your marathoner passes the 10k, 21.1k, 30k and finish line. Registration is easy but there is a $2.99 cost.
https://secure.eventsonline.ca/sms/ncm/.
