Life, Running, & Medicine.
Notes on life as I see it.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Chicago Marathon: The taper begins

Hopefully I'm not too little too late.  My attenuated training has left me hitting only 16 miles (today) as my maximum distance.  In less than 14 whole days I will be trying a race 10 miles longer.
 
The good news is my exhausting 16-miler today came on the heels of a tough week for running: a PR 10K 8 days ago, 3 days of running since with 8 miles yesterday, and less-than-race-quality nutritional status (multiple Mohitos and Cuba Libres last night).  I'm hoping that correcting those factors (plus the fact Chicago is FLAT) will get me the additional 10 miles.
 
The [revised last minute] Plan:
1. Only short elliptical workouts for the next 9 days or so.  Will keep doing nautilus / abs to keep in shape, but will stop that too 5 days or so beforehand.  My best races have come after 2-3 weeks off totally.
2. A salad every day starting tomorrow.
3. Limit red meat and fatty meat.  Replace with fish.
4. Day/Night before: No alcohol, no fat, carb-load, in bed early.
5. Morning-of: Power bars x 2, coffee x 1, water at least 1 hour before running.
6. During race: Will hit probably every-other water/Gatorade stop, alternating between the two.  Will walk 30sec or so during drink stops.  Will bring spare dry socks.  Will do a Gel at 12 miles, then the one provided at 18 miles.  No iPod.

1 comment:

rodney said...

Nice planning. Just don't forget the pre-run port-o-let crap. Very, very important.
Good luck!