By now all of you know I
ran my first ever race a week back and now I plan on running a lot more. I am listing a few things
to remember for my next race. I am sure after every race I will have to keep
adding to this list
Training - make sure your
training is relevant
If you plan to run
a race you need to train there is no way around it and most of us know this.
The important thing about training is to decide your training based on your
event. If you have a race outside it's always good to include outdoor runs in
your training.
I was always on the treadmill,
I had built a decent stamina for 5-6 k on the treadmill but running outside was
different, the first time I did run outside I had to stop a number of times
whereas on the treadmill I usually managed the same distance comfortably. I
personally think all training should be done outside but if you can't manage
that at least 50% training should be outdoors
Choose a Training plan
based on your fitness level:
Before narrowing down my training plan I went out for a run just to see
my fitness level, don't make assumptions. There are lots of training plans
available freely on the Internet when you are selecting one make sure you
select something that you can relate to. So first check your fitness level then
decide a plan that you can stick to. Usually you can decide this either based
on the distance or speed. Look at the starting week, look at how many runs are
included in a week and if you can comfortably manage the shortest run.
Check your diet:
Along with the actual running the next most
important thing is your diet, I started including a few more good carbohydrates,
I had more oats, more sweet potato it helped especially for my long runs. Over
time I realised what helped me in my runs and what caused stitch, water is also
very important, during my training I realised I drink very little water during
the day and that resulted in getting tired faster. This was one thing that definitely
improved in my training.
Check the race course
before the race:
One mistake I made was I
trained along the same course the entire time, my surface was mostly flat and
the race had lots of hills, next time I will make sure I know the course and
train accordingly.
Make sure to include at
least one or two runs at the same time as your race :
I trained either early in
the morning or later on the evening but my race was at 10 am so I was
a little confused about eating, because I was used to waking up eating a banana
and going for my run but on the race day I had to wait till 10 so I knew I
could not survive on 1 banana. I woke up really early had a good breakfast and then
ate 1 banana about an 1hr before the race, that was good but I was really
worried about either getting tired or feeling uncomfortable.
On the race day:
First race is always
scary, especially if you are running alone, the best thing I did that day was reach
a little early and talk to people who would be running the race.
First things first, go register then look around smile at people, ask
them if they have done a race before if they have tell them it's your first
time and most of the times people will encourage you and give you very good advice...if
it is their first time, you have a company
If you have trained you know
your speed, you know how long it takes for you finish 1 mile so stick to that,
if you want to finish faster try increasing your speed towards the end, so most
of your run is comfortable
Don't look back during the race: this is something that helped me a lot, I
was really worried about coming in last I knew if I looked behind and saw
nobody behind me I would either give up or increase my pace and get tired soon
instead I just continued without looking behind till I finished I finished
comfortably and in a decent time for me
Use time or miles as
your markers, during my training I used land marks as my milestones and
because I knew the path I always knew how much I had left to finish my run but
for my race I did not know any landmarks, instead I used my Nike plus app to
make sure I was maintaining my pace and tim, it's always nice to know how much distance you have covered
Hope you find these
useful, I am sure I will have another list after the next one
Keep Reading
I will Keep Writing
Tanvee
