This Friday I’m running a 10K race, so I’ve been getting ready for it all week. I am slightly Type A when it comes to organization. By getting ready I mean:
* Tapering – 30% off weekly running distance, and easy cross training.
* Eating healthy all week, and for the last couple of days nothing new/spicy/fibrous, not too much dairy/fat/protein/salt. Lots of carbs. No complaints there.
* Foam rolling, every night.
* Going to bed early to try to catch a few good nights’ sleep (instead of my usual 5-6 hours).
* Charging my Garmin and IPod.
* Making a playlist, easy pace songs for warm up time, medium pace songs for the 1st half of the race, and hard pace songs for the 2nd half.
* Thinking of a race plan, meaning the time I’d like to run and splits to get there.
* Decide what I’ll wear. This wasn’t an easy task.
* Check out relevant details such as weather forecast and where there’s parking available. I just got an email from the race with my bib number and GPS directions to the parking lot, nice.
* Get my bag ready to take with me on race morning: race outfit, water/snacks, body glide, etc.
All my crap… I mean, stuff.
I was going to take a rest from running for the 2 days prior to the race, Wednesday and Thursday, with my last run being yesterday morning, an easy 8K.
But it was raining when I woke up and I hate running in the rain or right after, when the sidewalk is still wet, so I went swimming instead, and postponed the run for this morning.
I ran really easy today because I want my legs to be very well rested on Friday.
Funny thing about yesterday is that about an hour after the rain, the sun was shining and the weather was warm… no jacket needed. Look at that, that’s Israel’s winter. Tough.
I know many of you are dealing with very cold weather and haven’t been able to run outside.. I can imagine how much that sucks. Unless you can use it as an excuse… c’mon I’m sure it comes in handy sometimes.
You might have seen this before, from a great blog called The Oatmeal:
Love this stuff
My left foot has been bothering me for a while, first it was my ankle, after a small car accident in June 2013. Now it’s my heel, I don’t want to self-diagnose with Plantar Fasciitis but it’s looking like it.
I wear some kind of support when I run, for both my ankle and my foot, and yesterday I also tried to KT Tape it. Who knows, maybe it will help. That’s what happens when I go to bed at 8:05 PM and there’s no way I’ll fall asleep.
Trust me that taking a good (by good I mean not horrible) selfy of your foot is not as easy as it seems… I guarantee at least 10 minutes of entertainment. Doesn’t the KT Tape look nice?
It stuck nicely and held fine until this morning.. and I actually think it helped make my foot feel better. However it didn’t last beyond my morning shower, and I had to take it off.
How do people make it last 3 days.. way beyond my capabilities.
How do you get ready for a race? Are you a planner or a go with the flow kind of race runner?
Any tips for making KT Tape stick?
2 Cups 'N Run 
Have a great race! I hope the foot holds up. Good luck with the tape!
Thank you.
This my help you avoid PF..
http://running.competitor.com/2014/01/video/video-prevention-and-treatment-of-plantar-fasciitis_53131 and this one:
http://running.competitor.com/2014/01/video/video-prevention-and-treatment-of-plantar-fasciitis_53131
Good luck on your upcoming race! 🙂
Thank you! I just bookmarked them, and will check them out later.
Thanks for sharing these links jazzrunner!
I’m the same way with goal races!!!
Good luck!
I have been meaningto try KT tape on my foot. Let me know if it works well!
Thanks. The KT didn’t hold well.. I definitely need to improve my tactic to put it on.
I love my compression socks too and I highly recommend the Sigvaris brand them!!
In relation to your foot I also get tight under the bottom and I use a golf ball (which I keep under my desk at work) while I painfully roll around under my foot most days. Always seems to do the trick for me. However I started with a tennis ball and progressed to the golf ball, it’s painful at the time but always helps.
Another friend also told me to freeze a water bottle and roll it under my foot after running and even though I’ve never tried it might help.
Best of luck for your race, can’t wait to hear how it went!!
It’s already Friday here in Sydney!! 😀
I heard about the tennis ball and are mad at myself for not trying it yet. 😦 Will do it soon! Thanks. 🙂
I can’t run without music either! I found your blog through your like of a post of mine, and I’m so excited! My sister lives in Ramat Bet Shemesh ( lived in the Old City for a decade) and I get to Israel every 2 years to visit. Am planning a visit later this year. I would live to run there – but am in charge of my mother, so will probably only see the treadmill of the Dan Panorama. I love the weather and am addicted to the food, especially the breakfasts!
Israeli breakfasts are the best! If you come here in the fall/winter you could do a race here, if you like to race and have the opportunity.
Good luck!
Thanks!
Good Luck!
Thanks. 🙂
Thanks for liking my blog. It led me to yours, which is an interesting read and led to me adding you to my reading list. Hope you will consider following me also. All the best in your race!
You have a great blog, will definitely be following it.
I’m definitely a planner, although one time for a half marathon I forgot to charge my Garmin, and the battery died during the first mile. So that was a bummer. Good luck!
That would be a tough one to deal with!
Thank you so much!
Seems everyone plans for their races. Planning for me is usually just finding my stuff the night before the race. Seems last year I didn’t really train at all either. All bad, and my times reflect it. I usually have to wake up 3 to 4 hours before the start and have at least a 2-hour drive. Sometimes I work the night before. You could say I’m a “go with the flow” type of runner.
There’s good in just being relaxed about things and going with the flow. Maybe it comes with experience too, after a large number of races maybe I’ll be able to get ready with my eyes closed..
Relaxed? Not too sure. Usually I can’t find something and spend hours looking for it. I try not to stress too much. Maybe it’s experience. I just know once I start running I have to finish. The sense of accomplishment after crossing the finish line is unmatched.
That’s what I try to avoid.. forgetting/losing something. Although it probably would stop bothering me the second I start running.
Best of luck with your race. I look forward to reading about it.
Ha! I have that trait too and I think it borders on OCD 😉 definitely get your foot checked by a physio. I had PF and the physio gave me a load of exercises and I now run pain free. Good luck for the race/run/event.
It’s getting to the point where I think visiting a physio is due..
And yes to OCD… no way around it.
Haha I am guilty of all your “Type A” personality traits with one added one: I stare at the parking/shuttle schedule and do enough research so that I can avoid taking the shuttle and find parking significantly close to the race. I have been over to beat this system so many times. When there’s a will, there’s a way (but I won’t share my secrets).
I’m sure the effort is worth it. I haven’t been to a race with a shuttle to the start line because most races here are relatively small. I’d hate to be too far from my car (and my gear in it: snacks, warm clothes, etc).
I had to do a lot of ankle mobility exercise during PT for my plantar fasciitis so I’m guessing they’re related. Did you check out the different KT Tape video how-to’s on their website? Those are very helpful. Have you been rolling your foot on a tennis or lacrosse ball to loosen up the tissue on the bottom of the foot? And lots of calf stretches.
Be sure to pull the tape tight and then rub it in. Let me know if you need any other suggestions! I’m finally getting to the other side of my PF injury! And good luck with your race! Don’t forget to ice after!
You are so lucky you are getting over your injury! I hope to join you there, some day. 🙂
I have checked about a million videos and tips, but will again, might see something I haven’t seen before.
It has been a LONG road to recovery. I was injured for most of last year because one injury perpetuated another. Just as I was getting better from the original one, the other one popped up. And now I’ve had a recurrence of a third one…I was glad to see 2013 gone.
You will get there. Be patient with your body.
Also, it looks like you’re using the KT Tape Pro. I’ve only used the original, so I don’t know how the adhesive is different except that it’s supposed to last longer. Have you had someone else help you put the tape on? Maybe try the original one?
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do well!
It is the pro, I will ask someone to help me tape it, maybe that will help. Thanks for the suggestion.
I think I’m going to plan ahead for races, but I totally don’t. One of these days, that’s going to bite me in the butt!
It might, but the best way to do things is the way you want and enjoy, so keep up the no planning! 🙂
I really like your kit! For myself, I tend to be the planning type and have been known to set out my racing gear and bag 2-4 days in advance and set a tentative goal, writing it down on some sort of paper (calendar or training log, usually), a week or two in advance (the “best guess” prediction as indicated by my training). Wish I could advise, but I’ve never tried Kinesio tape; the local running store once held a seminar that I didn’t get to attend. FWIW … the “skeptical” Web site James Randi runs–which looks at the scientific evidence base behind different therapies and such–pooh-poohs the use of KT in its typical sports application (here: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1791-kinesio-taping-the-latest-sports-fad.html). In any case, much luck on your upcoming 10K. Hope your foot issue isn’t PF, too!
Thank you so much for your wishes and for the link, I will check it out.
My bag is also ready, my race plan, everything. I just have to get up, eat, and go.
I can’t help with the tape – never used it.
But I am definitely a planner – like to have everything physically in place so there is no stress the morning of the race. That way I can pretend I am just casually going about my business 🙂
Love The Oatmeal … but I have been braving the cold. Maybe I am a polar bear … or like my wife says, an idiot.
LOL! You made me laugh with that last comment, hey as long as you are happy…
It really is the best to wake up on race morning and not have to deal with getting things ready.
it can stick on for longer–i’ve had mine last 4-5 days. but then i had my husband put it on me. whenever i’ve put it on myself, it comes off easily.
That’s impressive.. what does he do differently?
GAAAH I miss all that race prep stuff so much!! I’m certainly not obsessive about it but I do enjoy figuring out what to wear, looking up directions/parking, working out logistics, packing my bag, planning my race-eve & pre-race food, etc. Good luck to you!!
Thank you! I agree figuring out everything is half the fun.
Great checklist! Good luck on the race!
Thank you!
Yay for purple Pro Compression socks and yurbuds! Both are necessary for races. I’m a planner. Nice k-taping! Good luck this weekend and have lots of fun!
Thank you, and yes, I also couldn’t race without either.