How to prepare for half marathon this Saturday?

[Anonymous]

Should I eat more calories or carbs the latter half of this week? I have not been doing so as I don’t have an appetite.

I am obviously not doing any hard runs or hard leg days the rest of the week (I did legs on Monday), but should I continue to lift as I normally would to keep my blood flow and for flexibility?

I plan to pick my race outfit soon and thinking I’ll do a simple pasta and chicken for dinner Friday evening and a light oatmeal breakfast before the run.

Thursday or Friday is packet pick-up. I will have to take the metro Saturday morning to the race.

What else should I factor in/ plan for?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't lift but I would walk just to keep the blood flowing. When I did half marathons I didn't do anything special. I had a couple of energy gummies with me and water but that was about it. I think I may have had pasta for dinner the night before.

[Anonymous]

Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Should I eat more calories or carbs the latter half of this week? I have not been doing so as I don’t have an appetite.

I am obviously not doing any hard runs or hard leg days the rest of the week (I did legs on Monday), but should I continue to lift as I normally would to keep my blood flow and for flexibility?

I plan to pick my race outfit soon and thinking I’ll do a simple pasta and chicken for dinner Friday evening and a light oatmeal breakfast before the run.

Thursday or Friday is packet pick-up. I will have to take the metro Saturday morning to the race.

What else should I factor in/ plan for?

On the morning of, eat what you normally eat before you do your weekly LR. I'm not sure your pace, but a half marathon shouldn't neccessitate a big shift in eating/dieting the week of unless you have a pace of 10+, in which you may need more fuel just becuase of time on feet.
If you've done your long runs with any types of energy gels, bring those along. Wouldn't recommend using them for the first time on race day though.
Good luck and have fun! If you've done the work then race day is an exciting adrenaline filled treat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Just curious, is this your first race? I've never heard of a plan that would suggest the bolded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

I would leave that alone. You are very unlikely to metabolically blow up. It takes a lot of time to train taking in carbs like that. You’ll do great!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

I would leave that alone. You are very unlikely to metabolically blow up. It takes a lot of time to train taking in carbs like that. You’ll do great!!

Thanks. How does one even carry 4-5 gels during a race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Just curious, is this your first race? I've never heard of a plan that would suggest the bolded.

Not first race - so lots of experience.

I’m not racing this. I’m just doing my aerobic run for half Ironman training I would otherwise do on Sunday on Saturday. A change of venue and lots of my other friends are doing this. I’ll hit 13.1 at my planned 1:40 anyways. I pretty much do that every weekend during “on” build weeks anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

I would leave that alone. You are very unlikely to metabolically blow up. It takes a lot of time to train taking in carbs like that. You’ll do great!!

Thanks. How does one even carry 4-5 gels during a race?

Trisuit have a bunch of pockets. And Ironman (or other races) have aid stations with gels anyways. I almost never go through what I stick in my pockets honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

I would leave that alone. You are very unlikely to metabolically blow up. It takes a lot of time to train taking in carbs like that. You’ll do great!!

Thanks. How does one even carry 4-5 gels during a race?

Trisuit have a bunch of pockets. And Ironman (or other races) have aid stations with gels anyways. I almost never go through what I stick in my pockets honestly.

Gotcha! Enjoy your training run/race!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Yeah, it was beginner, but I didn’t do most of the runs during the week. Just the long runs on the weekends and also lifted weights during the week (tapering off heavy leg days the last couple weeks).

I did practice race nutrition and conservatively did only 2 gels. Now I wonder if I should have done more, but probably too late to add another right?

I would leave that alone. You are very unlikely to metabolically blow up. It takes a lot of time to train taking in carbs like that. You’ll do great!!

Thanks. How does one even carry 4-5 gels during a race?

Trisuit have a bunch of pockets. And Ironman (or other races) have aid stations with gels anyways. I almost never go through what I stick in my pockets honestly.

Gotcha! Enjoy your training run/race!

Thanks! I’m sure you have a great time! Air temp looks really good

[Anonymous]

PP poster back. Decided to race this more and will do a mini taper here. So I’ll easy run on Friday AM with a few short (like 30 second) striders. Then swim workout (suck at this).

We are going to park in the Raegan building early. Terlets should be available in there early AM. I’m carpooling with a buddy. Weather looks delicious!

[Anonymous]

That was a good time. Rollers caught me by surprise a little. Well organized and the temps were great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you use a plan? If so, do what the plan says. What you do leading up to the race and volume is entirely based on a plan and your experience level. I’ll run for ~1 hour Friday morning with some 4x4 at my real marathon pace. I decided to do it this morning as my long run. I’ll have to go and buy a bib from the expo.

For food, I would just cut down on fiber the last two days to avoid having a poopin problem. That’s what I do for long course triathlon.

In race nutrition I would hope you practiced by now. I plan to put there for 1:35-1:40, so ~1.7 hours x 50-60g (what I usually do at the end of a half Ironman off the bike for nutrition in gel form) = 4-5 gels. I’m doing that not so much to avoid blowing up, but to speed recovery afterwards. I’ll still do my bike/run on Sunday.

Just curious, is this your first race? I've never heard of a plan that would suggest the bolded.

Not first race - so lots of experience.

I’m not racing this. I’m just doing my aerobic run for half Ironman training I would otherwise do on Sunday on Saturday. A change of venue and lots of my other friends are doing this. I’ll hit 13.1 at my planned 1:40 anyways. I pretty much do that every weekend during “on” build weeks anyways.

Wow, good luck w/ Ironman. May I ask your age?