Marathon Prep

It's one week before the Burlington Marathon. In 6 1/2 days, I'll be waking up to head to the starting line for my second marathon. My first, Lake Placid 2009, went smoothly, but I decided at the end that it'd probably be smart never to sign up for marathon again. It took me under three years to forget that wise decision and register for Burlington's 26.2. I was reading Runner's World magazine, it was highlighted as having "great spectator support!", I was looking for a challenge -- what was I to do? (If you said not sign up, you're probably my sister and should remember to do good workoutness so you can maintain your 'athletic twin' status.)

The revelation I'd like to share with you today is that the physical preparations are not the most important part of getting ready for a marathon. This should come as a relief to my dad, who has questioned my physical preparation. They are right up there in importance, but tie for first place with the "other stuff" of the final week before the race. What is this other stuff? What a good question!

Mental preparation, which includes steeling for the boredom of 5 hours on the course for some of us non-lovers of running, begins well in advance of the final week. It starts with the motivation to get out and complete every training run that we make it through and builds from there. Even with four months of training, there's still a lot to do in the final week to be mentally and physically ready on race day. Here are a few of my plans for the week ahead:

• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. There are risks to overhydrating during the race (the primary being hyponatremia), but hydrating in advance helps minimize chances of racing dehydrated. By drinking water and sports drinks constantly for the week leading up to the race, you put your body in camel-mode, storing as much fluid as possible for those hours on the course.
• Just add salt. Speaking of fluids and hyponatremia, it's essential to get enough salt into your body in the days before a race. Imagine going on a jog around the block. You might break into a sweat coming up the final length, right? Now imagine hour four of that jog around the block in 75-degree heat. Marathoners sweat a lot because they're out on the course for so long. The weather projections for Burlington suggest it'll be 75 and sunny that day, beautiful for Memorial Day weekend but a little less lovely for the race. In good news, sweet potatoes taste delicious with added salt.
• Rest your legs. My legs and feet will have a big morning on Sunday so I'm aiming to give them as much rest as possible between now and then. A few final taper runs and some nice off-day erging will keep my muscles fresh; I'll alternate these with tons of stretching and some quality couch time. This is one of the few times in life when it's not ideal to be up and active. 
• Get familiar with the course. This goes into those mental preparations for staving off boredom and making it through the tough stretches. My planning always includes finding a course map and description to review ahead of time. I've printed out the map of the Burlington course and started committing the lengths of the four loops to memory. This may seem silly, but it'd seem less so if you were running up the six-block-long hill at mile 15 wondering if the elevation would ever end. At that point, it's useful to know that it's all flat-to-downhill from there. Also, there will be Taiko drummers at the hill to encourage us on - how cool is that? I also use the course map to plan out motivational strategies for the race. I know, for example, that mile 14 will probably be easier than mile 12 because 14 a) is on the back of an out-and-back and b) parallels Lake Champlain. If 12 is tough, I want to have a few mental strategies ready to go.
• Plan for race day. Every detail can affect a race experience: what time you'll pick up your race packet the day before, whether you'll have a late-night snack before the race and what you'll have for breakfast the morning of, what you'll wear during the race (important!), what time you'll head to the course, etc. Race morning has enough going on without the realization that you forgot your sunscreen or ran out of your pre-race sports drink. Here's a situation in which planning is a very good thing.

This week is not the time to rack up a lot of miles as the week already has over 26 in store, but is the time to sit on the couch, enjoy the saltiest pretzels the store had with some hummus, and keep my waterbottle constantly full. It should be a pretty great week.

For more on pre-race preparations, check out No Meat Athlete's post here.
For more on being a marathon spectator, check out this guide by Tom McGrath. Absolutely stick to his final point (Parental who may be tempted by this, remember that other runners may hear what you utter in jest). Until we can see the finish line around 26.1 miles, we are not "almost there". Once we can, we'll be too exhausted to notice much of anything you say and already preparing for that post-race chocolate milk.