Sweating the Details....

Tomorrow is the big day! I take a bus (at 6:30) from the East side of Manhattan out to Coney Island. Not sure exactly what time we arrive but I expect to do some standing around before the race starts at 9AM.

The training work is done and all that's left is sweating the details (I was going to say managing the details, but I suppose one can't really manage the weather....).

What kind of weather will we have? The AccuWeather forecast shows rain between 9AM and 10AM; the Weather Channel says cloudy with 20% chance of rain. I'm hoping the worst case is scattered showers. Running in the rain can be fun, but not for two hours, not when it's 50 degrees, and not when you have to wait around for a race to start.

The uncertainty in the weather means uncertainty on what to wear. Long-sleeved or short-sleeved t-shirt? Tights or no tights? Hat or no hat?

I've got my bib/number and assigned corral - the 7-8 minute/mile group. It looks like my corral is based on the time I ran the Coogan's 5K rather than on the time of the Bronx half-marathon. Generally that should be good as I'll be with a group of runners faster than I am, but I'll have to be careful not to start off too fast and burn out.

The other big detail I'm thinking about is what to eat and when. I usually run early in the morning (starting between 5:30 and 6:45) having had a cup or two of coffee but no food. I think with a start time much later than my typical running time I'll need to eat something....but I haven't figured out what to eat and when. I ate a banana shortly before the Bronx half-marathon and it didn't sit too well.

I'm really excited about the race. After struggling through part of the training schedule, I'm feeling fresh and strong and confident and am really curious to see what kind of time I can achieve. It will also be really interesting to see how the mental side of things goes as this is the first time I've followed a real training program. In the two half-marathons earlier this year my goal was to just finish; I know now that I can do the mileage but don't have real clarity on how to manage my pacing.

One final note. As part of a cholesterol screening today, a nurse checked my blood pressure and resting pulse. The results for both were significantly better than they'd been in the past and are terrific numbers: resting pulse of 48 and blood pressure of 96/64. I'm really happy about that!

Comments

Chatham Gardens said…
Congratulations on the great test results, you have certainly already achieved significant benefits from your training and I can't help but believe that tomorrow will also bring you great results. I have always been a believer in you and I still am. I look forward to reading about the results sometime tomorrow.

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