2006 Tucson Marathon Race Plan

I finally have a few minutes to put my long over-due race plan into words. It helped to chat a bit with a volunteer who had done the race before and could tell us exactly what to look out for.

Race Eve
Tonight is an easy night with dinner in. Will stretch a bit and continue to massage my shins to keep them loose for tomorrow. I will also continue to hydrate as we have been doing all day today. I will put out my race clothes, pin my number to my shirt, attach my chip and mark my bag to hold the clothes that will keep me warm until the start.

Race Morning
4AM wake up. We will make coffee here and eat the bagels we bought today before heading out to the where the buses will take us to the start line between 5 and 6. I will body-glide EVERYTHING I can reach :)

I have a 7:30 and Ruth has a 7:00 start time. We get to stay on the buses until the start and I will do so and keep as warm and calm as possible before the start. By 7:00, I will shed my extra clothing and get in line for one last potty stop. When I start to stress, I will remind myself that I have accomplished this once and I am now stronger and smarter (well, at least I know more than I did in 2005) and very well trained for it. I hit all my workouts spot on despite some rather uncomfortable climate situations and am ready.

The Race
I will plan to keep an 8:30 pace -- no slower than 8:40 and no faster than 8:20 throughout the race and try to negative split my pace by up to 5 seconds the second half. I will monitor my splits on my HR monitor watch.

Miles 1-5
This will be rolling and will be a terrific warm-up. I will not let myself run for more than 3 miles without starting to hydrate and eat. On odd miles, I will drink my energy drink and on even miles, I will eat a block and drink some water.

My shins will probably complain as they have in the past when I have trained downhill and I will remind myself that once they warm-up, the pain will go away.

Miles 6-17
This will be down-hill and once I cross mile 6, I will mentally high-5 myself for making it through my warm-up without blowing out too fast and keeping my pace at 8:30. I will also know that after this, I have 20 miles to go and I am entering it feeling more fresh than I have for my training runs and certainly better weather! I will keep the pace at 8:30 and once I cross the halfway point, I will let myself try to take about 3 seconds off my pace. I will keep my turn-over fast and remember to lean slightly forward.

Mile 17
After all the down-hill, this flat stretch will feel like up hill. I will lengthen my stride and offer my quads a break. I will also use this time to stretch my arms and shake them out.

Mile 18-23
Another down-hill stretch and back to the quick turn-over and leaning forward even though I might be tempted to turn on the breaks.

Mile 23-25.5
Steep downhill initially and I will consciously take baby-steps to keep from blowing out my quads. Then a flat section where I will lengthen my stride and do my last miles fast miles -- and everything else mentally I can throw at it.

Mile 25.5 to end
I will let myself relax during the up-hill I experience there and know that there is a really fast last 200 yards waiting for me at the finish line.

Finish
Here I will let Ruth boss me around (a rare occurrence) and walk, eat and drink....