Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Pre-Race Plan

So now that my race day plan is in place, it’s time to remember to do all the little things the day before and the morning of the event. These are the things that, if forgotten will leave me a little stress puppy.

Day Before the “Big Day”

Only three things to do on Saturday:

  1. Stay off my feet as much as possible
  2. Check to make sure I have adequate supply of Hammer Gels (9) and Endurolyte caps (27). If not, hit up the Nutrition Superstore in Costa Mesa.
  3. Head over to Dodger Stadium for packet pickup around noon.
  4. Grab lunch/dinner in Chinatown. Mmmm. A big plate of lo mein sure sounds good!

Then Saturday evening:

  1. Prepare my Gel/Endurolyte packets. Put the Espresso packets in my Nathan belt. Put others in my Spibelt.
  2. Program the parking lot I’ve purchased parking in in Santa Monica into my GPS.
  3. Charge camera
  4. Charge cell phone
  5. Transfer important things to the gear bag provided at the expo.
  6. Lay out clothing, socks, shoes. Make sure I have hat (supposed to be sunny and in the 70’s on Sunday), sunglasses.
  7. Pack change of clothes. Nothing worse than cold wet clothes.
  8. Set alarm for 2:30. AM. Jeesh.
  9. Hit the sack. Hopefully sometime around 10 PM. Toss and turn all night.

The BIG DAY!!!!

  1. Up at 2:30. AM. Jeesh.
  2. Grab a cup of coffee (as large as possible). Thinking Super Big Gulp size here.
  3. Make a bagel with cream cheese. Put it in my bag for consumption later.
  4. Get dressed and grab gear bag. Be out the door no later than 3:00 AM.
  5. Drive up the freeway to Santa Monica.
  6. Fire up the GPS and get to parking lot. Should be somewhere around 4:15 to 4:30 AM.
  7. Get in line for shuttle bus by 4:45 AM. Get on shuttle to Blue Heaven at 5:00 AM
  8. Get to Blue Heaven around 5:45 AM. This gives me about an hour before I start execution of my start line plan.
  9. Eat bagel. Drink water. Take three Endurolytes.
  10. Execute start line plan.
  11. Execute race plan.

Wahoo!!!! If half of these things don’t go as planned this weekend I still can’t help but have fun!

On a related note – I want to thank everyone for all of your comments and tips. I’ll address a bunch of them tomorrow. Tea Time – tune in – I’ll give you an idea on how to deal with those gels and Endurolyte caps!

15 comments:

  1. Make sure that camera is charged! I can't wait to see pictures.

    You are so ready for this.

    Yum, have a few bites of lo mean for me. ::grins::

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  2. I'm going to have to steal a bunch of these -- adjusted for my slightly later wake-up and slightly earlier trip to Dodgers stadium. So thanks! I think you have my phone # or can get it off facebook. (I don't get texts, though! :-( ) I plan on going for packet pickup around the same time, probably with my girls, so I'll give you a call.

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  3. um....there's a good chance I might still be out and about when you're waking up race morning. If so, I'll shout GOOD LUCK over westward. :D

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  4. Lo mein instead of pasta...interesting! My pre-race carb of choice is bread or potato. I eat bread like it's going out of style!

    #9 of the Saturday night plan is pretty funny. Might I suggest getting in those 2 easy warmup miles on Saturday morning. It doesn't seem like much but I've discovered that it helps get some of the nerves out.

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  5. Good luck Glenn!
    interesting post about fueling and sodium. I participated in the "Sodium study" at the JJ100 race. We just got the results, and one of the interesting things was that the difference in the 100K runners(the DNFers, myself included) and the 100M finishers was the amount of sodium ingested. The finishers consumed alot more than the non finishers. So you are on the right track.

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  6. I've never tried the Enduorlite caps. I have some, though. I'll give them a try in 6 to 8 weeks...

    Looks like a really good game plan!

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  7. You're ready! The big day is almost here! Wow, that's an early wake-up call.

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  8. LOL...I had to read "Blue Heaven" a few times before I realized that you were referring to Chavez Ravine (did I spell that right?)

    You are so darn organized...

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  9. I'm with you - 2:30 am - JEESH! Funny how much planning you need for race weekend. It is it's own little training plan, isn't it?

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  10. Hey, what happened to the apple fritters? They seem like a key essential.

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  11. You lost me at "up at 2:30 a.m."

    Thanks for your comments and good wishes. They give me constant strength. ;)

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  12. you are entirely TOO organized - you would never want to experience pre-race morning with me! lol.

    i don't know how chinese food would go over for me the day/night before a race... i'm sure it can't be much worse than alfredo pasta huh? :)

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  13. I can not help but to feel excited with you as i read your post Glenn. You will rock it for sure. I think it is important that you are writing everything down that you need to do.

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