Use Your Brain Series 7 of 12 Course Management

I'll continue now on super smart ways to use your brain to help you run faster, smarter and with a concentration on the MENTAL aspects of running mo betta!

Course Management

This subject is sooo large, I could get carried away and be even more verbose than usual.
After the two biggest mistakes marathoners make, mentioned again for the umpteenth time in my previous  (6 of 12) blog on this series, COURSE MANAGEMENT is the single best way to steal minutes from the clock when running marathons. I estimate two equal runners, one employing these techniques, and one not, may see a difference as much as 10 minutes or more in marathon finishing times. That's about 23 seconds a mile, or more, just for being SMART. That's HUGE!!!! On the bubble for a BQ? The difference may be right here.

I'll try and enumerate some of these ideas, but you may want to add your own, or comment so I can add them here. Thanks for your input!

1. Pre Race Rituals: Proper loading, clipping your toenails 7 days BEFORE race day, making the night before your race night ( ie. Thursday night for a Saturday run) a long stress free sleep night, testing all your foods and drinks, and your packs, bottles etc. in training runs, an ever so light vaseline rub on your feet, food 1 1/2 hours before race, only water the hour before race, glide or vaseline on all your chafing areas, pills including acid reducers starting 2 days before, and on race morning, laying out ALL clothes and drop bag by 6 pm night before, sleeping pills, on and on. Carry a large garbage bag in your drop bag in case of bad weather. You get it. It should be ritualistic and second nature, a checklist can really help.
2. Stay away from family and friends who want to party and sightsee. This is YOUR race.
3. Race strategy: This includes a wrist pace chart or ball point pen splits for 10k, half, 20 and 23 miles on back of your hand. Also, being REALISTIC and adjusting pace for wind, rain, temperature, humidity, sleep, prior races or taper mistakes all and more need to be addressed PRIOR to your first step!
4. Have a FIRM idea of pretested foods and ingestion times BEFORE the gun goes off. I have already addressed the glycogen/fat/ protein issues of racing. You need to ingest not only liquids, but 800-1000 calories during the race to avoid bonking. Eat early (20 minutes after start for first 100 calories) and often. Practice this on long runs.  I start with goo while my stomach is fresh, then move on to gummy bears/sharks/blocks inside and under my lips my lips, and end with sugared dried mangos out of a ziplock baggie in my shorts
5. RUN THE TANGENTS. One of my favorites before they ruined it by adding a half, the RockNRoll Marathon, San Diego, comes to mind. It snakes thru downtown, out route 163 to Mission Valley, then circles through Mission Bay.  Like lemmings, runners follow the runners in front of them. My strategy, run the shortest distance between two points. This means running tangents. On the RnR course, this is worth 4 or 5 minutes just on legally running the inside curves of the race. So from now on, run tangents. Look for the inside turn, and always be looking ahead for the straightest line through the course.
6. Aid Station Strategy.  If you follow the herd, you will be forced to stop or adjust pace at aid stations. Instead, try this. Take your gel, gummy bear, or whatever about a quarter mile before the aid station. As you approach, GO TO THE MIDDLE of the road. Run past the hordes, then on the back side, look for a volunteer holding water or, my fav., Gatorade if they have it.  Ask for it low, as for some reason they all hold it high, causing you to break stride and slosh it all over the place. Next, poor out the overfilled cup until only half full. Crimp it and head back into the middle of the course and slowly finish the drink. And get ready for the next aid station!
7. Consider planting your favorite mixes on the course the night before. Often, the liquids provided by race directors are not what you train with. I like to stow my 16 ounce bottles, half full, at 13, and again around twenty. If you keep it full strength, drink it before aid stations, and cut it with water at aid stations per #5 above. If you DO cut it in the bottle or in a pack, science tell us it should be 7% for easy stomach absorption. I have found that Gatorade cut equal with water is about right. I never take big gulps, but nip more often throughout the race. I like throwaway 16 ounce bottles that I can tuck on my back hip, in my waistband, crushed a bit so it doesn't slip. I like to take my goo and use 4 safety pins and attach 4 of them to my front shorts, on the waistband. Then I use plastic baggies for any other goodies like Ibu (take it later in race if at all as studies show it's no bueno for kidneys), dried mangos, or vaseline, and keep them in a pocket or waist. This way I avoid a hydration pack or hip pack on road races. For ultras, trails etc., I do recommend packs.
8. Work with a partner or make a friend on the course. Pace, race strategy, and aid all get better when you have someone to share it with, and the miles go faster too. I've made alot of friends out there.
9. Associate the last 10 miles with your favorite training run. This is a great way to convince you self that you can do it!
10. Dis Associate pain and time for 20 miles. Then, in the death zone, ASSOCIATE the pain. Go to it, acknowledge it, take stock of it. The marathon is two races. One to mile 20, the other a 10k to get your medal. Take the challenge head on and accept that pain is part of the deal. Being hard is what makes it so great!

I think all of you may have additional ideas. My list is in no way complete. But try to learn these lessons, and apply them with focus, and you may find you're squeezing the course for those extra minutes here and there to get you to your goal time. Happy running!