Whether you're running your first marathon on Saturday or your 50th, here are some good reminders for race day, from Keith Anderson, a board-certified primary care sports medicine physician who sees patients at Cotswold Medical Clinic and is on the Presbyterian Sports Medicine team:
- Do NOT eat/drink/wear/do things on race day that you did not try during training. For instance, you should wear the same pair of shoes that you have been training in on race day. Never wear a brand-new pair of shoes on race day.
- Get plenty of sleep -- not just the night before the event, but also during the nights leading up to the race.
- Dress appropriately. If it is cold, wear layers -- especially a hat and gloves.
- Pain that eases after warming up is generally benign. However, you should not continue running if your pain worsens. Similarly, you should not continue running if you are limping or changing your gait. You may worsen your existing injury or create another more-severe injury.
- Drink 2 cups of fluid before the race.
- Drink 5 to 10 ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes during the race.
- Grab cups of water offered to you at water stops. Drink at least five swallows.
- Don’t rely on thirst to tell you to hydrate. If you are thirsty, you already dehydrated.
- Take your weight before and after the race. Drink 3 cups of fluid for ever pound lost.
- After the race is over, continue to drink fluids (water, sports drinks, and/or juice products are all great choices).
- As soon as possible (ideally within 15 minutes), grab something nutritious to eat to replace your depleted glycogen stores. Research indicates that to avoid muscle fatigue the next day, carbohydrates should be eaten as soon as possible following a marathon. Include a lean protein with that carbohydrate, at about a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio (to enhance absorption).
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1 comments:
All good advice. Here's a suggestion for breakfast that I used on last marathon in High Point that worked well.
Instant oatmeal- maple and brown sugar, banana, OJ,a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, cup of coffee. Make sure you are warm to start out in this cold weather and are layered up. Good luck.
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