Committing to the Race

Fall in the northeast is upon us, and my trail is filled with changing leaves! I am appreciating this cooler weather, as we’ve been putting miles in with the pea-soup humidity of summer for quite some time now.

Fall is a great time of year to train for a race, and signing up for a race can be great motivation to follow a training plan and to be consistent with your training! We are about 2 months out from Thanksgiving, and turkey trots are usually a great time! And with the end of another year coming soon, it’s never too early to think about your 2020 race schedule. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

If you haven’t run a race before, I’d like to offer some recommendations as far as picking one out, as the choices might seem a little overwhelming at first. A helpful website for finding races is www.runningintheusa.com. You can search by state, month, specific distance, etc. It is especially handy that the specific race websites are usually listed here, so you can go ahead and read about them quickly and easily. 

*Stay local

For your first race, I like to recommend picking a local race, as it will be easy to get to! Destination races are great fun, but there is a layer of preparation and possible stress added, when traveling a far distance. A 5k with friends or family may be a great first step as far as dipping your toe into race waters.

*Go large or stay small

There are advantages and disadvantages to both, of course. You have to decide what you might prefer as your first race, or as your first race at a new distance. My husband and I ran a small, local 5 mile race this past spring. We had not participated in a smaller race for awhile, and we remembered how wonderful it was! Getting to the race start was so easy, as we were able to park just around the corner from the start line! We didn’t have to wake up as early to figure out city parking with road closures on race morning. We didn’t have to sort ourselves into a corral given the small number of runners. Larger races are really fun too! Usually, a large race means great crowd support. Think about your loved ones and neighbors coming to cheer you on from the sidelines! 

*Terrain

Keep in mind that there are road races, trail races, obstacle course type races, and some races with a mixture of everything. Know what you are signing up for. I remember a friend of mine signed up for a 5k promising wine at the finish line. Sounds like fun! Race day arrives, and turns out, the course is a trail run through the vineyard. This sounds awesome, except she was not prepared to run on dirt, gravel, and winding hills. She was expecting to run on the road. You can usually find out the terrain on the race website in the course description.

*Watch the elevation

As you look at various race websites, make sure to take a quick glance at the elevation chart listed. These can usually be found on the course map page. Hills are fine, and you can work them into your training plan, but they can also take you by surprise on race day if you haven’t planned for them. Much like terrain, I run best when I know what I’m getting myself into and can plan for it in training.

*Leave yourself enough lead time

This is unique to each of us and where we are in our run journey. Maybe you are starting out, maybe you’ve been running regularly for quite some time but have never run a race, or maybe you’ve been wanting to try a new, longer distance. You want to give yourself plenty of time to train, to put yourself in the best possible position for success. I also like to leave one to two weeks extra for “breathing room”. Stuff comes up…possible hiccups like illness, vacation, travel for work. If you happen to miss a week of running, but you plan for that very scenario ahead of time, it will go a long way toward taking the added stress out of the equation.

If you have questions regarding upcoming races, or the appropriate training time based on your current fitness, please reach out: michelle@mindful-marathon.com