Preparing for your first race.If you're getting ready for your first race, here are some pointers to help you get there successfully. * Enter with a friend of similar fitness and ability. It will be less intimidating in·tim·i·date tr.v. in·tim·i·dat·ed, in·tim·i·dat·ing, in·tim·i·dates 1. To make timid; fill with fear. 2. To coerce or inhibit by or as if by threats. and more fun with a companion. * Make sure nothing you wear is new. Everything on your body, from socks to a headband should be road-tested. * Line up with runners of similar ability. If you run a nine-minute mile find the part of the pack that runs your pace, and that won't be at the front. Being swept into a pace that is too fast will be a bad experience and, of course, isn't fair to the faster runners who will have to navigate around you. * Always begin slowly. The easiest mistake for a beginning racer to make is to respond to the exuberance of the race and head out too fast. Doing so begs for an injury or at best a rotten finish because you spent your energy too early in the course. * Use the water stations, Keep yourself well hydrated hy·drat·ed adj. Chemically combined with water, especially existing in the form of a hydrate. Adj. 1. hydrated - containing combined water (especially water of crystallization as in a hydrate) hydrous . Sports drinks sports drink Performance drink Sports medicine A thirst-quenching beverage used in sports-related activities, which may boost energy and/or help build muscle mass; water, sugar, salt, potassium are common to all SDs. See Hydrotherapy, Water. can help keep your energy up. Some marathons provide Vaseline, Band-Aids, and even masseurs. * Don't be disheartened dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. when other runners pass you during the race. There will always be runners in front of you--and behind you. * Know when the cutoff time is for your race so that you can pace yourself accordingly. It is depressing to finish without a finish line and an official time. For a 10K, the cutoff is usually 1:30; for 15K, from 1:40 to 2:00; for some marathons, as much as 6:00. * If you're running a marathon, tuck some tissues in a baggie pinned to your shorts, just in case you need an emergency pit stop--it happens. (Adapted from Marathon Runner's Handbook, by Bruce Fordyce Bruce Fordyce is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecutive. with Marielle Renssen, 2002, Human Kinetics kinetics: see dynamics. Kinetics (classical mechanics) That part of classical mechanics which deals with the relation between the motions of material bodies and the forces acting upon them. , Champaign, IL, $19.95, 160 pp.) |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion