Same and different

Gearing up to marathon season, I'm working on getting my long slow distance runs to as closely approximate my race day conditions as I can. Today was a 10-miler with a little walking warmup and cooldown for a total distance of 10.6 miles in 2:31, door-to-door time.

Same as race day:

• Shoes with orthotics, RoadID, stretchy triathlon laces, lightweight socks, lubricated toes and places that chafe
• Lycra shorts and Coolmax underpants, shirt, and jogbra
• Visor
• Watch starts at the beginning and keeps timing until I'm done - no stopping it for breaks or anything else (although I do time my half-mile splits to check my pace)
• No running buddies to amuse or distract or hold me up or to wait for or annoy
• No music to provide motivation or keep me from hearing sounds around me
• Running on asphalt pavement, usually with a camber
• 1 Succeed capsule every 30-40 minutes (341 mg sodium, 21 mg potassium each)
• Take my homemade gel in frequent sips (1 ounce every 3 miles - slightly higher consumption rate than race day)
• Good hydration (24 ounces/hour) with mostly plain water and still end up slightly dehydrated (down 1.5% body weight post-run, but also after 2 bathroom stops)
• Please no rain on race day, like today. Race Gods, from my blog to your ears!!

Different from race day:

• Earlier start at 6:50 AM (New York City Marathon starts WAY later, ugh)
• No water stops nor enthusiastic, friendly volunteers and spectators
• No sunglasses today (too early in the day), usually wear during long races to prevent eye fatigue
• No Imodium today, but I've found in six marathons that taking it well in advance becomes increasingly important after mile 13. Sometimes critically important.
• Run the outside line on curves instead of cutting across the tangents in the race
• Jog up steep hills instead of power-walk up them in races over 10 miles (to stay out of my red zone). The race courses will be somewhat hillier than my training routes.
• No knee bands today to reduce arthritic knee pain (which I sometimes wear during races)
• Slower pace: 14:14 min/mile overall today (6:12+ marathon pace), hopefully 12:35 - 13:25 min/mile (?) average on the course on marathon day (5:30- 5:50 finish). My average pace outside of bathroom and refill breaks for 19 half-mile segments was 13:32 min/mile.
• More casual walk breaks now and then to drink and refill water bottles (during marathons I try to restrict them to either at water stops, or one minute per mile).
• Longer bathroom breaks in a real bathroom instead of a nasty porta-potty with long lines or behind a dumpster in the city
• Hopefully today's weather was hotter (72*F - 83*F) and more humid (60-70% RH) than race day
• Somewhat sloppier about my form - tended to shuffle more and use arms less than in races
• Psychologicially easier to turn around before I had planned in training than in a race, but I didn't today
• No eight busy street crossings with traffic lights to stop at on race day
• Shorter mileage! Only 40% of a marathon today.
• No heart rate monitor today - sometimes I wear it for races to help keep my pace sensible for the first 13-15 miles
• No specific pace plan or pace chart to follow today - just keep jogging
• Carried my water today - 20 ounces of water is 1.30 pounds I won't have to carry on race day - maybe worth a minute or two on a marathon distance.
• Hopefully my body weight will be a few pounds less to carry around on race day, too! Every pound is worth at least a minute off my finish time!

No surprises on race day is a Very Good Thing. :-)