My March Madness - time to start racing again!!!

It’s March already.  Where is 2018 going? This weekend is my first long course run of the year - the New Balance Chilly half-marathon in Burlington, Ontario.  Its my third year in a row running this race. I keep coming back to this event because its a great tune up for my spring marathon, its a fun/fast/flat course, and you get some great swag (e.g warm & comfy NB running tech fleece shirts) and yummy chilli to eat afterwards. 

The week before a race I always have to think about how much running and recovery I should do to be rested and ready to go.  This period is called the taper period, and the amount of time I taper depends on the distance of the event.  For half-marathons (21.1km) I like to taper 7-10 days, whereas for a full marathon (42.2km) I'd taper 4 weeks.  I have to remind myself to reduce my mileage, keep up intensity (in shorter bouts only), ensure I get my rest, and oh yeah, eat well, but not too well...basically: 

On the bright side, I always like to treat myself to a massage to work out any knots and muscle tightness that have built up in the training process, and make sure my IT band is nice and loose by spending some extra time on my foam roller.   This is me putting on my brave face, as I work out the last remaining knots of my IT band.  Grin and bear it girl!  I know I'll run faster if I'm nice and loose.  Tight muscles can reduce range of motion (ROM) and stride length resulting in poorer performance.  Every runner needs a good foam roller. 

Last year I ran 1:42:24. This year I really hope I can break the 1:40:00 barrier.  I’ve been thinking about my race strategy for this year, and comparing it to what I did last year.  On reflection, I started too aggressively, pacing at 4:30min/km. I got caught up in the excitement and tried to hold my 10km race pace, but I paid for it, and hit the wall at the 15km mark, and struggled through the last 6km.  This year, I plan to pace more conservatively at the start, 4:45min/km, be more disciplined and finish stronger.  Let’s see what happens on Sunday.  Wish me luck!