Marathon Race Week Dos and Dont's

Episode Transcript
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Coach Cynthia (00:07):
Welcome to the CES podcast.
My name is Coach Cynthia.
I'm the lead coach for CESPerformance.
And today I have with me

Coach Lori (00:17):
Lori McGee Koch.
I'm the lead coach of the OldTown location and the head coach
of operations and coaching forthe entire CES Marathon and half
Marathon program.

Coach Michael (00:29):
And I'm Coach Michael, lead coach at the South
Loop, and I cannot match theenergy that Coach Cynthia is
putting forth this morning,

And that's okay.
We're gonna talk about Raceweek, dos and don'ts.
Today, we're gonna hit a lot ofdifferent subjects that'll
hopefully help you and guide youand relieve some of those nerves
that you might have as our raceday gets closer.
So we're gonna start with raceweek, which is coming up folks,

(00:58):
and we're gonna start with a do.
We think you should continue tofollow your training schedule.
You've done it for the previous14, 15 weeks.
You know, just keep hanging on,keep doing what your training
plan says to do.
All right?
What shouldn't you do, Lori?

Coach Lori (01:21):
You should not, and I always talk about this with
when I'm at the group training.
Is panic and try to make up fordistances and workouts that you
felt like perhaps you were notsuccessful with before.
So for example, a lot ofparticipants ask me after the 20
miler, maybe they didn'tcomplete the entire distance.
Maybe they didn't feel like itwas as strong as they had hoped

(01:44):
it would be, and whether or notthey should just try to do
another 20 miler or add somedistance so they can build that
confidence.
The thing is, is that you shouldnot be doing that.
If you've been consistentlytraining you are completely fine
one workout out of the wholething.
Even if it's the 20 miler whereyou didn't feel so strong,
you're actually gonna becompletely fine.

(02:04):
And so you should just befollowing the schedule, like you
said, consistently.
However, you do not need to makeup the 20 mile or you don't need
to make up another intensemidweek workout should be
tapering.
You should be feeling confidentthat you have put the work in.
And trust the training, trustthe schedule.
And what, I mean, what else canyou say about that Coach

(02:25):
Michael?

You talk about missing a work out here or
there, and if you go into themath and you look at your
schedule and all the miles youput in over the weeks and weeks
and weeks, even if you took the20 miler out of the equation and
figured what percentage thatwas, of all the running you've
done this season, very, veryminute, now's the time to let

(02:46):
your body heal.
The best that you could do isshow up to race day is healthy
as possible.
Let your body heal up muscles,heal up, get strong from all the
work you've done all these weeksand show up to race day healthy.
You don't wanna show up worn outand fatigue.
that's a don't

That's right.
And to add to that, that's forour folks who are
Hypersensitive, they're like, Ineed to get these workouts in.
You don't wanna cram for a testthat this is not a test you can
cram for.
But on the opposite end of that,you also don't wanna be like,
Alright, got the 20 miler downtime to sit in my hot tub for

(03:25):
two weeks and not run it all.
And if you don't have a hot tub,maybe, you can replace that with
couch and or bed and or othercomfy place where running does
not take place.
So you don't wanna completelystop running because that will
take away the fitness, all thatwork that you've done.
It'll take away some of thatfitness and you wanna maintain
that fitness while decreasingyour mileage and intensity.

(03:47):
And that's what's gonna prepareyou.
You know, you've already doneall that work.
You don't wanna just be like,Goodbye.

Coach Lori (03:55):
Well, we could sit in that hot tub and sit on the
couch, but you do wanna maintainsome of that fitness, keep
moving and while you're sittingon a hot tub and on the couch
you don't wanna also just likebegin to eat whatever you want
and not maintain some of theconsistencies of the hydration
and eating well too.
So Coach Michael, what do you dowanna do when it comes to

(04:16):
hydration and nutrition?

Well, you should continue your hydration plan
that you've been doing allseason long, which basically
keeping water with you all thetime and sipping a little bit
regularly throughout the day.
Now the temperatures aredropping a little bit.
You might not feel as thirsty orthe need to hydrate as much, but
you still wanna do that.
You don't wanna go overboard andcrazy.
But you certainly want to keepup what you've been doing all

(04:41):
season, nutrition wise, time tostock the body with healthy
foods and you know, vitamin richfoods to get your body ready.
But, you don't wanna over eat.
We've been doing a lot of workall season long, and so our body
demanding a lot of calories andnow that we're tapering and our
mileage is less, we don't needto maintain the amount of

(05:03):
calories we're inputting becausewe're not burning them off
throughout the week.

That's right.
You've been noticing, especiallyonce you were, at this point in
your training, you arehypersensitive and aware of your
body, and you're like, Oh, isthis an ache and a pain?
Oh my gosh, should I just notrun today?
You're very aware of your bodybecause you have been focusing
on your body and your health forthis long.
So do the same thing for eating.

(05:27):
Like Coach Michael said, you'renot gonna be taking in the same
amount of calories cuz you'renot burning the same amount.
So really don't, just eatbecause hey, this is how I've
been eating for the last coupleof weeks.
Think about when you're actuallyhungry and rather than this is a
ritual, I put this amount offood in my mouth.
Take time while you're eatingand notice when you're full.

(05:50):
Because it does happen quitefrequently where especially when
we're tapering, we accidentallytake too much food.
And I know for me, my firstcouple of marathons I would put
on between five and eight poundswhile I was tapering.
Yeah, it's not necessary.

Coach Lori (06:05):
You also don't wanna introduce any sort of new foods
either.
So you wanna make sure thatmaybe decrease in the calories a
little bit, stay consistent inthings that you know, that has
worked for your training.
And again, try not to introduceany sort of new foods, any sort
of routines at this point.
There's nothing new on race day.
There should be nothing newbuilding up for the last week
of, of training either.

That's right, because, introducing those, like
if you were like, Oh, this isthis week, I'm gonna go on a
marathon of different kinds ofhot sauces, your body might not
be prepared for that.
Right.
And that can affect you in a lotof different ways, not just your
GI but also.
With your sleep.
So let's talk about that, Lori,what are the dos of rest and

(06:47):
sleep?

Coach Lori (06:48):
So this is a critical time to make it sound
very dramatic, but it's verytrue.
A very critical time to focus onyour rest and recovery and your
sleep.
Think about it.
You sleep one third of your lifeif you're sleeping properly.
But in general, I mean, that'swhat our bodies are built to do
and that part of the reason offocusing in on sleep is this is

(07:10):
the time where it's helping yourbody rest and recover and making
sure you get enough sleepbuilding up to the race because
sleep in general helps, regulateyour cardiovascular system and
it helps reset your body to makesure that you can maintain,
proper physical activity andeven enhances your physical
activity.
If you ever notice, if youhaven't slept very well, your

(07:31):
heart rate might be higher thenext day and your workouts might
feel a bit more difficult.
So the sleep can do, It's kindof a twofold thing when it comes
to looking at it with thistraining.
One, the rest of recoverybuilding up to it is gonna help
you recover from that, thoselonger 20 mile runs and help
your body, continue to repairfrom all those, stresses that

(07:52):
you have.
Put on from building up becauseit releases a thing called
growth hormone during the middleof the night.
It actually helps your musclerecovery.
But during that process too,it's pretty fascinating.
It's actually making your bodybecome stronger from all that
stress you put on your body.
Those things kind of cometogether to make it so we
continue to make advancements inour actual training.

(08:14):
The other thing with sleep aswell too, it's going to help
calm your nerves because theless sleep you get and the more
it, it's kind of a double edgedsword or it's kind of
bidirectional.
The less sleep you get, the moreyou're gonna feel anxious about
the race coming up for you.
So you wanna do things thathelps you relax and helps you
sleep better because it's goingto decrease your anxiety just

(08:36):
naturally neurologically.
Having more rest that way is notonly gonna help with recovery,
again, just helping you easeyour anxiety.
So focusing on those things aregood.
What we do know is that thenight before, most people do
have those nerves and anxiety,but it is managed better if you
give yourself a lot of time torest, and sleep, leading up to

(08:57):
those days and then the nightbefore doesn't matter so much,
it goes back to cramming for thetest.
You can't cram in a bunch ofsleep the night before and think
that's the only night that youneed a lot of sleep.
It's throughout the entire taperprocess.

Absolutely.
And something that I often tellmy athletes, you know, as soon
as there's, taper or there'scutback, you have this extra
time that you're not running andfolks are like, Great, now I can
reconnect with those friends.
And now I can go out a littlebit later because, hey, I don't
need as much sleep because Ihave a shorter, run this week,

(09:33):
or I have a shorter, longer run,on the weekend and.
I would suggest to not do that.
Give yourself that time and restbecause you said, Lori, when
there's the pressure, beforerace day to get all that rest,
you already have anxiety goinginto it.
So the nerves of right beforethe race is not gonna allow you

(09:56):
to relax and, you'll just haveconstant nightmares of, did you
put on that alarm and you'llwake up every 30 minutes and
covered in sweat.
Right.
Everyone just me

Coach Lori (10:10):
It sounds like you need some more meditation
activities to help you sleep alittle bit better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yes, don't go out andpartying with your friends all
night, but maybe doing thingsthat does help you relax to help
decrease that anxiety or takeyour mind off a little bit of
over obsessing over race day.
So maybe call a friend early inthe evening or relax with the
good movie, there are some goodfun marathon movies out there

(10:32):
that people like to watch.
I can't remember what, what arethe two?
There's once somebody remindedme of one.
Is it called like Run?

Run Fatboy Run?

Yeah, that one's good.
Wait, what was that called?

Run Fatboy Run.

Run Fat Boy Run.

Coach Lori (10:47):
Yeah, you need to watch it.
It's really good.
It's a really fun one to watch.
And then the other one that mostpeople watch.
What is the other?
Remind me.

Well, Spirit of the Marathon people watch.

Coach Lori (10:56):
That would be the one, right?
That would be the system.
Yes.
Yes.

Yeah.

But there's a lot of different running and
motivating films.
YouTube's chock full of them ifyou wanna do that as well.
People listen to podcasts likethis, there's a lot of
motivational podcast.
Everyone's motivated indifferent ways and by different
tone.

Coach Lori (11:16):
You listen to us and hopefully our voices are
relaxing enough.

we're so relaxing that you're about to fall
asleep.

We have to have an am our Sr.
Uh.

Asmr.
Yeah.
ASMR episode.
That'll be post race.
That'll be, That's right.
Post race.

I was gonna say Lori sort of alluded to, you
wanna relax her body, wanna giveher self a chance to rest.
And because we are tapering andwe talked about before, our
mileages less, our workouts areless, we have a lot more free
time, right?
So one thing we wanna do is usethat spare time productively.
And we said you shouldn't begoing out and partying and.

(11:54):
I tell my athletes all time, mymantra is, keep her eye on the
prize.
You've dedicated 18 weeks ofyour life.
With all the stress and all theworkouts and all the efforts to
get to race day.
Push it one more week.
Get yourself to race day as bestcondition you can be.
And then once the race is done,then have at it.

(12:16):
You know, at that, that point.
It's your choice to do what youwant, but keep our eye on the
prize and stay focused throughthere.
And I know it's a long season,but do that, but with this extra
time, try and be productive.
So, I'm real big fan of,planning and a big part of that
is reviewing the website, TheChicago Marathon website has all

(12:38):
the information you need forrace day, and going through that
is definitely worth your time.
A big part of that is reviewingthe, the course map, looking at
the course map, seeing where theturnarounds are, seeing where
the aid stations are, where the,bathrooms are, just so you're
familiar in advance andcomfortable with that.

(12:58):
I don't know if either, youknow, but I was talking to some
people this weekend and theysaid there might have been some
changes from last year on theroute.
Is that right?

Well, last year there was already a change, as
to where you went over theinterstate, I think, right?
Cause there was someconstruction being done.

Right down near, south side past China Town.

Mm-hmm.

But all the more reason is maybe it's similar,
but even if you've run itbefore, check it out, take some
time just so it doesn't for aloop.
Because if you're, especially inthe late stages of the race and
there are things unexpected,those little things can throw
you off that don't need to throwyou off.
So use the time to take a lookat the route.

Coach Lori (13:45):
I think it also depends on people's personality
too, on what, what's going togive you more anxiety and what
is not.
So some people, they really liketo know those changes, which I
think is really good.
And for other people, they liketo be a little bit surprised
too.
So always be flexible becauseyou never know on race day if
they're gonna make a last minutechange that is, not even on that
site.
So I think it can kind of go alittle bit both ways, don't you

(14:07):
think?

Yeah.
I mean, for me, and especiallywhen I first started, running
marathons, I was like, I want tojust follow the pacers.
I wanna just enjoy myself.
Everything I see, I want it tobe new.
And I was like, fly by the seatof my pants.
And that was what was calmingand relaxing to me.

(14:30):
But for folks who maybe have amore of a type A personality and
have very specific, like at thispoint of the race, I'm going to
take this amount of fuel.
And people who like to getreally technical, yes, go ahead
and you scroll through andmemorize those routes.
Know exactly where the water is,where all the porta johns are,

(14:51):
where every turn is, so you canrun that tangent, like get nerdy
about it if that is going torelieve anxiety for you.
So kind of figure out what kindof person you are and make those
choices for your personality andwhat will help you be the most
successful, during the race.

Yeah, I was gonna say, if you are a type A person,
like I'm a big list person.
I've got tons of things going onin my mind.
I've got things going on in myday.
I don't wanna forget.
Write things down, make lists,make lists of things you're
gonna need for race day.
Start gathering them, race week.
Don't expect at the expo,they're gonna have the flavor of

(15:29):
gel that you like because if youwait till last minute, you're at
the expo and they don't havethat, outta luck.
Get it early.
Take care of it.
Check it off your list.
Take care of that.
Another thing about, the routeis you might be mapping out
where you're gonna see friendsor family and deciding and
working with your friends andfamily.

(15:50):
This is the route.
This is a place I'm expect to behere around this time.
I'll be looking for you on thiscorner.
You could use your time, raceweek planning, things like that.
So keep your mind busy withdetails like that.

That's right.
And speaking of like, lookingthings up and what to keep your
mind busy with, there are somethings that you know, likely
won't help you because they'rethings that are out of your
control, like looking at theweather every five seconds.
I mean, honestly, you guys, Itook a weather class in college.

(16:25):
All right.
So I've got some insider info.

Coach Lori (16:28):
Wow.
Let's give it to us.

Here's the insider info.
Everyone, you cannot predict theweather more than two hours
ahead of the weather if you wantit to be more than 50% accurate,
ha! That's right.
You heard it from me.
Who took a class in college?
Over a decade ago.
Alright.

Coach Lori (16:50):
We should charge for this podcast to,

I know.
We really should.
So yeah, looking at thatweather, you know what, it's not
gonna do help you out and it'sgonna give you zero knowledge
that is accurate.
So, you know, relax rather thanlook at the weather and download
an app about meditation, youknow?

Coach Lori (17:07):
Right.
Or maybe look at pictures ofkittens and puppies, if that's
your jam.

And also remind yourself, you've trained in all
kinds of weather.
You'll be started this in thespring and it was kind of chilly
out.
We went through some really hotdays in the summer and, some
cooler days.
So, you have the experiencerunning those different temps as
well.
It's just every week you'vedealt with what the week brought
you and you, learned to adaptbased on that.

Coach Lori (17:31):
And let's face it, I mean, we're marathon training.
We've been ambitious enough tothat.
We like to live on the edge, soeverybody that's right should
remember that way.
Like you're gonna be proud ofthe adventure no matter how it
turns out.
So don't check that weatherevery five minutes.
Get an idea closer to racemorning.
Be prepared with some differentclothing.
If you have to adjust at thelast minute reach out to the

(17:52):
coaches if you need some adviceon where can you have some
versatility and, being preparedfor that race morning too.

Another thing that someone alluded to, I think
briefly, I don't know if theywanna, elaborate on it, is
during race week, when you havethis extra time is succumb to
the dreaded taper madness whereyour mind goes off the wagon and
you start, Did we talk aboutthis already?
Second guessing?

We haven't, we haven't talked about the, I
mean, well I think all of theanxieties that we've discussed
are part of that taper madness,right?
Like the, oh, I can't, I can'tget enough good sleep because
I'm worried about getting goodsleep.
And, what do I do with all thistime?
And like you said, CoachMichael, maybe use that time

(18:39):
wisely rather than like, go andparty hearty.
Give yourself that extra week orcouple weeks until race day
still focus.
Cuz I think what taper madnessis, is like you're used to
running a lot and you're used tohaving your day filled with
thinking about this goal and nowyou have some extra time because

(19:01):
that mileage is being Cut backfor your tapering and, how can
you fill that time in aproductive way?
And I, I like to go on nicewalks and listen to a podcast,
and I know this is a podcast andit's like, I'll listen to this,
but also yourself talk.
Yes.
I mean, that's, I do, I like tolisten to myself talk while I'm

(19:24):
on a walk and, you know, findthings that keep you calm, like
going for walks or doing otherphysical activities that aren't
going to burn you out andpotentially prevent you from
having a great race day.

Coach Lori (19:42):
Right.
Well, yeah.
Well, some people like to goshopping.
You know, shopping relaxes a lotof people.
I'll remind people though, youknow, if you like to go shopping
and do that, you might findyourself overwhelmed with all of
the, you know, stuff that is outthere that you could buy for the
marathon or you think you neednow.
Cause you have that extra time.
So it's just good.
So maybe you're picking out anew outfit or something, but

(20:05):
remind people on the, the don'tof that is, don't wear something
brand new that you're not sure,if you're going to chafe in
brand new shoes, you're not sureit's gonna work for you.
So if you are going to useshopping as a way to relieve
anxiety and that shopping leadsto something you think you're
gonna be using for Marathon day,just remind yourself of whether

(20:26):
or not you think it will work.
So, for example, if you'rebuying a certain new tank, but
you've never worn that kind oftank before, the seams in it can
make you chafe on race day.
Or if you're trying to match theoutfit of somebody else and
you're buying that in race week,just be extra prepared for,
putting Body Glide on and whatother parameters you need to do

(20:48):
to ensure that outfit is goingto not be the thing that makes
your race day miserable.

Right.

Coach Lori (20:55):
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Do you have any other hot tips,Michael, on not to come into
Taper Madness?

On the run this weekend I was talking about,
part of Taper Madness is we'reso focused on getting to race
day, everything becomes hyperexaggerated and always around
race day, I'll, for example,maybe stub my toe and, you know,
all of a sudden, oh, my toe wasbroke.
We normally would just be a, youknow, I'd scream out an
obscenity and I would continuemoving on.

(21:23):
All of a sudden it's like, oh mygosh, it's a crippling injury.
And why didn't, I wear shoes.
And it happens every time.
A big part of Taper Madness justrecovery is you might start
feeling some aches and pains anda lot of times this is your
muscles just recovering andhealing, but they feel
exaggerated and worse becauseyour mind has nothing else to

(21:45):
focus on.

Mm-hmm.

is this gonna take me out of the race?
Those aches and pains, usuallyyou won't even remember them at
the starting line.
They're just kinda your mindmessing with you.

Coach Lori (21:56):
I think some people call them phantom pains.
The phantom pains,

That's right.

Coach Lori (22:00):
The race.

And I know some folks that are like, Oh, I feel
so tight in this area, in thatarea.
I better get a deep tissuemassage.
Maybe don't do that right now.
Maybe you can get yourself alight massage, but don't do
anything that's, you know,really that you wouldn't do
before a long run anyway.
Like, we've been saying, now'snot the time to try something

(22:22):
new.
Know that there will be thoseaches and pains that you think
are life threatening thatnormally you would, as Michael
said, just shout out anexpletive.
Like, Oh, biscuits,

That's exactly the expletive thing I used.

If you don't do gluten, biscuits is an
expletive.
So yeah, try to calm and relaxyourself.
And now we can talk about, goalsetting, which is something that
you probably had in the back ofyour mind while you were
training, this whole trainingcycle.
Whether that goal is, Hey, Ijust wanna cross the finish
line.
If you have time goals for everydifferent type of runner an

(23:01):
athlete we have, there's adifferent type of goal.
So your goals may have changedmid training plan and training
block, and that is okay, butthis is a great time to write it
down or share that goal withsomebody I know athletes are
often afraid of saying theirgoals out loud because then
they're like, Oh no, if I toldsomebody I wanted to run this

(23:26):
race in five hours and I don'tdo it, the world is gonna end.
And it turns out the world willnot end.
And that person you told thatyou wanted to finish in under
five hours is probably not goingto like blast you on social
media and be like, Cynthia saidthey were going to run under
five hours.

(23:47):
They didn't.
What a liar.
What a fool.
Take them to the chopping blockwhere they will chop iceberg
lettuce for a year.
That's not gonna happen.
All right part of saying andsharing your goals with people
is having confidence, alright?
And having that confidence.

(24:08):
Just really feeling thatconfidence can help you get to
that goal.
You've already done the physicalparts of it.
You are continuing to followyour training plan, but sharing
your goals, writing it down, isa great thing you can do with
that free time that you haveright now.
And we can get into specificsfor goal setting.

(24:29):
So Michael or Lori, do you haveany specific dos for setting
those goals for race day.

Coach Lori (24:38):
You gotta make them smart.

Smart.
Like s m a r t.

Coach Lori (24:44):
Why?
Yes.
I'm glad you said that.
What does that mean?
Smart.
It means specific, measurable,achievable.
And time.
Get it?

I do.

Coach Lori (24:58):
I'm gonna pause for a second if everyone to think
about what I just said and howit's spelled and look at that,
it's smart, but to make themsmart, these are some extra
steps too to help you with yourrace day plan and making sure
that you're setting yourself upfor success and to actually sort
of evaluate what what you arecapable of.

Yeah.
I think what comes to goals, asCynthia alluded to, it is very
individual.
Everyone has a purpose.
You might go back to your Why wetalked about in a previous
episode about why you originallysigned up for the marathon.
Maybe some of you have run themarathon before and you have
specific goals.

Coach Lori (25:37):
We're having a great time saying that word today.
That's right.

Specific,

specific, specific, specific goals.
Uh, and, so you might have atime goal.
if it's the first marathon, youmight be just running to
complete it, as Cynthia said, oryou're running for a cause.
And that's what's really drivenyou to be there and, you're
celebrating all the work ofraising money or bringing
attention to a cause.

(26:02):
But really try to make the goalpersonal.
I think when it's personal andits important to you.
Mm-hmm.
the idea of writing it downmakes it a little more permanent
and it makes it, you're actuallydeciding it to be a goal.
But also it's important to berealistic about goals, right?
If you've been training with 11minute pace all season long,

(26:22):
you're probably not gonna do atwo 30 marathon.
It could surprise us, but, youknow it's one of those things
and it's good to be ambitiouswith your goals cuz this is your
time to shoot your shots, butalso know that with reward comes
risk.
So the higher your goal andambition the harder it might be
to achieve and the risk ofachieving it might lower.

(26:44):
So you might decide.
Do I want like, a sure thing andjust have a fun, easy marathon
and get through it.
Or I really wanna go all out andpush with the understanding that
if I go out hard, chances ofthings working out the way I
want them to go may be lesseneda bit.

Yeah, and I think with goals too, it's important
to set several goals.
Like you have a plan A, a planB, a plan C, and a plan D,
because no matter how hardyou've been training, and I say
this even to my folks that aretrying to break a three hour
marathon, you can train hard andyou can have had a very
successful training block, butalso know that there are things

(27:28):
that will happen on race daythat are out of your control
that there's nothing you can doabout.
So with those specific, goals,you wanna give yourself a
window.
All right.
If your goal is based on time.
And I like to put a 10 to 15minute window in there.
Like, Hey, all the stars arealigned.
I have the perfect weatherconditions.

(27:50):
I don't have any GI issues, Igot great rest.
All those things that you havecontrol over are perfect.
All the things you don't havecontrol over are also perfect.
This is where I'm gonna hit it.
And then be realistic.
Like you said, Coach Michael,like there's a lot of things
that could happen that you haveno control over and be prepared

(28:13):
for that.
Cuz if you're mentally preparedfor both sides of that, it's
going to make your, race daymore enjoyable.
And I think that's somethingwe've all mentioned before.
Having several different plansbecause anything could happen,
but always having a plan oflike, crossing that finish line
healthy and if something doeshappen during the race and you

(28:36):
have hurt yourself, being ableand being flexible enough to be
like, Oh, is this worth crossingthe finish line?
Or do I maybe need to stop?
Hopefully that doesn't happen.
But know that there's so muchout of your control.
Life happens.
And being cognizant of thatwhile you're making those goals,

(28:58):
puts a little less pressure onyou.
And having less pressure willlikely, help you be more
success.

Coach Lori (29:05):
Well, going back right, going back to the smart
specific.
Part of that to me also speaksto make it sure it's
individualized to you and you'renot comparing yourself to others
and what they're trying toachieve.
So that very specific part of,of it is, again, going back to
if you have a charity goal andyou're doing this for a charity

(29:25):
or maybe if you're a firsttimer.
Which is very different thanbeing a returning marathoner.
So those things should be veryspecific to you, and you should
not be comparing yourself toother people.
This is not the time to do that.
And when you can kind of letthat go and make sure that you
are making sure that you aresetting your goals, in that way

(29:47):
is going to ease your mind alittle bit and help you a little
bit more with trying to figureout what you're kind doing in
the course.
Going back to the measurablething, I kind of look at that
from a little bit of an angle ofhow are you going to measure
your success, not just what thefinal outcome is, but how are
you gonna measure your successas, as you're moving through the
course.
And we could talk about this alittle bit more on another

(30:09):
point, but how are you going tomentally get yourself through
the race and, letting yourselfstart off a little bit easier
and then how you're going tokind of navigate, yourself
throughout the course.
Because if this one's supereasy, then we probably, these
personalities probably wouldn'tbe doing this, but we, we still

(30:30):
have to have ways to kind of setourselves up for success and
sort of measure what we're goingto navigate throughout the
course.
We've already touched onachievable, making sure that we
are setting a realistic goal toensure that we are, actually
navigating and trying to achievesomething that we've been doing
all season that you've alreadyknow that you did with the

(30:52):
training program and beingconsistent or maybe you were not
consistent.
So you maybe have to figure outand be flexible with what might
happen on that race day.
But going back to goals for thefirst timers versus people are,
that are returning marathoners.
Coaching wise, I think, CoachCynthia and Coach Michael, you
would agree that those goalscould be very different and they

(31:14):
should be.
I always like to talk to peopleabout that.
So you, it's a part of settingyourself up for success and ways
that you can achieve what you'reout there to look for.
I don't know if one of you wannatalk more about, goals for first
timers and then we can kind ofgo a little bit more into like
returning marathoners and someextra tips for that.

Oh, okay.
Can start with that.
I'm sure Cynthia will havesomething to add, but for you, a
first timer, a lot of timespeople in general, runners
especially, are numbers driven.
You know, when they pick theirwhat their pace is gonna be on
the weekend and stuff, they'revery driven by numbers.
And so they might come up with,I wanna finish in this time.
And it might be based on, Oh, Isaw that Oprah ran this time and

(31:56):
I wanna beat her time.
And it's really very arbitrary.
It's not really mm-hmm.
you know, really personal toyour own training and yourself
as an athlete.
So it's not necessarilyrealistic.
As a first timer, it's reallyhard to gauge a time.
Some people wanna say, Well, Ido a half marathon this time, so
I'm just gonna double it, andI'm just, Do you know my half

(32:17):
marathon twice?
And Cynthia smile at it becauseanyone who's on a marathon
understands that running amarathon is not the same as
running two half marathons.
There's a lot more to that.
It's certainly okay to have agoal time involved if you're a
first time marathoner, but itmight be more of, enjoying the
experience and executing whatyou've been practiced all

(32:40):
seasons to see how good you'reable to execute your plan and
celebrating all the work you'veput in for the season.
But you have anything to add tothat Cynthia,

yeah, for a first time marathon I was, I think
honestly it is like you said,just taking in the experience,
you've never done 26.2 miles andgetting through that and
remembering, the moments in themarathon where you felt this way
and where you felt that way, andthe people that were cheering

(33:11):
you on, and if you're doing theChicago marathon specifically,
going through all thosedifferent neighborhoods and
really taking in the city andwhat the city has to offer, I
think, getting from the startline to the finish line is a
great goal.
Just to be there, to be presentin the moment, in the mile that

(33:32):
you're in, I think is a great,first goal for first time
marathoners, getting through it.
Mentally it'll get harder andharder and physically it'll get
harder and harder as you add onthe mileage.
Know that and, prepare yourselfto, maybe have a goal of when I
get to this mileage, which I'venever done before, like.

(33:52):
If it's anything over 18 to 20miles, it's gonna be your first
time doing that and givingyourself something fun to do
during that.
That can be a goal too, so thatyou can help yourself mentally.
So the goals are measurable, butthey don't have to be, I'm gonna
hit this split, or I'm gonna,you know, I want a negative

(34:16):
split this race.
For first time marathoners, Iwould say that is not a goal
that you need to worry aboutbecause once you get past 18 and
20 miles, you're gonna bebreaking personal records.
Every step you take is going tobe a personal record.
And like Lori said if this waseasy, there would be more than,

(34:39):
0.9% of the whole world doingit.
Less than 1% of the populationruns a marathon.
So you're already just coming tothe start line doing something
amazing.
Know that and know that everystep that you take after your
longest run is going to be apersonal record.

(34:59):
Take pride in that and rememberthat.
And, enjoy, enjoy every momentof it.

I was just gonna say, I think this is great, but
I do also know people arenumbers driven and some people
are gonna wanna try and hit agoal time.
And I was thinking, we talkedabout setting multiple goals,
maybe just not making your goaltime, your top goal, maybe
that's your B or your C goal.
So, that'll be extra topping onthe cake if you do hit that

(35:29):
goal, but if it's lower on yourlist and you hit one of your
other two goals or other goals,you can walk away from your race
seeing as a success.

Coach Lori (35:41):
Yeah this is where you recognize that everybody's
personalities are a little bitdifferent for myself that I've
done 39 marathons and everyYeah, baby.
Yeah.
Now everyone impressed?
Okay, now, Okay.
Yeah.
I, um, But I only mentioning itbecause of like the varying

(36:01):
different types of goals andlike mental places I've been
going into these races and I'vealways found that my most
successful races is when I havenot a time goal and have zero
expectation of that.
Yep.
And I'm a little bit morerelaxed about it and I have
other goals in between.
So a lot of times I set goalsfor myself where, okay, at mile

(36:22):
eight I would like to see that Ican start off slow and pick it
up.
My best goals that always setsme up for success is to make
sure I negative split that raceand then as I became more
experienced as a marathoner, Ialways try to make my last mile
the fastest.
And that came with theexperience.
But I have been able to do thatfor like the last five marathons

(36:44):
I've done and that's been ablejust experience and being able
to control the pace.
And I'm not saying this is afirst time marathon or tip, but.
just going in with it.
Just, this is the race goal andit has to be, this time is not
something everybody has to do.
And as a first time marathoner,you guys have already nailed it.

(37:05):
Enjoy the experience.
Because here's the thing, thetraining is the experience.
That's the best experiencethat's possible.
And especially if you did thekind of the group training and
had this whole thing cometogether, you, it is, this is
your first time marathon Everyweek you were achieving
something pretty cool, which isa longer distance than you ever
did.
So for first time marathons, Ireally do look at the race as a

(37:28):
victory lap, of celebrating allthat time and commitment and
effort that you had to put inweek to week to week to week.
And again, you were, we'veprobably already said it, like
three or four times you're gonnaPR that first day.
So it's good, It's good stuff.

Mm-hmm.
so.

Coach Lori (37:45):
But the returning marathoners.
Right.
That's, that's where I wanted togo next.
Yes.
Okay.
You go Coach Michael.

Well, I wasn't actually pass the mic on to
someone else.

Coach Lori (37:54):
I can start talking about it.
Returning marathoners, again, Iprobably touched on it from my
experiences already, is, youknow, you learn from every race
that you do and no matter what,the mentality too, of returning
marathoners too is every racethat's at this distance is going
to be probably a very differentexperience.
It can be very different fromyour first marathon learning

(38:16):
that you have made somemistakes, and then you take
those mistakes and you modifythem and help set yourself up
for success for that next race.
Some of it is, maybe you don'thave a time.
I love it when people don't havetime goals.
Cause I, I promise half thetime, I feel like when people
don't have time goals, theyreally, really surprise
themselves because they're sorelaxed in such a good state

(38:39):
going into it.
Some of it is maybe this timeyou are doing a charity and the
first time you did not.
And so it's just has a differentmeaning

I would add to that, knowing after you've done
your first marathon and youalluded to this Lori, every race
you do after that is anexperience and is going to be
different.
And whether your time goal is Iwanna take X amount of time from
my last marathon.
I think those goals.
Are great, but for folks whowere running races maybe before

(39:12):
the pandemic, I think this issomething to remind yourself
every time you are at the startline, you're a different, you.
Every day you're a differentyou.
And I think sometimes folks dolike to take a look, especially
cuz Strava is real and Stravaenvy is real.
And we mentioned before, don'tcompare yourself to other

(39:33):
runners, but also try not tocompare yourself to harshly to
previous you runner.
Every training block is verydifferent.
And if, the pandemic you maybelet the wheels get a little
rusty or mentally it wasdifficult for you.
Give yourself a chance to be anew you and have different goals

(39:57):
and even runners who have runseveral marathons, Like, take
that into account.
Who you are today is differentthan who you were during the
last race.
Whether your fitness isexcellent and far superior, or
your mental fitness is not doingso hot, all of that, you should

(40:20):
take into account when settingthose goals.
So even for folks who want thatspecific time goal, who have
done several races, who havedone five marathons, ten
marathons, it's what Lori said,give yourself a time goal, make
it a window, because sometimesthose time goals aren't
measurable because of what raceday brings you.

(40:43):
There's so much that you can't,control.
And maybe have a goal,especially if you're a very big
numbers person, I challengethose runners who are big
numbers people to give yourselfa goal that isn't numbers driven
and that's more experiencedriven.
And thinking outside of thosenumbers that can become so

(41:09):
crippling for so many people.
Give yourself a chance to have agoal that is like, I will help
somebody else and cheer somebodyon throughout the race that
looks like they might bestruggling.
Cuz if you take yourself out ofit and take the pressure off
yourself mentally that opens youup for a more positive

(41:29):
experience.
And having that smile on yourface and not, looking so hard on
your watch can make you faster,bring joy to your mental self
and your body and help get youacross that finish line crushing
a goal that you never thoughtyou were capable of.
Michael?

That's, that's good.
Does that need be added to orshould we move on?

Coach Lori (41:55):
Yeah, no, you gotta one up that now.

Well, I was reading, Jack Daniels, uh and
according to his, the splitshould be based on So.

Speaking of splits, like those negative
splits, negative split issomething that I love doing too.
Lori.
And I will say with the weatherof the day, if you are like, I
really want a negative splitthis, let's say the weather is
supposed to start off 55degrees, but by the time it hits
10 it's gonna be 90 degrees.
That might not be the day tonegative split folks.

(42:31):
So if you're really worriedabout all of that please, talk
to a coach and we help youmodify or talk through some of
those race goals with you.
That's what we're here for.

Coach Lori (42:42):
Well sometimes people argue cause I negative
split most of my races now it'slike mm-hmm.
It's always my goal.
Yeah.
I don't even care what my finishtime is.
Usually I just need a negativesplit that then it goes back to
the numbers and nerding outabout it.
But a lot of people are you,with you if you do negative
split a race, they think thatyou didn't give enough in the
beginning and you had too muchleft at the end.

Uh-uh.

Coach Lori (43:02):
It's not true.
But it takes, sometimes it takespeople a couple of races to
realize that the negative splitworks.
A lot of people don't believe inthat.

It takes lot of trust and that's why it's not
necessarily something for thefirst time marathoner.
Right.
And it's a good challenge for amultiple marathoner.
They've proven they could do thedistance and now it's a new sort
of test.
And we've talked about this alittle bit later, but.
I know from experience and fromwatching athletes over many
years that once you startslowing down, that cycle

(43:34):
increases, you know,incrementally faster.
You slow faster.
Once you start slowing down, yougo slower, slower and slower.
Than if you're all eithersustained even pace or be able
to slowly increase your paceover time.

But adding to that too, I playing the devil's
advocate there.
Having one slow mile doesn'tmean that you have to succumb to
those numbers and be like, Oh, Ihad one slow mile.
I will likely get slower andslower.
Take every mile as a differentmile.

(44:09):
You can have a bad mile and thenext mile.
You can have a better mile.
Whether that is, you don't feelthat pain, that nagging pain or
that ache that you felt in thatlast mile, your stomach, all you
had to do is belch and nowyou're good to go.
Or now you're, back on pace.
So don't give up on yourself.

(44:31):
Mentally reset yourself.
Every time you pass a milemarker.
Give yourself another chance.
And also know that, man, thefirst 20 miles of this marathon
is warm up.
Alright?
Especially if you've done amarathon before.
Think of those first 20 miles asa warmup to the best and likely

(44:53):
the hardest 10 K of your.
And, don't give up on yourself.
When you get past that, and knowthat it's gonna be hard.
No matter what speed you aregoing, whether you are a 15
minute miler or a 4 26 minutemiler, you're still putting 26.2
miles on your legs, which isdifficult for humans to do, and

(45:16):
it's not gonna feel pretty.
And that's okay.
You've trained for this.
You will likely not explode whenyou cross that finish line
unless it's exploding with tearsof happiness.
That's correct.
Because you've accomplished agreat thing.

Put that to Hallmark

Although if somebody does explode at the end
of this marathon, I'm gonna bein trouble because I've just
said it out loud.

So should we get to some expo talk?

Yeah.

Coach Lori (45:47):
Yeah.
I mean, this is the race.
We haven't even gotten to theexpo yet.

I know.

So at the end of your race week, right before
your race is gonna be time tovisit the expo, and if you've
never been to Chicago Marathonhad expo before for a runner,
especially a new runner, I thinkit's a little bit like, in
Willie Wonka when they enterthat room where everything's
edible, you know, and there'sthat, everything's colorful in
that amazement cuz it's really,really a cool expo and there's,

(46:14):
it's

a world of pure imagination.

Yes.
So I think we have several dosand don'ts on how to enjoy the
expo properly.
You wanna start us out here,Cynthia?

Yeah.
When you come to that world ofpure imagination and you see all
the delicious treats, beforeyour eye, No.
What you are there for?
The thing you're there for is toget that bib.
All right, so your golden, thegolden ticket is, That's right.
Lori, is that bib.
So that should be the firstthing you go to.

(46:47):
Is it, planned out that it isthe furthest thing from those
front doors so that you can buyall these lovely treats?
Yes that's how they've worked itout, because people are there to
make money.
Know that, get that bib first.
I would even set a timer on yourwatch, on your phone to be like,
This is how much time I shouldspend at the expo, because if

(47:10):
you visit every booth, you couldspend hours there and that's
time on your feet that you don'tneed to be on your feet.
Anything to add to that, Lori?

Coach Lori (47:20):
If you, do you think that you wanna check out things?
Look at the vendor list and seevery specific things that you
want.
But yeah, you can spend a lot oftime on your feet.
And just note too, when you getto McCormick Place, plan out how
you're going to get there, andit's gonna take you probably
even twice as much time to getthere.

(47:41):
Then you even think, becauseonce you even get in there, if
you go into one entrance, ittakes you a long time to walk
across to get to everything.
And so, Add that to the time ofyour feet as well.
But the expo can beoverwhelming.
I already talked about itearlier, but I'm gonna say it
again.
Do not buy a new outfit that dayunless you're returning marathon

(48:02):
or you know, it works for you.
First timers, don't do it.
Don't do it.
But back to Michael's point,making lists and stuff too.
So if you know that there'sthings that you wanna check out
at the expo and you know thatspecifically you need to buy for
your race day, make sure youspecifically list those things
out and make it as efficient aspossible.
Map it out, make that plan.
But it's very crowded there.

(48:24):
It can be very overwhelmingthere.
What else?

The expo is open Thursday, Friday.
Saturday.
All right.
And I'm gonna tell you rightnow, the times that aren't gonna
be as crowded are Thursdayduring the day, Friday during
the morning, or during the day.

Coach Lori (48:44):
Yeah.

Saturday is just gonna be a, you know, some,

Coach Lori (48:47):
Yeah.
Saturday you're gonna getfrustrated cuz you're gonna walk
in there and then you're, youmight be one of those people,
but don't be one of thosepeople.
But then don't be surprised ifyou run into these people.
Yeah.
That they're panicking, they'retrying to run it as fast as
possible and you're just tryingto walk around.
They're bumping into you andeveryone's bumping into each
other.
Maybe this whole podcast isabout anxiety, but anxiety is

(49:08):
one thing that does not helpyou.

If you're able to go Thursday or even Friday, it's
giving you an extra day to rest.
So if you are there for a longtime and on your feet, Then, you
know, you could probably spend alittle more time on a Thursday
cuz you have a couple more daysto rest.
The other thing mentioned aboutbeing on your feet and being at
more McCornick Place.
I don't know what they do withthose floors, they're concrete
or whatever, but they really dohurt your feet.

(49:32):
I've worked there where I wasthere all day long and I've felt
more fatigued and stuff than Ihave just, I, you know, I dunno
if it's a McCormick thing, Idon't know.
It's a magic McCormick Placedeal.
But yeah, it's hard on yourlegs, so it'll give you that
freedom if you're able to goearly as opposed to also not
having to, fight the crowds aswell.

Coach Lori (49:52):
Maybe it's the phantom floor of our phantom
paints of like, why that floorfeels that way.

That's right.

You also might wanna budget yourself depending
on what kind of a spender youare.
Some people are able to regulatethemselves a little bit more,
but there be a lot of coolthings to spend money on.
Everyone's looking for thatsecret sauce that's gonna take a
couple seconds off the race.
As Lori said, don't be temptedto buy something and try
something, that you haven't usedbefore on race day.

(50:23):
And if it's something in yourhand, you might wanna give a
second thought saying, Do Ireally want this or do I need
this, before you take out thecredit card.

Coach Lori (50:32):
See, nobody knew that we were gonna get financial
advice on this too, if peoplelisten long enough, sure they're
going to be saving themselvessome money and in their
investments and stuff.
So think that, Thank you forthat, Michael.

And there's gonna be all sorts of fun stuff for
you to try.
Like food Try this fancy newproduct.
Try this protein bar and maybemaybe don't, maybe don't try it.
Or like bring yourself someZiploc bags to put those free
samples in for after race day ifyou really like, Oh, I wanna try

(51:06):
that new, you know, shock blockor this new fancy candy.
Like, yeah, you don't need toput all that new stuff into your
body if you don't know how it'sgonna react.

Uh, I wanted mention a couple things to take
advantage of at the expo, andone of those would be the pacer
booth.
Cynthia you're pacing this yearso why don't you tell us all
about the PACER Booth?

Yeah.
the Pacer booth is a great placeto stop by.
You do not have to sign up to bein a pace group, which is the
first thing people try to dowhen they go into that pacer
booth.
But it's more of just, knowingwhat wave you're in and knowing
if there's going to be a pacerthat is running your pace within

(51:53):
your wave.
And let me tell you, there's alot of pacers for this race and
there's multiple pacers for eachtime.
So I'm pacing the 3 55 group andthey have, 9 3 55 pacers.
There's three in the first wave,three in the second wave.
And I, maybe there's six.

(52:13):
But, for several pace groupsthough, there are nine, there
are, some in every wave.
So if you're like, Oh, I'm notin the first wave, I'm not gonna
get my desired pace to pacewith, check out the pacer booth.
We'll be able to look it up,what corral you're in, what wave
you're in, and if there's apacer for that particular pace

(52:34):
that you're trying to run.
Also, the pacers have to runeven splits.
And these pacers, if they don'tand they don't get asked to
return, so, there's also tattoosthat you can put on and grab
yourself a couple, You know,I've seen some people with like
three, tattoos that you can puton your arm that'll give you the

(52:56):
exact splits of what you shouldbe running.
People love that.
And I think, if you're somebodywho loves not permanent tattoos,
you know, even for fun, makeyourself sleeve, you know, grab
as many as you want.
But it is nice to have thoseright there because it's not
like a band that willaccidentally fall off during the

(53:17):
race.
Just know that you're gonnawanna put that on before you put
sunscreen on or your body glide.

Coach Lori (53:24):
I'll add to that cuz I was on the Nike Pace team for
10 years.
And, building on that, Yes.
So there's these like temporarytattoos that you could put on
that helps with your pace time,but to manage expectations to
the, they have pacers up to 5 45and then there are two groups
that are two to three groupsthat are run walk, but they do
not publicize that what's on thewebsite.

(53:47):
So to manage expectations forpeople too that, you should, if
you are wondering what,intervals that they're doing,
you should check out that at thebooth because they will not
publicize what those are.
It depends on the pacers andwhat their capabilities mm-hmm.
are for those run walk groups.
So there are not pacers after 545.
So I wanna help people manageexpectations too, if they were

(54:09):
hoping for like a 6:00 or 6:30on that as well.
But you can ask those questions,and Michael, like you said,
taking advantage of what you canfind at the expo, manages
expectations and asking thosequestions at the Nike pacer
booth to see what kind ofresources and support that
participants of all ranges haveout there.

And I know some people are like, Oh, am I gonna
have the same Pacers through outmy training on race day?
And I believe, there's maybethree CES folks that are pacing
the Chicago Marathon.
I know, I am and Coach Randy is,and I'd have to recheck the
other, but yeah, I think if youcoach Randy are this year, Okay.

Coach Lori (54:51):
So Michael, you said that's one of the things that
you should check out.
What was the other thought thatyou had to say to check out?
Couple other thoughts I had was,a lot of times they'll have
professional athletes or, orquote unquote celebrities
speaking or signing and if youwant to take advantage of them
or meet them or, get insta withthem, is that what the kids say?
Make the TikTok with them, justcheck in advance to see when

(55:14):
they're gonna be there.
So you could schedule your visitto coincide with that.
The other thing that youdefinitely wanna do at the expo
is pick up your race day resortcredentials.
Chicago Endurance Sports has arace day resort, if you're
registered with the trainingprogram you have access to, and
at the expo there'll be a boothand we'll publish that
information in our newsletter,but to pick up credentials for

(55:38):
our race day resort.
So that's taken care of on racemorning.
You don't have to worry aboutanything.
You just kind of walk on in and,you know, sit on down, and get
ready.
So, those are a couple of thingsyou'll definitely wanna take
advantage of at the expo.
And I guess another one I canthink of, because I, I worked
as, a volunteer at the infobooth at the expo for several

(55:59):
years, so I get all kinds ofquestions.
But if you have people who arefollowing you, people from out
of town, they're gonna betraveling through the city.
The CTA sells a special pass,that you could buy.
It's like a one time ride asmuch as you want pass.
And they have a booth at theexpo you'll wanna take advantage
of as well to get them, whatthey need to get around the city

(56:19):
and follow you everywhere alongthe course.

That's right.
And this is like the easiestmarathon for people who are
watching.
So know that there will not be amoment where at least somebody
won't be out there cheering youon.
but yeah I I didn't even knowabout that.
Special pass, Michael.
Thank you for that hot info.

(56:45):
So yeah, that's the expo and,which happens Thursday, Friday,
or Saturday, which is before,the race.
Let's talk about what to do theday before the race.
If that's the only day you cango to the expo, great.
That's part of your plan.
But there's other things thatyou should do before the race.

(57:06):
Like, lay out your gear.
This is my favorite thing to do.
And, as Coach Michael said, Youcan insta layout lay out your
gear, which a few folks don'tknow what that means.
Okay?
It's where you take a picture ofall your stuff and your bib.
And it's great if you're notsomebody who likes to write down
a checklist.

(57:27):
Now you can visually have that,so what's the shirt you're gonna
wear?
What's the shorts you're gonnawear?
And I like to put out twodifferent outfits depending on
the weather.
So like, this is, if it's coldweather, I have this layer.
If it's warmer and I'm gonnahave this layer, how many gus or
gels put your nutrition out?
The type of socks you're gonnawear, your shoes.

(57:49):
Your bib.
That way people can follow you.
I even put like my deodorant andmy body glide out there.
That way I'm not waltzing aroundlike at three o'clock in the
morning trying to figure outwhere everything is.
It's laid out there.
All I have to do is get my bodyout of bed, put these clothes
on, and then eat some breakfast.

(58:11):
But yeah laying out your gear isdefinitely a thing I like to do
and I like to take that picture.
If you don't like to take apicture, you like to write down
the checklist.
Michael, you're a lister.
Yes.
What would you add to that list?

Well, I though I'm a lister.
I always like the fact of layingthings out because there's a lot
of times it's the devils intodetails.
Those little things that youforget at the last minute, like
a big thing for me that I putout.
Bandaids.
So I make sure I protect mynipples, and I don't wanna
forget that, but it's an easything, you know, on race
morning, it's so hectic andyou're up early, you're so

(58:47):
concerned about everything.
If it's laid out in front of meonce my pile is gone, I know
I've collected everything, orI'm wearing everything I need, I
have my watch on.
My watch has been charged.
You know, little things likethat.
Oh yeah, sunscreen, easy toforget.
But if you put this all out inadvance, it's there in front of
you.
And if you overlook it, youoverlook it.

(59:07):
But it's having it together andin place and knowing you have
it.
We talked about gels and gus andthings like that.
Racing it around your house atthe last minute, looking for
things on race morning whereyou're worried about either
getting picked up on a ride orgetting downtown or whatever.
Last thing you wanna thinkabout.
Make things easy on yourself.
Try and reduce the, once againwith like bad anxiety, again, do

(59:29):
what you can to reduce theanxiety.

And speaking of looking around to her, how
you're gonna get a ride.
That's a great thing to do theday before.
Figure out how you're gonna getto the race.
What's your plan?
Yes.
You know.
Do you have a friend who lovesto wake up early and will drive
you to race day resort, beforethose streets close, do you

(59:52):
wanna divvy some what?
The e divvy, right?
Those are the hot things are, isthat gonna be near your place?
Cuz a lot of those, you know,no, no shame on divvy, but
sometimes those bikes aren'taround when you want them to be.

Coach Michael (01:00:07):
Do you need to secure a parking space through
like Spot Hero or, or something?
And where are you gonna park?
Uh, when did the streets close?
So you know when you need to be,where, when, Or you don't get
sidetracked or delayed be due tothings like that.
A lot of people are gonna be alltraveling to the same part of
the city at approximately thesame time.

(01:00:27):
CTA is dependable, but it'sgonna be crowded.
So, I'm sorry, did you say theCTA is dependable?
I, What do you mean?
Did you say the CTA isdependable?

Coach Cynthia (01:00:38):
That's, I said CTAs.
It should be dependable thatmorning.

Here's hoping that it is depend upon that it
they'll be trains running intothe city.

Coach Lori (01:00:46):
Here's hoping it is.
So that's right.

But know that you don't wanna maybe count on that
train getting you there atexactly the right time.
Maybe get on the train that'llget you there 15 minutes
beforehand, you know?
Cause you're not gonna be ableto sleep.

Yeah.
And even when you plan the traindown there, it's, it takes
longer than you think to walkthrough getting into this start
line area and you're checking ifyou're doing race day resort
that's fine.
We can talk about that a littlebit too, but it, and we help you
if you're doing the race dayresort with CES to get you to

(01:01:24):
your corrals in time.
But again, it takes you longerthat even to walk to race day
resort from where you're parkingand from the cta.
So I would say for everybody,always plan that you're leaving
30 minutes before you even thinkyou need to leave.

Yep.
And again, that's a part ofdecreasing the anxiety.
Did we just turn this into likea self-help I mean, we did
That's why training for amarathon really trains you for
everything in life.

Okay.
So we're not gonna charge forthis, We're just gonna charge
insurance policy for this,Correct.
For Lloyd's Mental health.
Okay, cool.

Cool.
Yeah.
But that works in everythingwe've talked to about day
before, gets right into racemorning and things you can do,
like Lori said, be prepared tobe there 30 minutes before maybe
you need to.
And part of that is knowing thatthings can come up that are
unexpected.
So you have to be a littleflexible.

(01:02:16):
You know.

That's, that's something you can control.
You can control trying to leaveas early as possible.
And when you do that, the otherthings that you can't control,
control makes that easier.

Remember, you need to get there early enough
to allow at least three or fourvisits in the bathroom.

That's right.
Right.
Speaking of things that you cancontrol, you can control, what
to wear.
You can't control the weather,but remember, like you've laid
out the day before, you laid outa couple different outfits just
in case that weather changes,which it inevitably will.
But remember to dress as if itwere 15 to 20 degrees warmer

(01:02:54):
than the actual temperature.
So get some throwaway gear or agarbage bag.

Maybe that individual that's listening to
this, it's an understand whatthrowaway gear is.
So what are the options,everybody?
You've mentioned garbage bags.
Yeah.
And what happens with thegarbage bags?

Well, you you cut a hole on the top, or I guess if
you're using it as a garbagebag, you would cut the hole on
the bottom and then on the sidesseam, you would cut two more
holes.
The one on the bottom is foryour head.
And on either side of the seams,that's where your arms are
gonna.
And then the top of the garbagebag is like, if this were a

(01:03:34):
dress, it would be the bottom ofthe dress or a California Raisin
costume.
If anybody old enough toremember the California Raisins.

I heard it through the grape vine.

Oh.
So that's, an easy, you know,throwaway

I'll keep you warm.
The idea is you wanna keep warmwhile you're standing in the
corral.

Which luckily for race day resort, you're gonna be
real close to those corrals.
But if there's some running gearthat, you are like, Oh, I need
to get rid of this.
This doesn't fit me.
It's stretched out the I'm, thisis ugly, and I thought it was
cute when I bought it.
That is a great thing to wearwhile you're in that corral,
that extra layer, it's somethingthat you can take off right

(01:04:17):
before your, corral goes off.
And if you're like, Well, I'mreally don't wanna throw this
away.
I'd rather I donate it.
Know that all the gear that isat the side of the starting
corral, all of those throwawaylayers are going to be donated.
So, you are donating it,

Yeah.
You get all excited too when youknow you're about to start,
because you see all those,pieces of clothing starting to
fly on the air.

I was talking this weekend, you know, they
sell our more immersion stuff,but if you have like a pair of
tube socks, that's it.
Easy, yeah.
Pull'em on and, you know, easy,easy to throw away.
And it cause it keeps your handsand your arms warm, at the same
time.
So what about eating in themorning?

Well, what have you been eating this entire
training block?
Stick with that.
Okay.
We're talking, we're gonna talkabout anxiety again.
What's the first thing that I dowhen I'm anxious?
I put food that's available infront of me, into my mouth.
You know, what's not gonna begreat on race day?
Eating too much food and thenstarting the run with a full

(01:05:21):
stomach.
And if you're doing race dayresort, there's gonna be food
there and you're gonna be like,Oh, my wave doesn't go out for
another 40 minutes.
It's time to have the fourthbagel.
Maybe it's not time to have thefourth bagel.
Recognize what you're puttinginto your mouth and you wanna
keep it similar to what you weredoing the entire time you've
been training.

I would recommend not relying on the Race Day
Resort morning food but bringwith you or eat at home, what
you've been training with allseason long, what's worked for
you.
This almost relates back to raceweek or night before.
Make sure you have the foods youneed in the morning on hand so

(01:06:02):
it's there for you.

Also think about the timing of when your corral
leaves and when you need to bein your corral.
We've been doing all of ourtraining runs at 6:00 and 6:30.
If your corral doesn't leaveuntil 8:00, maybe you don't need
to eat food at four o'clock inthe morning, you should have

(01:06:23):
something right when you wakeup, but maybe wait to eat what
you normally eat before thatlong run and time it out to when
you are going to be leaving thecrowd.
Whether that's, Oh, I'm drinkcoffee at this amount of time to
get my body moving.
think about that and time thatout accordingly.

(01:06:44):
Cuz that can be something thatmesses people up as like, well
normally I eat at,four o'clockin the morning because I'm
starting my run at 6:00.
But if your race start time islater, just take that time and
subtract it so that you're notovereating.

And what about coffee?
What would you say aboutcaffeine and coffee?
Well, you know, I'm a big fan ofcoffee.
I always have one cup of coffeeexactly an hour and a half
before I start running.
So, if you haven't been drinkingcoffee beforehand, race day is
maybe not the time to start.
Some people like coffee, itwakes them up.

(01:07:21):
It makes, I mean it's the samewith caffeine and the nutrition
you take throughout the race.
If it's something new, that'snot the day to start something
new.
If it's something you have beendoing throughout your training,
yeah, get that coffee.
But watch how much you'redrinking because you are gonna
be up earlier and you're gonnabe at the Race Day Resort or at

(01:07:44):
that start line earlier than youwould for your training runs.
So think about the timingbecause you know how your body
works at this point and how muchtime you have between that cup
of coffee and toilet time.

Going from the sleep nerd perspective too is if you
are really worried about, andlike if you're like me, I am not
a morning person.
I have a lot of what's calledsleep inertia.
So when you first wake up, youlike, it's impossible to get up
and, you're not really sure whyyou even put yourself through
this in life, even though you'vetrained the whole season.

(01:08:23):
But that's like your firstinitial thoughts for like the
first 10 minutes.
It's not a bad idea to try to goto bed earlier the few nights
before and try to wake up thatmuch earlier it will actually
help what's called yourcircadian rhythm to feel just a
slightly better on race day.
this is like another little tipthat a lot of people don't think

(01:08:44):
about.
For a lot of people it might beimpossible too because the way
your lifestyle is, but it's justsomething to think about too,
cuz you are going to be gettingup, especially if you live in
the suburbs or something likethat.
3:00 AM instead of 5:00 AM whenyou're doing your whole training
around the whole time.
And that's gonna make adifference in how, just how

(01:09:04):
focused you are and what yourhunger signals, are too.
Cause if you're waking up evenearlier than you normally do, a
lot of times people have a hardtime eating with a even wanna
normally eat because they'rejust not hungry at all.
Because that's just not thetypical time of day that your
body is singling hunger.
Yeah.
And so they have a, theystruggle even more about how
they're ingesting theirhydration and nutrition.

Absolutely.

So we got you to race morning.
You're Race Day Resort CoachLori said that we'll do a good
job of trying to get you intoyour corrals on time.
You do need to leave your, foryour corrals a little bit early
cuz there's a lot of people andthere's security and there's
steps you need to take toactually get to the starting
line.
But we'll help you with that aslong as you're on time to the

(01:09:48):
Race Day Resort.
We'll get you in the corral ontime.
At that point, there's a lot tobe said about your race.
We've talked about it allseason.
It's a really good idea to talkto your coaches about, Your race
if you have specific questions.
But we do have an episode calledRace Day Strategies.
Or Marathon, is it?
Marathon Race Strategies,

It's the 2021 Marathon Race Strategy Podcast.

Right.
Which I record last year.
You could download that.
Listen to that as well.
I'll put links to that in theshow notes.
But that's give you, step youthrough a lot of the process.
But that takes us to, we'vefinished the race, we've hit our
goal, we've crossed the finishline, We've got our shiny heavy

(01:10:32):
metal around our neck.
What's next?

I mean, celebrate everything you've done right and
celebrate how, whatever thatmeans to you.
If that means, Hanging out atRace Day Resort, High fiving
people, giving hugs, givinggratitude.
You some people write down theiraccomplishments, put it in a
social media post, but reallytake time to enjoy and celebrate

(01:11:00):
your accomplishment and what youhave done.
A lot of people try to go to thenext thing, like, what else can
I sign up for?
Depending on how the race went,but give yourself time to truly,
take in what you've done and,give yourself a pat on the back.

To speak to that last week, we are doing our
taper and people were kind ofgoing, Oh, this week we only
have to do 10 miles.
And I'm like, did you hearyourself, if you were in public
with normal people who don'trun, and you said, Oh, I only
have to run 10 miles.
They would think you're crazy.
So, you've done a lot and reallytake a moment to appreciate all

(01:11:39):
the work you've done, all themileage you put in, and be
grateful that you have thehealth and ability to,
participate in such an activity.
It's pretty remarkable.

Absolutely.
And, don't negate the 18 weeksof hard work that you've done.
Like you just said.
Yes, you have a medal now, but,you put in a lot of work,
physically, mentally, you likelyhad to sacrifice some things and
consider all of that.

So our thing we wanna do is, is just to keep
moving.
Don't just sit on the couch.
The rest of the weekend or nextweek.

Or that hot tub.

Or the hot tub.

Bed.

So moving around, as you've probably learned
throughout training is, a goodway to keep yourself from
stiffening up.
You might be sore.
But the more you move, chancesare the better you'll feel.
The more you sit around anddon't do anything, it's probably
gonna lengthen and increase theamount of time you start to you
all feel better.

(01:12:39):
So what's another do post race?

What's another do?
Whether or not you do well inthe race or whether or not
you've met your expectations andor you felt like you have not
met your expectations is don'tget yourself down too much about
it.
Give yourself two or three weeksto recover.
But know, there's other goalsthat you can set.
Reach out to other friends andtry to reset your goals because

(01:13:05):
there is kinda like apostpartum, kind of marathon
type of let down that peopleactually have because they're
training in a different way andit's very real physiologically
to not train so much asintensively that your body kind
of actually adapts just mentallyand physically you adapted a

(01:13:26):
different way because you're nottraining in the exact same way.
So give yourself two or threeweeks to celebrate, but then try
to reset other goals.
Or if you're not sure what thoseother goals are, reach out to
other friends or reach out toother resources to make sure
that, you're maintaining thesethings and joy that you had
before.

Lori to add to that, and that's something that
I see happen time and time againwith athletes is you have spent,
especially if you're doing grouptraining, you have spent so much
time with these other folksgetting through a long run, but
also like you share a lot ofthings with people on those long
runs.
You're making true connections.

(01:14:04):
And to go from doing that forseveral hours every week to Oh,
I'm done with this race.
mentally and physically you aredrained, which makes you
susceptible to getting sick.
Often people will catch yourcold or get the flu after this
because you're, endorphins playa role in, you're just not as

(01:14:27):
protected.
But I would say that's also youbecome way more vulnerable after
the race is done.
It's like you have done thisamazing thing, you've spent a
lot of time with a lot ofdifferent people sharing things.
It's been emotional and preparefor that too.
Like yes, you wanna slowly getback into moving your body and

(01:14:49):
finding those other goals, butknow that it's emotionally gonna
take a toll on you and, continueto keep those connections with
those folks that you wererunning with, cuz.
You can discuss what went wellfor your race or what didn't go,
you know, as planned.
And it's okay to have emotionsabout all of those things.

(01:15:11):
And just like you would, youknow, go to a PT if you were
feeling bad, hey, you know, thatthere might be a dip in, how you
feel emotionally, maybe scheduleextra, time with your therapist
cuz running a marathon is suchan amazing thing and getting
through that and know thatthere's like, after that big

(01:15:32):
happy moment or whether it ishappy or whatever emotion it is
you've spent 18 weeks doing thisthing, so you're gonna feel some
feels about it physically andemotionally.
Be prepared for that.
Give yourself time to workthrough all of that too.
Your coaches, for a lot of us,we've been through a lot of
races and we can help you guidethrough some of that.

(01:15:54):
But also, I mean, I have to saythis to a lot of my athletes.
I'm like, I am not a clinicalpsychologist or a therapist, so
I can help you with the runningpart of it.
But it's not a bad idea to reachout to your therapist and be
like, Hey, I'm, I might needsome extra help with, these next
coming weeks.

That's great advice.
Also the other side of that, alot of times is people, complete
a big at like this and like Iput in all this training, I
don't wanna lose any of myfitness, so I'm gonna keep
pushing and I'm gonna sign upfor this next race next week and
this other race and this otherrace.
And I think a big part of thatmessage needs to be, is.

(01:16:37):
Honor the recovery, the work youput in and that your body needs
some downtime.
You can't go, go, go all thetime.
And if you do that emotionally,you are gonna really fry
yourself first of all.
You know, even if you feel alittle dip after the race, if
you keep pushing, you're gonnafry yourself.
And the other thing is, a lot oftimes people are like, Oh, I

(01:16:57):
feel recovered.
I don't feel any aches andpains.
I feel fine.
But that doesn't mean you'rerecovered.

Correct.

A lot of recovery just takes time and rest.
And even though you don't feellike anything's bad, you still
need to give your body propertime to recover.
And when Lori talked a lot aboutsleep, sleeping properly is a
big part of that recovery.
Correct.

Yeah, I will say a lot of times people be on the
verge of an ache and painthroughout the summer.
And what will seal the deal oflike a full on injury is that
they'll still do the race andit's fine, but then they didn't
take like the month off and theyprobably needed to take off.
That's usually the, the strawthat breaks the camels back on
the post race.

And the schedules are made with the following post
race weeks, right?

Yeah.
And then we're gonna do a threeweek training program leading
into our Winter Warriors.
But it's just gonna be all aboutrecovery and light mileage and,
just still keeping those socialconnections that we think are
important to, just, I don'tknow, being connected with such
a big feat that we've done allsummer.
I mean, like this has been a bigpart of most people's lives as

(01:18:04):
you lead up to a marathon.
So it is just like such a bigbuild up.
You have the race day and then.
So we're, we're providing someresources other than we're not
clinical psychologists.
It's the things right.
That we can relate, but wecannot treat.

And as much as we talked about anxiety, this
whole, episode, enjoy the heckoutta your run.
Really?
That's right.
I mean, the, the, course is somuch fun and there's so much to
experience and there's peoplefrom all over the world there,
cheering you and you're runningwith them.
Take some time just to soak thatin and enjoy the heck out of it
and appreciate all the workyou've done.

Absolutely.

Nerding out about this stuff.
I think all three of us reallyenjoy doing that.
I mean, we can talk for hoursand hours, but we can, talk
about more stuff post race andWinter Warriors and stuff to do
out throughout the year.
And there's so many topics thatwe hope that, people can enjoy.
And at the end of the day, wehope that people have enjoyed
CES and, what we call thejourney and the experience and

(01:19:05):
making friends and very, very,very excited to see every
individual's journey through.

Right.
And transformation truly

throughout their vic.
I like to call it the Victorylap.

That's right.
Absolutely.
Enjoy the journey.
Enjoy the Victory lap and enjoythis podcast now.
Bye.

Thank you for listening, and we hope you
enjoyed this episode of theChicago Endurance podcast.
In the show notes, you'll findlinks to a couple of our
previous episodes thatcompliment this content.
For race day tips, check out theepisode 2021 Marathon Race
Strategies.
And for help on goal setting,you could check out the Prepping

(01:19:50):
Your Mind for Running Success.
As a special bonus, I've added arace day visualization exercise
from that episode at the end ofthis recording.

Coach Kristina (01:20:09):
I'll take everybody who's listening
through this little minivisualization.
So start with just a little bitof deep cleansing, breathing.
So everyone just kind of take amoment and settle into your, to
your chair, and breathe intoyour nose and out through your
mouth three times.
Deeply kind of these big yoga,deep cleansing breaths.

(01:20:31):
Really engage your belly andstart to feel maybe some of the
tension in your shoulders goaway.
And when you've breathe thosefirst three breaths, then you
can close your eyes.
And I want you to envisionyourself at the start line of

(01:20:54):
your race.
You might be in the front of thepack, might be in the back of
the pack somewhere in themiddle, but go ahead and picture
the kind of day that you wouldlike to see, the kind of clothes
that you're gonna wear.

(01:21:16):
Especially the shoes for usrunners, and I want you to
picture yourself with a facefull of excitement, but also a
calm determination.
What does that look like on yourface?

(01:21:39):
What does that do to your bodyposture?
How are you carrying yourself upto that start line?
What kinds of words are yousaying to yourself to get
yourself ready to run a goodrace?

(01:22:08):
And now take another couple ofdeep breaths and everybody can
open your eyes and just thinkabout what that felt like for
you.
Think about the words that youwere saying to yourself and
maybe write them down in yourjournal.
Think about what you werewearing or how prepared you
looked and see if the level ofquiet, calm, confidence changes

(01:22:35):
in your face.
See if your posture changes justwhen you call upon this
visualization.

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