Race Day Approaches

I always get a little nervous as race day gets closer and closer and this time is certainly no exception. Normally I go over all the little things in my head and even practice some of them so that there are no surprises. This time though, it seems like there is more riding on it and for some reason I'm all worked up about it. It will be my first real competitive effort since diagnosis so I want it to go well.

I have trained for the last 3 months specifically for this race and it has all been going very well so I just don't want anything to go wrong. I have been doing long runs, recovery runs, intervals, and Fast Continuous Runs (FCRs) every week at varying distances and paces. I have hammered and re-hammered all of the body's different fuel systems. I have been extremely diligent in monitoring my blood glucose levels so that I will know exactly how to handle race day.

It turns out that I may be joining Team Type 1, a diabetic running team, and the sponsors will all be at this race so I really want to do well. It is a half marathon in Tucson AZ. I normally don't focus on such long races but I figure that I can always get back to speed work in the spring.

I wrote my own training plan so that is another source of my nervousness. Did I do enough long runs, or speed work? Did I over train? I guess we'll see.

So as race day gets closer, I do a lot of things that I'm not sure that other runners do. I start doing my Saturday runs at the same time that the race will start, in this case 7 AM, to simulate race day. That is even more important with diabetes because you have to really know what your blood sugars are doing that early in the morning.

I practice eating what I will eat the night before and the morning of the race. In this case, lots of carbs and protein the night before and just a power gel in the morning. I am going to use just 20 carbs before the race and probably another 20 at the half way mark to keep my blood sugars up. I hope it is enough.

Then I get online and go over the whole course on Google Street View so that I recognize different parts of the course when I see them. I will be racing against locals who know the course so I need any advantage I can get. I even scoured Google Earth to find some training runs in Boise that mimic the same elevation changes of the race course.

I even go over the previous years results and find anyone in the top 5 who is also registered this year so that I will know who my competition is.

I got some new racing shoes (Nike LunaRacer) and trained in them a few times to make sure they are fast enough. I ran a couple 5 minute miles and a couple long runs just to make sure they would hold together.

I should be all ready to go but that is why I'm nervous. Everything has gone better than I could imagine. My test effort 2 weeks ago was a 10 mile run at 6 minute pace and I nailed every last mile with energy left at the end. My blood sugars are doing great. My interval work has been faster and faster each week. I'm worried that if one little thing goes wrong on race day, the whole thing will be ruined.

Maybe I wake up and my blood sugar is too high and then I take insulin which makes me crash in the race. Or maybe I am too low and have to eat too much which could cause stomach problems. Maybe just the nerves alone will throw me all out of whack. And I haven't even started on that one problem that every racer knows about. You know, the one that keeps you in the bathroom the whole morning of the race.

Anyway, I guess all I can do is just do my best. If I don't win, I'll just try again. When I think about it, I was planning on trying again even if I do win, so what's the big deal.

Sorry for the long rant, thanks for letting me get this all out. I'll make sure to update you right after the race.

Wish me luck!