- ear socks on your hands when it’s cold. not only will they keep you warm, but they are also good to wipe your nose on (and then easily wash).
- Slightly open your gel/chew packet before you start your run. Nothing worse than fumbling with a package while out and about.
- Place your Garmin by a window while you are getting dressed – it’ll help find the satellites so you aren’t standing around outside forever.
- Go before you go!
- Pack TP in your race bag.
- When running on a treadmill, set the incline to 1%.
- Calculate incline to mimic a race course if doing most of your training on a treadmill.
- Look at the Race website to see when the water stations are and try to tailor your training to mimic this.
- Also look to see what food/gels are being offered on the course, and use these in your training so you know how your body will react.
- Lastly – no new clothes on race day either!
- Hate carrying keys? Feed your key into your laces (be sure to double knot!)
- Running in the rain? You can use plastic wrap to protect your smartphone, etc and still have it be fully functional.
- Cut a hole in the top of a trash bag to stay warm before a race. If it’s raining, you can use plastic bags over your shoes as well.
- Pin your number on your shirt before putting it on. That’ll help ensure it’s straight and that you don’t jab yourself.
- If you have a running playlist, consider adding songs to the beginning of the playlist instead of the end.
- I’m a big fan of chewing gum while I run to keep my mouth moist and give me something else to focus on.
- You are probably underestimating how much core strength plays into running.
- Rotate in a second pair of shoes to help both keep longer and to prevent injury.
- Believe in the foam roller.
- Running a twisty-turny course? Run point to point instead of along the perimeter.
- Embrace hills. Easiest way for me was to convince myself that the hill ended 200m past the top of it – helped me get back on pace.
- Talk to your fellow racers, you never know who has similar goals & you can work with to achieve them.