T-3 days: how to approach the race

anyone have any valium? no more caffeine for me, my nerves are *shot!* more on that later. here are some pieces of race strategy from our wonderful coach, who you know and love, ramon.

PHOENIX MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON APPROACH!!!

OK….
I'm sure lots of you are freaking out about the freaking course and

how to approach it !
Read below if you are interested about times, race plans, and how to
behave during those 26.2 or 13.1 miles. The best tips I can give
you right now, when we are just a few days away are: Discipline,
Patience, hydrate, watch your nutrition and Behave, lots of
behaving !!

DIFFERENT PERSON DIFFERENT APPROACHES

The first rule applies to all our marathoners and half marathoners.
Most of you came into TNT with a goal of `just finishing', now a few
months later, you've become `running machines' and many of you have a
goal within a goal, `finishing will be nice, but I'd like to finish
in xx time ` and that's ok, its' totally normal to have a goal
time, as long as it is realistic. But it's also ok to come into the
event and don't worry much about time, a great goal for this event
is to count how many bands and cheerleading squads are outthere,
enjoy the event as much as you can.

I said it before, and I say it again, whatever your goal is, let's
make sure you enjoy your first marathon experience (if this is your
first) if this is your 2,3 or 10th, let's make sure you kick some
butt .

So, if you goal remains just to complete the 26.2 miles or the 13.1
miles, take this Sunday as a fun day, as one more long training
run, with lots of people around you, and lots of people cheering you
on.

That day, it's going to be very special for all of us. For you `a
dream come true' for us the coaches, it's like `sending our children
to the first day of school', we'll be excited, worried, nervous,
but happy, very happy because we know your life is about to change,
but specially proud, extremely proud of all of you, knowing that you
are about to finish what you started 5 months ago……………what an
accomplishment !!!

You are about to see your coaches going nuts, if you thought we were
crazy, wait until you see us on race day, those cheerleaders
outthere have nothing on us ...

Remember: `There's only one first marathon or half marathon…..it' ll
always be special make sure you enjoy it !!

i'm going for +/-5 hours...so here's that specific plan.

GOAL TIME: 5:00 hrs

Ready to rock !!

By experience, the 5:00 hr runners tend to be the most patience, and
very steady, for you guys if you approach the event the same way
you'be approaching the longruns and training in general you should
accomplish your goal.

You guys are not going to worry much about time during the first 14
miles, you are going to run just by how you feel, imaging that you
are running one more training run in Central Park or Prospect Park,
think of it as a loooonnnnnggggg warm up before you go for a run, or
one of those tests or workouts that you mean coaches usually provide
you with, the first ¾ of the race, just concentrate in your own
effort and don't let the cheers and the event get in your nerves and
make you don't run faster than you should.

A sub 5:00 hrs marathon it's around a 11:27. You don't need to
really keep track of each single mile, but just check yourself during the first couple of miles do make sure you are not going too fast, that's the key,
just look at the watch, and make sure you are withing that 11:15-
11:35 range, if you feel that you are running well, that the pace
that you put in, matches the effort, YOU ARE going too fast, YOU
should feel like you are holding back a bit, just like you do during
the training runs. If so slow down, calm yourself down, and run your
own race, your own effort. If the formula gives you around 4:55 to
5:05 marathon finishing time, you should not run faster than 11:05-
10 at any moment during the first 15 miles.

If by mile 16, you feel good, (as good as you can after running 16
miles) , you should know that you have 10 miles left, and have an
idea of your body and what kind of day you are having. I your watch
says anything between 2:45 to 2:50 at mile 15, just keep the same
effort or if you are feeling great, and you think `only 10 miles to
go' pick it up a bit. If you think `i'm getting tired, hold back a
little bit' If you are a little slower than that, but you are
feeling great/good/ok, you can decide to go for it, put a little
more effort in the run, just a bit, and keep that effort to the
end. Check yourself as you go every 2-3 miles, and if feeling good,
keep the effort, if not, slow down a bit.

Basically, depending how well you feel at mile 16, you will or not
break the 5:00 hrs.

The goal for you, it's to run your own race during the first 16
miles, do what you do best, pace yourself, and discipline
yourself. Again you don't need to keep track of each single mile if
you really concentrate on your own effort.

Some check points but again don't get too attached to these, run your
own race:

By Mile 5 you should be within 59:00 minutes but not faster than 55
minutes. .
By Mile 10 you should be within 1:57:00 minutes but not faster than
1:50:00 minutes
By Mile 15 you should be within 2:52:00 minutes but not faster than
2:45 minutes
By Mile 20 you should be within 3:49:00 minutes …

Good luck !