The Importance of Pre-Race and Post-Race Traditions

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One of my favorite post-race traditions is drinking beer till I burp wearing my race T-shirt on my very first run after said race. Rain or shine, storm on hale… oh who am I kidding, I live in California. I ran the See Jane Run half marathon this past weekend — and what do you know, my first run post-race was today. So here I am:Why yes, this is how you stretch your IT band pre-run. Post run, I tried to do the splits like I once could and that almost resulted in groin injury. No photos of that, thank me later.

I love how this T-shirt matches my running shoes perfectly — and goes well with one of my favorite skirts. Success!

Today’s run was an easy four-miler, I guess I’m trying to take it easy before Sunday’s triathlon. Which leads me to pre-race traditions: in this case, a mock-mini-tri on Tuesday, where we practiced setting up our transition area (and transition between the swim-bike and bike-run, of course):As a newbie triathlete, I can’t stress the importance of practicing transitions before your race! And not just the so-called brick workouts (a two-sport practice, say a bike ride followed immediately by a run, or a swim followed by a ride), but the transitioning itself: setting up your area neatly and in the correct order, so you don’t waste time trying to grab your biking shoes while your running stuff gets in the way… or forget something important, like putting on your helmet pre-bike or taking it off after. (I saw both being done when I volunteered at a tri recently :))

And of course, laying out the running (or tri-ing) outfit the night before the race is a must:My outfit for the Sirena18 last month… or any other race I’ve done recently, really. I wore the exact same thing at SJR this weekend, the LA Marathon, and many a half marathon before that. If it ain’t broken chafing ya, why change it?

I find the repetitiveness of such things very comforting. Eliminating the unknowns pre-race goes a long way in eliminating nerves and possible disasters, don’t you think?

What pre- and post-race traditions do you have?

Here’s what I’ve been up to this week:
Thursday:Wednesday:This was supposed to be a quick ride on my way to see Spirit of the Marathon II (awesome movie, by the way – join the conversation at my Facebook page if you haven’t already and let me know what you liked best!). But oh-so-many traffic lights on this ride! Total time was 1 hour 10 minutes… you do the math. (OK, I’ll do it for you: 20 minutes of waiting! I think I’ll stick to going out to more cycling-friendly routes from now on!).

Tuesday:

2 thoughts on “The Importance of Pre-Race and Post-Race Traditions

  • June 17, 2013 at 8:44 pm
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    Congratulations. Wonderful achievement. The Husband is talking a sprint -tri…what websites do you use to find them?

    My most important pre-race tradition is taking two imodium. Not joking. It’s my most crucial moment of training. My best post-race tradition is cake or ice-cream and a few days (or a week) off running. Rests are important!!

    Reply
    • June 18, 2013 at 8:16 am
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      LOL imodium 🙂 I’m SO lucky I’ve never had that problem! I’ve heard horror stories from too many runners involving bushes, socks… (you’ve heard about the one-sock club, yes? ahh, not funny, I guess!)

      Triathlon… your husband has SO got the right thinking, triathlon is so much more fun than just running. I know of two event organizers in the area, did a sprint with each and both were awesomely well organized: http://www.thresholdracinginc.com/ and http://www.usaproductions.org/. He can also look up the Tri for Fun series (On Your Mark Events, I believe). This website http://www.trifind.com/ca.html as listings, but honestly I find it too overwhelming and stick with the first two I mentioned. See Jane Run has a women-only one that you can try, and the Mermaid Series also puts up women-only ones in the area, they just had one in Alameda the day after the SJR Half so I skipped that. Hope that helps and I’ll see you guys at a tri some time soon!

      Reply

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