My Pre- and Post-Race Rituals

Thanks for all the congrats on my new half marathon PR! One of my coworkers today was asking what I do the morning of races, so I thought I’d share it with y’all. I eat/drink/do the same thing in the morning on every race day with little variation, even when traveling to races. (I even packed a tupperware of cereal to D.C. this year.) Some of it is a little personal, but I really think it alllll contributes to a good race day.

Pre-Race Rituals

• I wake up and do my business. Ahem.

• I take a shower. It’s not to get clean since I’m just gonna get dirty, but I like how it warms up my muscles and wakes me up. I usually do some quick stretches for my hamstrings, quads and calves too, while under the hot water. John got me hooked on taking pre-race showers; the first time I took a pre-race shower after his recommendation, I set a my first big half marathon PR that shocked me so now I’m a little superstitious about it.

• I drink a big glass of water and drink a cup of coffee.

• I eat breakfast – a bowl of Mesa Sunrise cereal with 1/2 banana sliced on top and unsweetened almond milk or my granola muffins are my go-to.

• More business.

• Out the door, with a mug of tea for the road if I can. (I did today.)

• Once I get to the race, I line up for the porta-potties for my final business. (My multiple business meetings are attributed to pre-race nerves. This is not normal for me.)

• I line up according to pace; the fastest pace group yesterday was 1:45 so I ended up being pretty darn close to the start line. At big races, I’m usually in the first or second corral.

• 10 minutes before race time, I turn on my Garmin to find a signal.

• 5 minutes before race time, I turn on my music (my Spotify Hard Running playlist), and I start shaking out my legs. I didn’t even realize I do this before races until my mom pointed it out to me a few years ago. I think it’s more of a nervous tick more than anything, but maybe it helps loosen me up? Who knows.

• Gun goes off, I run. 🙂

Post-Race Rituals (most of these I wrote about in more detail yesterday)

• Food, usually lots of protein
• Adult beverage 🙂
• Epsom Salt Bath
• Nap
• And, I’m adding to the list today, a date with The Stick. My calves are so sore today. I can barely walk down stairs!

I haven’t used this in months. I mean to…I really do. But I just forget about it, or when I remember I’m too busy doing things to avoid using it. It’s really not that bad. Much less painful than foam rolling I think. I’ve got to work on my calves and hamstrings though; I’m hurting. (If your’e not familiar with the stick, you run it over your muscles with some pressure to help release muscle tension.)

What are your pre- and post-race rituals? Don’t be shy! 😉