It’s Gold Coast Marathon week and the running coaches at Run2PB have you sorted with some valuable tips for race day.
Our coaches have loved competing at the Gold Coast Marathon Festival over the years and have accumulated some impressive results across all the events. See below for their tips.
If you’re running the half marathon make sure you get to the 10km mark feeling controlled. If you’re on edge at 10km, you could be in trouble. You’ll have a more enjoyable race if you negative split the race and have confidence that you can run the second half strong. Be patient early on.
Follow your hydration and fuelling plan early in the marathon. It gets warm later on in the marathon, especially if you’re coming from a Victorian winter. Be prepared for it to warm up and don’t skip your early drinks or gels because you think you’re going to be okay later on.
Watch out for the 31km mark of the marathon. At this stage you go passed the finish line and it can be a real mental challenge. There is also the only hill on the course through this stage of the race and your body will be starting to find it difficult. Be prepared with mental strategies you’ll enact at this stage of the race and practice them beforehand.
Embrace the crowd. The GC always turns it on with big crowds and the atmosphere on course is amazing. Give the volunteers and crowd a smile and use their energy to your advantage.
Do nothing new on race day, wear the same singlet, shoes, socks and shorts you have in your vital training sessions.
Enjoy the expo but remember you don’t have to look at every stall. You want to save as much energy for your race as possible. Don’t spend too much time on your feet in the days leading in.
Check out the course maps on the Gold Coast marathon website beforehand. Make sure there are no surprises come race day. There are also some great youtube videos of on course footage.
Don’t change your race plan on race morning. Remember what you’re there to achieve and stick to your goal. Don’t get greedy on the start line.
Get to the start line with plenty of time to ensure you’re not wasting energy by stressing out about public transport and toilet lines.
Have and practice your mental strategies beforehand. Running is hard, especially when the going gets tough. What will you call on in your mind when things start getting challenging? It may be family, friends or training partners.
Enjoy the journey. Remember to smile on course. Research has shown that smiling improves running efficiency. Olympic Gold Medalist in the marathon, Eluid Kipchoge often smiles late in his marathons and if it works for him, it’s good enough for us.
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