It’s race week! My race week prep includes:
- running / working out less (same intensity, less volume)
- getting a massage
- carb loading (ha)
- staying hydrated
- packing
- prepping food to bring
- finalizing my playlist
- getting enough rest… (not doing so well there)
- continuing race course visualization and repeating my mantras
My race week prep does NOT include:
- obsessively checking the weather
A few people have kindly asked me what race weather will be like. I don’t know. I haven’t been checking. I will check when I pack tomorrow. There’s nothing useful the weather is going to tell me now, since the forecasts change ALL. THE. TIME. I don’t need to buy special items for certain kinds of weather (I have everything), so I don’t need to check in advance to prep. I just need to pack some options.
I’ve seen the weather really eff up people’s mental game lately – spending time fretting about it days before the race, and letting negative thoughts about it bring them down on race day. It’s smart to be safe, in bad weather. It’s smart to go easier at a race, if it’s not your ideal weather. And it’s smart to be prepared!
But dwelling on it, and obsessively checking it is a total mind f*ck. Don’t do that! Try not to freak out! Weather just IS. Everyone is racing in the same conditions. It stinks that we sometimes put LOTS of time and work in for an event that ends up having crap weather, but that’s the risk you take (unfortunately)!
I allow myself one “this sucks!” thought on race day, then adjust, and fill my thoughts with positive weather mantras. And I adjust my goals if need be. I’ve even asked people I am with to stop venting about the weather (to me). That’s all really cheesy, but it keeps me in a positive mindset as possible, which I need when I am racing.
I listened to a podcast interview recently where Deena Kastor was giving some tips and talking about her new book (I want to read it so badly!) and she said “the mind steers the ship.” So if you’re in a negative mindset about the weather (or whatever, really) at a race, it’s going to affect your body! It just is!
So rah rah rah! Don’t worry, be happy!
Seriously though. Don’t stalk the weather forecast. It’s usually not even accurate the morning of!
Oh! And I have to ask, does anyone else make the same mistake as me when you DO check the weather – where you assume the low is the morning temperature and the high is midday or afternoon? I do that EVERY time I look for some reason, even though that is NOT what the predicted lows and highs mean! The low can be that night and the high can be in the morning. Duh, Kim.
And also: yes, please b*tch away about the weather after your race!
Ack, the weather. I know full well that obsession that comes with race week and I admire you for not falling prey to it. I suspect more of us need to follow your positive thinking lead when it comes to racing. YOU ARE GOING TO ROCK THIS MARATHON!!!
It’s so easy to (especially with smart phones with weather apps)! Even after I wrote this another person commented to me about it, ha!
Thanks! I am so excited!
I make that same mistake all the time lol.
I hope the race is AMAZING! PR or no PR I hope you have so much fun!
It’s easy to!
Thanks!!! That is all I am hoping for too – a fun, beautiful run!
People keep asking me what the weather is like in Anchorage right now and I honestly haven’t even looked for the same reasons you mentioned! It will be whatever it will be (plus, it’s 10 days away!). But, I will keep my fingers crossed that we both get good weather for our races or at least we have good races regardless of the weather. Have fun at yours!
Ha ha ha, cracks me up when people are like “the 15 day forecast is up and it says this!” Duuuuude. Chill. That forecast means NADA.
Thanks! I hope you do as well! It doesn’t mean anything, but when I visited there in June 2016 the weather was AMAZING for running!!!!
So much yes to this. I love the saying “control the controllables”. There is nothing you can do to change the weather so just be prepared for it! It is a waste of time to stress about things you can’t change!
When the high is in the morning I always get thrown off! It also really confuses me when the forecast says high of 70 and the current temperature is already 73 (made up numbers, but you get the point)! Does the high have to be after a certain time?
I’m very excited for you! I hope travel and the race go smoothly!
Yes – that is a great phrase! I am going to use that 🙂
I am happy I am not the only one who gets so confused by that. Remember that Friday a few Fridays ago when the high of the day was in the am and it dropped like crazy (maybe June 1)? I was so confused.
Thank you!!!
Yes, I do remember that! I walked the dog wearing shorts and a tshirt and by the time I left work I needed a sweatshirt!
I’ve definitely asked you and thought about weather before races, and yeah, you definitely can’t do anything about it. This logic makes total sense to me, but I’m so bad at not freaking out about. Good for you for figuring out how NOT to waste your precious time and energy before the race!
I hope you have a wonderful race, regardless of the weather, and a lot of good stories to tell afterwards!
It’s a nice thing to ask (and something I probably do too, ha)! I just try not to know until I need to ha ha ha.
Do you feel like you weather stalk for travel? I think that would be almost more of a bummer if you are going to a once in a lifetime place and the weather is crap!
Thanks!!! Me too!
Weather or no weather, I hope things go well for you and most of all, that you have a great race day!
Thank you!
OMG YES!! I do my best to avoid running with people who are complaining about weather or body aches, complaining just makes it worse. FOR BOTH OF US.
I too just adjust my goal; but I do watch the weather obsessively…..doesn’t do me much good. I’d say I’ll try not to but I think it’s just the way I’m wired. The high of the day always comes early when you’re running 😉
HAVE A GREAT RACE!!
It does! It really does. And some runners just love to spend the whole run complaining about the weather or how they feel. It brings everyone down. That doesn’t help me have a good run! (I have had it happen on a bike ride, too. Someone complaining about the hills to come. We had to ditch them (it was a large ride).)
LOL, so you are watching, but not complaining then?! Sounds like you have it worked out!!! 😉
Thank you!
“I get to run today!” is my motto 🙂
Ha ha! I am a TOTAL weather watcher. When we lived in SoCal, Michael used to always ask me “What is the POINT?!”, but, even there, I would look at the weather every day. In Colorado, it’s almost as useless – at least in the springtime when it can be sunny, rainy and snowy in a single afternoon.
I will say, whenever I want to bitch about the weather DURING a race, I always tell myself “It’s the same conditions for everyone.”
Hope that it is an awesome pre-race week for you AND race!
Oh funny. So was he asking what was the point there because there was little fluctuation? Do you feel like you’ve adjusted to experiencing all the seasons in one day in CO?!
You have the right attitude during the race! (the weird part is that some people somehow excel in high heat. Mysterious 😉 )
Thank you!!!
Yes, his point was – the weather is always 70 degrees… Which it was NOT! But, it didn’t fluctuate too much. And, no, I have not adjusted to the weather in Colorado. It is crazy!
As for the heat – I will say that I’ll take a hot day for a triathlon (within reason; 90s but not 100 – ugh!) over a cold one because I have SUCH a hard time warming up on the bike and it just sucks all of my energy out. On the topic of racing in the heat, I know a lot of people who *really really* want to get to Kona for IM. I have absolutely zero desire to ever race in Kona. I’d love to go spectate, but the heat, the humidity and the winds would just kill me. I’m okay admitting that too!
Ha ha ha. So, like a range of 60-80, maybe? I wonder if you will ever adjust to CO!
What is your ideal bike temp? Or tri temp? It’s so conflicting, cause I’d think you’d want the warm for the swim (or maybe it doesn’t matter as much with the wetsuit), and for the bike, but man, that run. But I guess you train to run in that heat. And not 90/100, like you said.
That blows my mind that Kona is so challenging. Especially with the winds (which were mentioned in our fave book – How Bad Do You Want It?!)
Oh man, nothing–NOTHING–makes me ragey-er during the week of the Chicago Marathon than people constantly freaking out over the weather. You can’t do anything about it, the forecast is almost certainly wrong, and for goodness sake, didn’t you just train through an ENTIRE SUMMER for this race?? How many times have you run in the heat over the past four months?? Last year, there were people asking the race on its Facebook page to push it back a week (*explodes*) because of “predicted hot temperatures.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Man, it still makes me ragey, and it’s been almost an entire year. Hahaha. I’m already getting annoyed at people in my running group for posting to the group’s page about how there’s “a xx% chance of thunderstorms when we’re scheduled to run on Saturday,” as if that is all reliable. It’s going to be a long four and a half months, haha.
Anyway, I hope you have a fantastic race, and that the weather is good for racing regardless of how often you do or do not check the forecast 🙂 And that you enjoy yourself regardless of how good the weather ends up being!
WHAT. People actually asked them to push the race back?! LOL. Gawd. Yep, you train through our oddball summers and hope for the best but know with Chicago that there is a chance it’ll be 80.
That would make me NUTS in the group page seeing all the weather talk so early. I would get worked up too. Weather just IS.
Thanks! I mostly enjoyed the race and we had good weather!