Final Preparations and Strategies for my First Marathon

I'm blogging my preparations and strategies so that I don't forget anything. Also because I'm so excited and anxious at the same time. Months of preparations and years of dreaming, and this is it. Only one more week until QCIM!

This week ...

1. Eat properly. Don't eat anything that will upset my stomach or make me gain weight. That means no dairy, minimize fatty foods, don't eat too much rice until carbo-loading time.
2. Monday, 45 minute easy run
3. Starting Thursday evening, carbo-load and hydrate with Gatorade.
4. Thursday, 45 minute easy run. This will be my last run before the marathon.
5. Saturday, stay off my feet as much as possible. Watch Spirit of the Marathon again. Re-read final chapters of Galloway's Marathon: You Can Do It and Whitsett's Non-runner's Marathon Trainer.
6. Saturday evening, drink one capsule of Celebrex. Prepare my gear. Sleep by 9pm.
7. Race morning. Wake up by 2am. Eat a banana and granola bar. Drink a glass of Gatorade.

These are my gear during the race:

1. New Balance visor
2. Spyder shades
3. Bandana
4. My orange Nike running shirt
5. Wrist band
6. Equippe sports boxers
7. Nike running tights
8. New Balance running socks
9. Nike LunarGlide+ 2
10. SofSole Arch Insoles
11. Garmin FR305 (tape the speaker holes; the moisture that seeps in probably causes it to shut down)
12. Timex Ironman watch (backup in case the Garmin shuts down)
13. Cellphone
14. iPod Shuffle
15. Gymboss interval timer
16. Nathan Hydration belt, 3 flasks with Gatorade and 1 flask with water for pouring over my head. It will also carry my granola and chocolate bars, sport beans, cellphone, iPod, interval timer, bandana, liniment spray, money and tissue paper.

For support, I asked my eldest son to pace me in the last 10K. He'll probably be waiting for me somewhere in UP. I also asked my father and youngest son to wait for me near the Oblation in UP. I'll be passing this area several times in the last 10K. They will be there with my extra pair of shoes (New Balance 870) and socks, a cooler with ice, cold water and gatorade, cold and wet face towel, bananas, granola bars, and liniment, Ibuprofen and Celebrex in case I need them. And a camera.

My strategy ...

• Just finish the Marathon. No time goals. Don't even worry about the cutoff.
• Use a 2:1 run/walk ratio. Start with a 1 min run:30 sec walk. If it gets really hard, I'll make it a 30 sec run:15 sec walk. If it gets extremely hard, I'll take more walk breaks.
• Line up at the back and start slow. Conserve energy.
• If I feel strong in the last 10K, I'll reduce the walk breaks. If I'm up to it, I'll eliminate the walk breaks in the last 2K.
• Break up the race into smaller segments/goals - Oblation (we'll pass this several times), Tandang Sora, Ever, Batasan, Rotunda, La Mesa Dam Gate, turn around point; and then the reverse.
• Eat at 45 minutes and every hour thereafter.
• Sip every 20 minutes
• Start pouring water over my head at each water station after sunrise. Or earlier, if I already feel warm.
• If it's too far in between water stations, or if the water stations are already dismantled or out of water, use the gasoline stations along the route.
• Pray.

Good luck to all the runners joining QCIM! Especially to my wife who's doing her first half-marathon. We can do it!