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Running tips
Equipment
From head to toe:
- Hat
- a hat that can go through the washing machine, for when it's cold or rainy.
- Neck gaiter
- cover mouth when it's so cold that breathing hurts.
- Heart rate monitor
- better heart rate sensing for watch.
- Short sleeve or long sleeve technical t-shirt
- many races give these out or sell them.
- Arm warmers
- good to wear with short sleeves when you think you'll warm up.
- Sports watch
- tell you what to do and track progress. I use a Garmin Forerunner 765.
- Gloves for dry weather
- can be thin and mainly protect against wind.
- Gloves for wet weather
- there exist mittens with optional rain covers.
- Jacket
- ideally something that's visible and good in rain.
- Shorts or pants
- over time it becomes more important to have lightweight shorts/pants.
- Gu gels (for longer runs)
- I take one for every ~4-ish miles of running when running 7+ miles.
- House/car keys
- ideally on a separate keyring to make it easy to grab just them.
- Rain pants
- second layer if it's raining pretty heavily.
- Socks
- I don't know much about socks right now.
- Gaiters
- to cover the shoes if it's snowy.
- Road running shoes
- I like Fleet Feet; they can scan your feet to identify types of shoes.
- Trail running shoes
- I like ones with a rock plate, but I don't have much experience.
- Shoe inserts if needed
- I do this per Fleet Feet's recommendation.
I like Brooks Running and started out looking through all their apparel for ideas.
For at home:
- Shoe dryer
- for when the shoes get wet. There exist quiet ones that will dry shoes within a few hours.
- Nuun tablets
- I'll use one of these afterwards when I run 5+ miles.
- Clothes washer/dryer
- it's gonna get a lot of use.
Trail running
When trail running, consider also taking:
- towel
- deodorant
- food to eat afterwards
- skull cap
- coffee cup
Preparing for a race
When researching
- Look at past race results to get a sense of the number of people
Once signed up
If you have a Garmin watch:
- Add the race to Garmin
- Make the course if needed; you can do this via Garmin Connect. If there are multiple loops for the course, consider plotaroute.com's planner. plotaroute makes it easy to repeat a loop.
- Create a PacePro plan
- Ensure the course + PacePro plan are synchronized to the watch
Week before
- Ensure you have experience with the shoes you're going to use
Day before
Gather materials:
- Clothing, e.g. hat
- Double-check start time
- Double-check traffic and time to travel
The morning of
- Fill up a water bottle and add a Nuun tablet. This is for drinking afterwards.
- If driving, when parking think about the race traffic afterwards
Afterwards
- Update any records, e.g. I keep a text file of my race times
- Post to Strava if you want