Whenever I'm planning a big trip - a weekend away with the boys golfing, a family vacation, whatever - I always spend some significant time preparing a list of what I'll need to bring in my mind. Part of it is that I like to make sure I don't forget anything. But the anticipation and planning is part of the enjoyment: I like to look forward to things.
With that in mind, I've been going over the various things I think I'll need for a successful race. Because I've done other races, I have a routine for meals and hydration in the morning: fruit and cottage cheese with a little bit of granola (just like every day), toast with peanut butter and jam, 600 ml of water two hours before race time, two boxes of raisins 15 minutes before race time and Gatorade if I'm thirsty.
The two elements of any race that change, however, are clothes and music. Not since high school have these things taken on such importance. Thankfully, I don't have to think about whether she likes me or not anymore.
For the duathlons, music isn't allowed. It sucks but makes sense, given the biking component. Out on the bike course, you need to be able to hear people coming up behind so you know to get over or hold your line. And while I run with an MP3 player almost exclusively - the only exception is if I'm running with others - I never bike with it. I just don't think it's safe.
But in the running races, it's a different story. For the longest time I trained with a podcast called podrunner, a weekly instrumental house remix put out for free by a guy named dj steve boy. They were great but after a year or so I got bored with them. I also found they weren't as inspiring or uptempo as I like my tunes. I've started assembling various mixes to train with featuring quite the eclectic blend of music.
Lately, much of it has come from a list of the top 100 dance and techno tunes of all time. It's mindless and very up tempo. I've now pared that list of 100 to probably 40 of my favourites. Now I'm busy augmenting that with other favourites. The list includes:
- 4 Weezer Tunes
- 2 Nelly Songs (Hot in Here, Ride Wit Me)
- The Mary Ellen Carter by Stan Rogers
- Night of the Living Baseheads by Public Enemy
- Slow Ride by Foghat
- Cowboy by Kid Rock
- 2 Green Day songs, including a cover of Brown Eyed Girl because it makes me think of my wife who loves Van Morrison
- Apple Bottom Jeans by T-Pain because my eight-year-old is playing it over and over and over and over...
I'm going to reach out to my brothers and a few friends for their suggestions on kick ass running songs as well just so I can go 'Hey, that's so-and-so's tune' during the marathon. I think it's a cool way to carry the people I care about with me on what is otherwise a solo journey.
As for clothes, so much of that will depend on the weather on race day. I have MEC shorts and long tights that fit exactly the same where it counts and an array of long sleeve and t-shirt combinations I wear depending on the temperature. My plan is to buy a cheap headband to cover my ears and thin gloves if it looks cold and to just discard them along the way.
The weather forecast looks dead on the average high of about 9 degrees and sunny with cloudy periods. That could still change of course.
The other interesting element I just realized is that Nov. 2 is the first day without Daylight Savings Time: the clocks go back an hour early that morning. It means two things: the first is an extra hour of precious sleep. The second is the an extra hour of sun: the race starts at 8:30 a.m. but it will be 9:30 DST - it should be a bit warmer and brighter. It also means that a bunch of people will be there an hour early...
