Get to the Starting Line

From the reading I've been doing and the conversations I've had with experienced distance runners, now that the clock is ticking down from two weeks until race day, my primary goal should be to stay healthy and uninjured so I can make it to the starting line. Some runners get sick or injured during the last couple of weeks, due to a weakened immune system and\or excessive last-minute training. Mike and Don's column in last week's Herald really reinforced this. As they put it, "there are lots of ways to screw things up." So, while trying not to be excessively paranoid, I'm definately taking what I've learned seriously and am exercising caution by doing the following:

• Taking 2 full rest days (days with no signficant exercise) a week. Those who know me realize what a big step this is!
• Listening to my body more than usual. For example, I've been feeling really fatigued the past few days so I've been trying to get more sleep. Today I passed on my usual 6:15 AM "Body Pump" class at Energia so I could sleep in and take one of those rest days I promised myself. And yesterday I was feeling really sluggish on my run, so I gave myself permission to just take it really easy and slow and not worry about my pace.
• Doing more hand washing and antibacterial wiping than I normally do.
• Eating well (smaller, more frequent, healthy meals, with as few sweet treats as possible)
• Tapering the length of my runs down (I only run 3-4 days a week so I don't intend to decrease the number of runs, though I may decrease my other workouts)
• Drinking lots of Emergen-C and AirBorne.
• Stretching after EVERY run, even if I'm short on time.
  

I realize that sometimes unexpected things happen that are out of our control, but I'm hoping my efforts will pay off and I'll be at that 21-miler starting line on April 29, feeling healthy, strong and ready.