I’ve seen people take the resort towels, which is not okay. Just bring an old one from home. It’s never bad to have a towel pre-race, anyway. (And if you have your towel, people will assume you have everything you need....)
Related to the SAFD question, I had a question about piece of advise I saw on the NY Marathon and wondered if anyone had tried it at Disney.
The advise was to bring something inflatable to sit and relax on while waiting. At NY the pre corral area at Disney is a lot more spread out and you have more time in it. People were talking about bringing inflatable rafts to lay on them while they waited. I don't think you'd have room in a Disney corral for a raft, but has anyone brought a small inflatable seat cushion to sit on while waiting in the corrals?
I have not done anything inflatable, but I have done a blanket. My husband and I looked ridiculous this past January when it was so warm, carrying blankets to the bus, but it was nice to sit on something a little softer than the ground. Also, a lot easier than an inflatable to carry about. I'm a person that is going to the corrals as soon as they open, so I get a little more time to sit than someone who waits until the last second to hop in.
I have taken a small towel to the corral—just something big enough to keep from sitting on the cold ground (and to protect my race costume from snags and dirt).
Unfortunately I don’t know anything about the Orlando store. We drive so I bring them with us. The store here in DC does stock them year round so maybe it’s a regular item.
One option might be to buy a couple of yards of fleece at a fabric store. It’s usually on sale by January, and many stores—like Joanne’s—usually have a coupon you can apply.
One option might be to buy a couple of yards of fleece at a fabric store. It’s usually on sale by January, and many stores—like Joanne’s—usually have a coupon you can apply.
I agree. It took me less time to recover from all the Dopey soreness than it did from a local half marathon in which I did not go to the parks after the race. I was no longer sore from Dopey by the Wednesday after the marathon. Now at the same time, I tour the parks very differently before races. No long lines no matter how much I love the ride in question, frequent and lengthy sit breaks if I need to, and an early night.
Again, though each runner needs to learn what works best for them.
I've received so much good advice regarding running that it's very difficult to narrow it down to a single best piece, so here's mine in no particular
5. Don't count the miles and learn the Jedi mind tricks needed to distract your brain. I found that long runs were much less difficult when I stopped counting miles. Or as the Star Tours luggage droid says "clear the thought, clear the bag." When a mile marker came, I would acknowledge it and move on.
I read somewhere that you can wear old clothes that you're planning to donate to goodwill over your race gear and discard the outer layers just before the race starts. If this is the case, two layers of track suits/PJs should provide warmth as well as cushioning.
For those who have done this, are there donation bins set up in the corrals?
I read somewhere that you can wear old clothes that you're planning to donate to goodwill over your race gear and discard the outer layers just before the race starts. If this is the case, two layers of track suits/PJs should provide warmth as well as cushioning.
For those who have done this, are there donation bins set up in the corrals?
I don’t think I’ve seen actual bins (but maybe that’s new?) - but I think volunteers come and pick up the items that were tossed near the corrals after the runners are all off.
I don’t think I’ve seen actual bins (but maybe that’s new?) - but I think volunteers come and pick up the items that were tossed near the corrals after the runners are all off.
Thanks. So, hang near the sides and toss the clothes over the fence/into the bushes? Just to be sure the discarded clothes won't trip over another runner.
Thanks. So, hang near the sides and toss the clothes over the fence/into the bushes? Just to be sure the discarded clothes won't trip over another runner.
Exactly. If it’s too chilly to discard at the start, you can also toss off to the side partway in, and I believe items also get picked up along the course.
Do you have a mantra? Something positive you can say to yourself. I read somewhere for them to be effective that you want them to be positive affirmation. So "I can do this" is better than "I won't give up".
Exactly. If it’s too chilly to discard at the start, you can also toss off to the side partway in, and I believe items also get picked up along the course.
Yup. They pickup the clothes dropped along the course and donate them. I usually have a pile of stuff that I'm planning on donating to goodwill and I bring a bunch of it to keep warm in the corrals. I augment that with stuff from the local thrift store. Fleece Pajamas work well as do thick bathrobes. If you wear pajama or sweatpants you want to make sure that you can get them off easily so you might want to slit the bottoms up a little so you can get them off without taking off your shoes.
If you wear pajama or sweatpants you want to make sure that you can get them off easily so you might want to slit the bottoms up a little so you can get them off without taking off your shoes.
Do you have a mantra? Something positive you can say to yourself. I read somewhere for them to be effective that you want them to be positive affirmation. So "I can do this" is better than "I won't give up".
I think all of my mind tricks stem from one central principle. I'm a firm believer in the Psychobiological Model of Endurance by Samuele Marcora. Boiled down into a very simplistic explanation.
-You are guided by a motivation to complete a task.
-When you are in the process of completing a task you are giving a certain and perceived effort.
-If you lose motivation for completing a task your perception of effort increases. Such that the task becomes no more physically difficult than it was, but rather with the loss of motivation it feels harder.
To overcome this, you must remain motivated to completing the task and stay positive. So I do everything in my power to avoid negative thoughts when in the middle of a race. Some common things that come up mentally that may or may not lead to negative thoughts:
-I'm off pace. To solve this one, consider racing blind by effort alone instead. It's important to train this way in some manners before trying to use it in racing.
-I only ran X distance in training and I just passed that mile marker. So everything I do from here until the end of the race is new territory. To solve this one, instead of using X as a means to say I've never done this distance before. Consider instead thinking of the total race distance - X and then start counting from there. For instance, your longest training run for a 26.2 mile race is 15 miles. Instead of counting up the miles from 1 to 15, and realizing that 16 is a new mile. Try starting the count from mile 11 instead. Miles 0-11 are just the WU. Consider now that you are fully rested and tapered unlike in training. So once you reach mile 11, it's really like reaching mile 0 of your 15 mile training run. You've done that before, so now just do it again. Alternatively break the race up into chunks like 4 x 6.5 miles or 6 x 4.5 miles.
-Avoid thinking about training choices mid-race. Don't dwell on pre-race injuries or sickness or an inability to complete your training 100%. Leave the reassessing of training strategies until after the race is over.
-Also, avoid thinking about any bad choices during the race. Immediately regret not taking in more water at the last aid station? Don't dwell on it. Try to be like negativity teflon. Nothing that happens to you on course is something to think negatively about. Think about all the postive reasons you initially chose as a reason to do this race.
The goal is to try and stay mentally positive and motivated.
Longer explantation of Psychobiological Model:
Psychobiological Model: The desire, the motivation, and the ability to block it out!
Alright, so we've got our speed cap (VO2max), our pace before we crash (Lactate Threshold), and our ability to hold the pace prior to crashing (Running Economy), but what happens after the crash begins. Well, I think the Psychobiological model of endurance running can help explain that:
The Psychobiological model is an effort-based decision model based on motivational intensity theory. The model states there are five factors that primarily determine regulation of pacing.
1) Perception of effort
2) Potential motivation
3) Knowledge of distance/time to cover
4) Knowledge of distance/time remaining
5) Previous experience/memory of perception of effort during exercise of varying intensity and duration
The potential motivation is defined, as the maximum effort a person is willing to exert to meet a certain task. The motivational intensity is the amount of effort that people actually expend to meet that task. The combination of these two ideas into the Motivational Intensity Theory creates the framework for why an individual will continue in a task: either the level of potential motivation hasn’t been reached or the task is still viewed as possible. A person will disengage from the task when either the perception of effort outweighs the potential motivation or the person believes they are physically unable to maintain the task (believed to maxed effort).
So what does this mean? Well we can have two people with the same LT pace. They can have equivalent economy and equivalent VO2max and yet they STILL might not finish at the same pace. Why? Because one is more WILLING to tolerate the pain/level of fatigue they're feeling. They might both be at a lactate concentration of 3.5 mmol/L (normal is around 1.0) and yet runner A might have a higher motivational reason for running and thus is willing to tolerate the feeling of 3.5 mmol/L of fatigue by products more so than runner B. Runner A keeps maintaining pace and Runner B succumbs to the feeling of fatigue and slows down.
So can we train our bodies to become more resistant to the feeling of fatigue? Can we alter our perception of effort and thus maintain this higher pain threshold? Yes, you can.
Dampeners of Perception of Effort (Factor 1)
Music
Essentially, it has been shown in many studies that by having music that is enjoyed, self-selected, and has a high bpm the overall perception of effort is decreased. This decreased perception of effort was connected with increased ability when used during races below the anaerobic threshold. I believe this is because in a 5K the physical limitations are what they are and the dampening of effort is ineffective. However, prior to a 5K using amping up music works by raising self confidence and HR. So pump up the jams and you'll reduce your perception of effort. You can run faster listening to music you like that has a high beats per minute.
Caffeine
Apparently an antagonist of adenosine which has a significant number of receptors in the brain that are responsible for sleep, memory, learning and cognition. Since caffeine occupies these receptors without actually activating them it is hypothesized that the perception of effort during endurance events is dampened and performance increases. An 11.2% improvement in performance was seen with a decreased perception of effort by using caffeine during running.
Self Talk
When one repeats positive messages to themselves its been shown to improve a test to exhaustion by almost 17%. So keep reminding yourself when you're running how awesome you're doing. Keep blocking out those negative thoughts. This is the main reason I race blind. I like to keep everything positive and I know from my personal experience that if I have GPS feedback on HR or pace that I'll freak out and start to have negative thoughts. By running blind I withhold that information from myself and thus keep those positive thoughts flowing.
Amplifiers of Perception of Effort (Factor 1)
Mental Fatigue
A study was conducted on cyclists that had to perform one of two simple tests. For a period of time prior to cycling the subjects had to state the color of the word. In group A, the color of the word matched the actual word (Word Blue was written in Blue ink), whereas the second group the word blue did not necessarily appear in the color blue. The second group was more mentally challenging, but in the grand scheme of mental tasks was not overly difficult. While the rate at which perception of effort increased equally, the starting point was significantly higher in the group who had to complete the “harder” mental task even though that task had no additional physical component. The harder mental task caused a decrease in performance by about 4% from the easier mental task. It is hypothesized that this harder mental task works in the same area of the brain as adenosine, which might explain the possible increase in perception of effort.
There was also another study similar to this one that put elites against normal cyclists. The small twist was adding in if the word was "red" it always had the answer of red regardless of the color of the word. So, it was like a third variable thrown at the cyclists. The elites were able to answer more words correctly, do it faster, and then afterwards had little to no difference between the easy task and hard task on its affect of a ride to exhaustion. Yet the normal person was slower on these tasks, got more wrong, and showed a large difference in how they responded on the cycle to exhaustion with after the easy task they performed better than after the hard task. So not only were the elite cyclists better cyclists, but they showed the ability to handle mental fatigue better than the normal cyclists.
So what does it mean for me and how can I use this information?
You can potentially decrease the perception of effort by:
-Listening to music you enjoy, makes you happy, and has a higher bpm.
-Use caffeine during exercise (I won’t do this one because caffeine gives me a headache).
-During the entire event use positive thinking. Consistently tell yourself how awesome you are and how awesome you are doing. If a negative thought comes in your head “Why did I sign up for this?” try to counter balance it with positive thoughts. Remember why you signed up for this. Remember how proud you are making someone in your life. Remember that you are rocking this!
-Reduce the amount of things you are thinking about prior to and during running. Set out your clothes in advance. Plan your driving route. Reduce your mental gymnastics by pre-planning as much as possible.
What about the other factors? Potential Motivation
-One of my biggest motivators is trying to beat others. But something I’ve found for myself is this is self-dampened when there is a staggered start. It’s hard to know whether the person passing you is actually beating you or not because maybe they started ahead of you or behind you. But in a single start race it’s more likely when someone passes you they are actually head of you time wise as well. Are you going for that BQ? Are you going for a new PR? Do you have another race in three weeks and you're wiling to bag this one when it's not going well (a loss in motivation)?
Knowledge of Distance/Time to cover (Factor 3)
-This is hard to manipulate in an actual race because in almost all scenarios you usually know the duration/distance that is going to be covered.
Knowledge of Distance/Time remaining (Factor 4)
-I believe in running by effort and thus ignoring how you’ve been performing. I feel like in the past I have been overly negative during running when a mile split comes in at an unexpected slower pace. In this negative loop this causes me to start thinking about alternative finishing times. Then your goals start to slip away and your motivation wains. Without your motivation your perception of effort increases and makes everything feel harder than it would have been. As you can see I feel these are all connected in a cascade of events. To combat this, I ignore how I’ve been doing and just keep positive thoughts telling myself that I’m crushing it.
Previous experience/memory of perception of effort during exercise of varying intensity and duration (Factor 5)
-This one is physical and mental in my opinion. I believe this is where the training aspect of running comes in physically. The fitter you get the easier something feels. What was once tough is easier because your level of perception of effort has changed for that level of fitness.
-I follow this by trying to memorize what every run feels like. What does an easy run feel like? What does a marathon tempo feel like? What does a long run feel like? What does a full sprint feel like?
-Once you get to race day keep reminding yourself that this race is actually easier then some of your training runs. Keep telling yourself this is not that bad compared to that one training run you did.
I have seen clothing bins before, but I don't remember what year it was and whether they were still doing it. They had a clothing symbol on them and looked a little different than trash cans. But worst comes to worst, just throw it over the edge of the corral out of the walking space and you should be good to go.
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Uh huh. Quick-release pants. 
