November - Crunch Month

[El Gordo]

So at the moment I'm going through a kind of taper madness, fretting over things like which technique to use (proper race-walk, which is perhaps a little too fast for the distance - or a hybrid, which I can better control the speed of but is less efficient); whether or not to carry a water belt (I think not; it's just too uncomfortable with the hip-swinging of race walking); what kind of breakfast I should have and when to eat it; how I'm going to sleep the night before; whether to carry gels; where I'm going to park on the day etc etc. The usual stuff, but more so because it's going to be a tough day. I have visions of having to do a Seafront Plodder-style "stop and re-examine the reasons I'm doing this" at some nasty stage of the race... of which there'll be a few.

Don't know if things are different over there, but here, I would NEVER carry water with me in a race, as organisers are usually very sensible about providing enough drink stations.

Re sleep -- the Hal Higdon wisdom is that sleep the night before the night before is more important as you're bound to never get your 8 hours the night before the race. Anticipation, early morning travel, that sort of thing.

Breakfast is a personal thing. I never have dairy products the morning of a race. The classic runner's pre-race breakfast would be something like dry toast and honey, and banana, and black coffee. That said, some people can have a full fry-up and get round. I suspect Nigel is in that category.

Gels, or at least a few boiled sweets, are useful. I always wear a cap. I usually make a list of things I need to take, which will include (for post-race) towel and change of shoes/shirt.

Get all your kit laid out the night before to avoid any early morning panics. Make sure you pin your number on the night before too.

Finally, watch out for the dreaded chafing of the nipples and thighs. Stick a couple of plasters (not sure where Aussies stand on the plaster v BandAid terminology debate) on your nipples, and either wear some lycra undershorts as I do, or smear those muscley thighs with Vaseline.

Er, probably various things I've forgotten, but that should help.

All that's left is to say, "Damn good luck old chap". Enjoy the post-race beer, and tell us all about it. Look forward to the report.