Lead Up: The Waiting Game
When training for a big event, our minds tend to go straight to all the things we’ll have to manage on the big day, but there is a lot to consider in the lead up. I’ll walk you through our experience and some things we learned that were helpful and some things that we might change next time.
First, is the taper in training. This is a pretty weird period because we were up to 60 miles a week, which meant pretty long runs nearly every day, but during the taper period, we were back down to doing 5 miles a day, a long run of only 12 miles, and then in the week before our rim to rim to rim run, it was only a couple 4-5 milers and a couple 30 min bouts. That feels like nothing when leading up to that all your energy is focused on how to add huge volume all the time.
In this period you get kind of antsy and bored. Your body is aching to go more miles and also asking for more fuel. One of the things that happens over the course of training is that you crave more carbs and during those taper weeks, that craving doesn’t really go away, but your mileage is cut down so drastically, it’s not great to just pile on the carbs. I decided that I don’t want to put on a bunch of weight in that period, so as my mileage cuts down I’ll try to supplement with more weight training. I think this was a good choice and something I would do again. When you’re at the peak volume period of your running, it’s tough to find enough time to also do enough weight training, so this taper period is a good chance to fit that back in. You just want to be sure that you don’t overdo it, especially on your legs.
The next thing we had to contend with was travel. We’re all from different parts of the US and so we all flew to Phoenix around the same time on Thursday, met up and grabbed a rental car, drove to Flagstaff to get food and supplies at the grocery store and then made the final drive to the Maswik Lodge at the Grand Canyon Village on the south rim. That is a lot of sitting two days before the run, and for me personally, I tend to get some swelling in my legs when I fly despite my best efforts to stay hydrated.
To counter that, the focus was to get moving as soon as we could. We got to the lodge at around 7:30pm, and it was dark so a nice sunset sightseeing session wasn’t in the picture, but we still unpacked and walked around the village a bit to find some dinner. Getting out and moving our legs felt great and was essential to start loosening up. We did not, however, get a shakeout run that evening, but did go for a quick 30 minutes the next morning and were able to see an amazing sunrise while doing so.
The shakeout run is key. It was so helpful to get the legs moving and rejuvenated after the long travel the day before and was also a good way to get acclimated to the elevation. I live just north of Austin, TX, which is at about 1,000 ft altitude, and the south rim of the Grand Canyon is at around 7,000 ft. The bottom of the canyon at the river is at around 2,200 ft, which is not too bad, but the altitude makes a real difference when running. I did a couple of my training runs while on vacation in Angel Fire, NM while at 9,000 ft and I’ll tell you that my legs felt like I was wearing ankle weights the entire time. It’s rough if you’re not used to it.
Getting out for a shakeout, walking around the village for a day and getting in some light work to acclimate really helped me out on Saturday during our run. One other key thing to remember, however, is not to overdo it. With a whole day to puts around the village, it’s easy to walk a lot and put too much tax on your legs. Definitely take it easy, spend time relaxing and planning for the big day. We spent plenty of time just hanging out on the balcony of our rooms, getting our legs up, drinking fluids and talking game plan for the run. That was great and something I highly recommend.
Now, let’s talk food, everyone’s favorite subject.
Evan and Vijay have done a couple Ironmans (each have done a half and a full, which is super badass), so they had gone through this type of pre-race period seriously before. Evan had sent out a good article (linked here) that takes you through how to consider your nutrition in the week leading up to a big race. We all basically followed this path which meant stopping eating raw fruits and vegetables a couple days out, tipping your macro mix toward carbs vs. proteins and fats, but keeping your total calorie consumption steady and really focusing on your hydration.
Then we got to Friday, the day before the run. This was the most interesting to manage.
The day before is essentially an extension of the fueling routine for the morning of your run. There are a couple key things to consider. First, you want to ensure your body has sufficient glycogen stores so doing a bit of carb loading is good, and also you want to ensure your digestion is set up to go on game day and you don’t find yourself constantly needing to use the restroom along the way.
We were planning to be up at 2:30am for a 3:30am start time on Saturday so we could have plenty of time to eat, stretch, gear up and, let’s just say, ensure our digestion was in a good place. Being up this early meant that we had to carefully plan our meal consumption the day prior (Friday) so that we could be properly fueled and get our bodies ready by 3:30am, which is a lot earlier than your natural timeline for those pre-workout activities. It was easier for Scott and me, coming from the DC and Austin, but still deserved care.
So in the morning on Friday we chose to have a really big breakfast that was full of carbs. We made a reservation at the El Tovar Hotel, which has a killer breakfast menu paired with greatly views of the canyon. For breakfast I had a massive waffle with all the toppings, half an avocado toast and a fried egg. It’s important to still get some protein in there and not just go all carbs, but definitely don’t want to overdo it. The food was amazing. I still dream about that waffle.
By lunchtime, we were all still pretty full, so we went for something a little simpler and just grabbed turkey sandwiches at the Maswik lodge cafeteria. Add in a banana, and this was a good amount of food, but starting to taper down. We were careful not to get the raw fruits and veg on our sandwiches to avoid adding too much fiber, so that our digestive tract would not overwork and be a nuisance on the big day.
For dinner, we had reservations at the Arizona Steakhouse…at 4:30pm. We showed up with the early bird crowd, though our goal was to eat early enough that we could basically get in a light meal and then get back to the hotel and get to bed as early as we could. For dinner we shared a couple plates of vegan pesto pasta, which was delicious, at the table bread and shared the bison prime rib steak between the four of us. We were trying to go light and be sure we got enough carbs in there. We normally wouldn’t have gone for steak, but hell, we were at a steakhouse. The key was that each of us only at a couple ounces, so it wasn’t a lot for our bodies to contend with, which was the goal of the meal. Get some nutrition in early so our bodies would have plenty of time to digest for a very early start.
Finally, I should mention hydration. We were religious through the days leading up to the run about staying hydrated. We were switching between water and electrolyte mixes like Liquid IV or Nuun, with a bias to water. We were constantly monitoring the color of our urine to ensure we were going to be properly hydrated. This was a very important step that should be part of everyone’s prep and is especially essential when it’s going to be 100° during the run. I was expecting to sweat a ton while out there so I wanted to be as ready as I could. . s electorlo
To summarize this lead up period, you need to lock in your plan for the day of your run and work backwards to ensure your body will be ready to go in all areas. Consider your travel, acclimation to the location and elevation, the weather, the time you expect the run/hike to take, when you want to start, how you will fuel, etc, and ensure you are prepared for each of those factors.