My First Marathon | Know Before You Go | Race Day Guide

A little comprehensive guide of how I’d prepare for race day.

WEEK BEFORE

Prioritize

1. Sleep (7+ hours) and naps when you can!

2. Hydrate aim for 75-100 fl oz. Basically over hydrate yourself and take electrolytes at least starting 3 days before.

3. Protein. Aim for 30-50 g each meal or 75+ g/day

4. Healthy fats can be upped this week

5. Clean carbs

Make sure you have this taken care of more than 2 days before so you’re not stressing out!

1. Have all race day gear ready and laid out. (Even night before have everything you’re bringing to the race laid out or packed and ready to go so you only have to put on your clothes and go to the start line.)

   1. Make sure you’ve run at least 6-10 miles in your shoes already. Wouldn’t recommend breaking in a new pair of shoes on race day!

   2. If you’re concerned about chaffing anywhere, the recommendation is Vaseline. Although, I’ve been curious about tallow instead.

2. Where you’re going to eat 2 days before and what you’re going to do for your pre race meal/beverage. Ex: have the food/coffee picked out and ready.

3. Parking/getting to the race. Allow plenty of time (2 hours is usually safe) since roads may be blocked off!

1-2 DAYS BEFORE

Prioritize

1. Stay off your feet as much as possible. Sit & rest as much as possible.

2. Foam roll/massage gun if you have that available.

3. Get your morning of the race meal ready. Since you’re waking up early, most places won’t be open yet so make sure you have what you’re going to eat before the race figured out and available for you in your hotel room.

NIGHT BEFORE

1. Eat dinner early! We ate dinner at 4:30 pm and were home by 6 pm at the latest so you have plenty of time to wind down and get to bed early. The earlier the better! Giving yourself ~2 hours before bed time to start digesting food will help you sleep better. I got 8 hours of sleep the night before my marathon and it was a game changer.

2. Eat plenty of protein and carbs and keep hydrating! Feel free to have dessert if it’ll be fine with your stomach.

3. Lay out your marathon gear and make sure everything this is accounted for and packed so you only have to put your clothes on the next day in the morning. May even be a good idea to do this before dinner so you can wind down.

4. Make sure all of your devices are charged!

5. Foam roll and sleep early!

MORNING OF

1. Wake up super early so you have plenty of time. Roads typically begin to close 90 minutes before the race so plan to be at the start before then. Common for people to get there 2+ hours before. Do your warm ups there. For example: My start time was 6:55 am and it was a 10 minute walk from the hotel. I woke up at 4 am to have plenty of time to eat, hydrate, and go to the bathroom and get to the place and have time to warm up and drop off my gear and go to the bathroom, etc.

2. You don’t have to over hydrate morning of since there’s water stations along the course, but I’d have at least 1 water bottle + electrolytes

3. Eat something with at least 60-90 minutes before race start. I ate sourdough bread and honey and cottage cheese. Carbs, little protein, not too much fat. Other great options are some form of bread, honey, banana. White rice is another great option. If you already have a pre run meal that works for you then stick with that.

4. I woke up, rolled out and ate, then went to the bathroom, then had my water bottle + electrolytes on my way to the start line.

DURING THE RACE

1. I hydrated at every water station during the marathon. During shorter races I only do a couple hydration stops but make sure you hydrate if you feel like you need it especially since it’ll be hot! Better to over hydrate than under hydrate.

   1. I’d recommend avoiding the gatorade unless you really need the carbs. But the gatorade sugar usually messes with people! Instead I Highly recommend these SaltStick tablets.

2. I did use the port-a-potties along the route during my race because I was over hydrating and not sweating. I brought a hand sanitizer that I kept in my pocket/fanny pack too.

3. Besides the hand sanitizer I had my fruit snacks/gummy bears and electrolyte tablets from SaltStick I had them every 1.5 miles alternating with my fuel and they really gave me the energy boost I needed.

4. Make sure your bib is completely visible and on your outer most layer (my marathon bib was covered in my layers so it didn’t record my times)

5. Have fun & remember to run YOUR race! Take in all the sights and the energy. Don’t worry about other people’s pace or what they’re doing. If you want to start competing with someone I’d only start to do so when I have 1-2 miles left. Don’t worry about time or pace during your first race because any time you get is a personal best!

My First Marathon | The Fuel

Let’s get into how I prepped my nutrition the week leading up to the race, Race Day, and the post race meal.

In the week leading up to the marathon I upped my carbohydrates and fats and fuel all around. Most importantly I made sure I was hitting my protein goal 100+ grams a day. I also hydrated between 70-100 fl oz of water as much as I could. Especially 2 days before the race.

Two days before I made sure to have a hearty pasta meal and Tex Mex.

The day before I had leftovers in the late morning of that pasta for lunch and then went out again to Italian at 4 pm the night before.

*Super key point is the early dinner! That way you can make sure you’re beginning to digest early enough so you can go to bed early and get a full night’s sleep. I still can’t believe I got a glorious 8 hours!*

Morning of I had my usual pre-long run meal. Sourdough bread, cottage cheese, and honey.

*Key note: I personally like to have some protein before a long run to make sure my muscles will be solid, but protein timing is something that you have to experiment with for your own body because since protein takes so long to digest it can cause stomach issues during your run. I don’t go too heavy with fats before a run for the same reason. But healthy carbs like sourdough and also honey are SOLID options that should work for most everyone*

I had electrolytes probably everyday, especially the 5-7 days prior and morning of before the race. I mostly had LMNT and then SaltSticks during the race.

My intra-race fuel I went with: YumEarth Organic Fruit Snacks. No complaints here! Would highly recommend the fruit snack/gummy bear route, especially if you’re concerned about stomach issues. This was recommended to me last summer when I had first signed up for the marathon because they have similar content to gels. Originally when I signed up for the race I was planning to go the gel route. However, when I got injured I didn’t want to spend the money on gels if I wasn’t going to be able to run the marathon. Next race, I plan to practice with gels beforehand and see how it goes.

Lastly, I want to touch on hydration during the race. I may have overdone it, but I decided to get water at almost every station (which was spaced out every 1.5 miles) after the first 3 miles. I did so because I didn’t want to bonk, but with the cold 17 degrees and brutal wind I wasn’t sure how much I was sweating so I decided to over hydrate than under hydrate. I made sure to not have ANY Gatorade because I’ve heard how much that gives people stomach problems. Highly recommend instead to do electrolytes with SaltSticks instead.

And if you’re curious, first meal after the marathon I had was Texas BBQ. Excellent choice to replenish my protein and I had plenty of calories expended from the race available for the BBQ and sides. 😉

My First Marathon | The Race Day Kit

“Race Day Kit” aka what I wore and the gear I used for the marathon.

Some context: It was 17 degrees on the day of the marathon with brutal wind gusts, but I committed to wearing shorts because I hate running in pants I can feel. I like easy breezy shorts. I ended up never really warming up like I anticipated during the race. But I do wonder if the being numb from the cold helped to distract me from the pain in my legs for 26.2 miles.

Anyways, the gear of marathon day.

First, and potentially most importantly, the shoes. New Balance Fresh Foam X 860 v14 | Women's Stability Running Shoes in Chrome Blue. OBSESSED with these. I had been training in Saucony Guides that I loved and still do. But noticed on my 22.5 mile prep run during training that try feet were killing me during the run and I’ve had friends that say the wrong pair of shoes during the marathon makes a huge difference. So glad I got these in time. They are stability shoes (which I need because I’m very flat footed), but I think there was enough padding in them. They’re not cloud like necessarily, but for me I was extremely pleased with these as my marathon shoe and might hop on the New Balance train for future shoes.

I went with Expntl Athletics Race Day Sports Bra 2.0- Bubblegum which I cannot say enough good things about. Mainly because there’s a hidden phone pocket in the back that was perfect for the marathon. Whenever I ran with a fanny pack and all my gels and phones I’d get a certain back pain so having this phone at my upper back is the best invention ever.

Then I did Expntl Athletics Race Day Short- Bubblegum even though it was 17 degrees out that day. I hate wearing pants to run in and got the advice to wear what I’d be most comfortable to run in which is always shorts. Anyways, loved these shorts because they were light weight, easy, breezy, and had 3 pockets for my fruit snacks which was nice so I didn’t have to put everything in my running pack.

Because it was 17 degrees I needed to wear base layers for which I went with the Lululemon Swiftly Tech Long-Sleeve Shirt 2.0 Waist Length and Lululemon Women's Cross Chill Performance Jacket. Both were excellent. Lululemon is definitely reliable and a good high performance option to fall back on and have available.

Socks I went with were Balega Silver No Show Tab. I personally like a ton of padding in my socks especially with 26.2 miles on foot. For my long runs I almost always go with Balega, but went with these silver ones because they are a next level up from their Hidden Comfort socks and I trusted they’d help with preventing blisters and chaffing.

Then got the rest of my kit from Amazon including my Running Belt Fanny Pack and then for my throwaway options I went with the cheapest Hanes Crew Neck and Sweatpants I could find on Amazon. I’d also recommend making sure you have disposable gloves as well if it’s gonna be cold.

And lastly, of course, the hat was a Trotter Alter Ego Running hat. Use MMARTIN10 for a discount. ☺️

Things I would do different would be having disposable hand warmers, possibly a true Flip Belt, and possibly different headphones. Love my Air Pod Pros but they lost battery the last mile. I’m curious about Shokz.

Otherwise, loved my race day gear and would wear pretty much all of it again. Especially the shoes, sports bra and shorts, and Alter Ego Running hat. Overall, to quote Corey Smith: “If I could do it again, I’d do it the same.”