I’m turning over a new leaf in regards to my health and have pledged to run the Dinosaur Valley Half Marathon. Every two weeks I’ll write about my training and what I’ve learned.
This weekend is my first test. I’m participating in this year’s Drumheller Triathlon as part of a three-person team. I’ll be finishing the race in the 5 kilometre run section.
I’ve been at the point where I can run 5 kilometres, without walking, for the past several weeks (probably one of the first times in my life I could do so).
I asked Morgan Syvertsen, the organizer of the triathlon, what to do in the week preceeding the race.
“The last week before any kind of race, you need to taper off whatever training distance you’re doing by 40 per cent. You should’ve peaked about a week before. The rest of the week you should be just maintaining things,” said Syvertsen.
“Focus on getting a good sleep, hydrate, and carb-load with lots of pasta dinners, so come the race, you’re fueled up and ready to go. It’s really easy to overtrain and get burnt out.”
I’m not exactly the Flash, but I hope to post a time around 28 minutes in the race, which is a little faster than I have been running so far.
I’ve also been working on my form over the past couple weeks and Syvertsen has some advice.
“After the last time we spoke, I wanted to share a little acronym I use when running called SELF. It helps assess how your run is doing,” said Syvertsen.
“The S stands for smooth, in that you don’t want to be bobbing up and down as you run. The E is for easy. You shouldn’t be going at a hard, stressful pace. The L stands for light, which means you want to run lightly, landing on your toes or whole foot. The F is for fast. When I’m out running, I ask myself if I’m going smooth? Is the run easy? Am I landing on my feet right? Am I going fast? It helps me out.”
Registration for the triathlon starts at 8 a.m. at the Drumheller Aquaplex on Saturday, June 8, with the race soon after. Come cheer and good luck to all the participants!
