Newton Half Race Plan: Bring Home the Bacon!

It has been suggested to me that one way to improve my performance during a race is to have a “race plan”—a strategy for how to warm up, what your pace should be at various points in the race, and what your nutrition and fluid intake should be like. Since I have only two paces (running and walking) and already know I will stop at every possible water stop, my plan for the Newton Half Marathon this weekend is simple: to burn enough calories to accommodate the bacon I will eat at our post-race brunch.

You see, I love bacon. I love its smell, its crispy texture, and the greasy feel it leaves in your mouth. I normally try to eat healthy, but part of why I work out is so that I can enjoy food and not worry too much about the calories. So when I race or even just complete a long workout, I like to reward myself with something delicious. During marathon training, on one particular long run, I spent an entire mile fantasizing with a friend about what we would eat after we finished the marathon (I wanted a steak but had to settle for matzah thanks to the Jewish holiday calendar). After another long run, I ordered chocolate cake at dinner and announced to my friends that if they wanted any dessert, they better order their own, because I wasn’t sharing. Luckily, for this weekend, the fabulous Laura Van Orden Rudberg has promised to have my bacon hot and crispy ready and waiting for me when I finish the race.

I will, however, need to think carefully about my nutrition over the next few days in order to make it to the point where I get to eat bacon. Because I am fairly new to endurance sports, my metabolism is not very efficient, and I frequently run out of fuel before the end of a race. So I’ve been trying to plan my food for the weekend carefully. Friday night, I am meeting some of my PMC friends for dinner, which will be perfect, because if you can count on anyone to help you take in a lot of calories, it’s distance cyclists (in fact, one of my favorite parts about the PMC is housing nachos at the hotel on Saturday after riding 110 miles). I’ll probably have a little red wine as well since it’s good for your heart. Saturday will be all about the simple carbs: bagels, pasta, bread, crackers—and maybe a bit of cheese to balance it out and build bone strength. I learned the hard way that downing cupcakes is not the best idea the day before a race, as the sugar gets burned up too quickly, but I may pick up one to eat after the race.

My standard pre-race meal is a bagel with cream cheese and banana, then a Gu 15 minutes into the race and additional ones at :50 and 1:40. I’m thinking Chocolate Outrage for the first Gu, since that is caffeinated, Strawberry-Banana for the second, and Mint Chocolate for the final one. I find it important to vary my Gu flavors so I don’t get too sick of them. I’ve also packed my Fluid powder to make a post-race recovery drink—I think a scoop of that will taste great in my mimosa.

So that is my race plan: carbs, water, pop in some tunes, put on a smile, and dream about bacon for 13.1 miles.