I am so excited it’s Wednesday! Two days left of work before we pack up and leave for Chicago. Over the years it has become one of my favorite cities to travel to; that and the fact that this might be our last time at this marathon for a little while. After the baby comes, my husband and I have been doing a lot of talking about sticking with more local and smaller marathons (outside of Boston of course).

It’s just much easier to navigate, costs less, and would be a bit easier to juggle the logistics with a small child. Of course, we will wait and see how things go but I think it might be a good move for us. Plus, my husband really wants to start racing more and we will be taking a big focus on helping him really work his time down to qualify for the Olympic Trials. One step at a time, but I’m really excited for the upcoming changes in our life!

This week is going to be a lot about my husband, so you’ll have to bear with me a little bit. I can’t race right now so it’s fun for me to support, cheer, and help him have his best race yet! We invest a lot in each other’s training and it brings me just as much joy to see him succeed.

Even though it’s not race week for me our house takes on a bit of a different feel when it comes to race week. We have a lot of specific things we try to do and stay away from when we approaching race day.

Food Conscious

Food changes a bit in the week leading up to a race. We both have very sensitive stomachs on race day, so to avoid any issues starting a week before the race food becomes very bland. (I have to say I’m not missing this part one bit right now). We leave off a lot of the sauces, cut out salads and high fiber foods, and stick to the foods that we know our stomachs can handle.

We also try to be more conscious about the foods we are putting in our bodies. Sure, you can indulge some but we try to save that until after the race.  I have to look at it as I’ve worked so hard to get to that point, the last thing I want to do is mess it up with stomach issues.

My husband is actually trying out something a little different this year (well he’s done it in the past but not fully). He’s depleted his body of carbohydrates (Monday-Wednesday) and then will be adding back in carbs up until race day. I’m interested to see how this works!

Less Miles = More TLC/Recovery

The two week taper can be a struggle for many runners. I’ve always enjoyed it because I know that my body needs it to be able to perform its best on race day. For someone like my husband, the taper is pretty significant when he used to running 90+ miles each week. He has a lot more time on his hands.

One of the key things we focus on during race week is proper recovery. That means foam rolling, stretching, and less strength work. It’s time to get your body recovered as fully as possible before you toe the start line. These are the things that many runners often put off during training, but are so important. The extra time from the taper should be the perfect way to help you fit some extra recovery time in.

I’ll be back after Chicago with a post showing one of our new favorite recovery items!

Sleep

It’s no secret that sleep is important; however, sometimes with intense training it often makes it harder to get the sleep we need. You will find that in our house the week before a marathon means earlier bed times (when possible) and cutting out electronics earlier.

I’m not a good example of it at the moment thanks to this wonderful pregnancy sleep issues, but we’ve still been making a point to get to bed earlier to make sure Wes is getting lots of good sleep and letting his body recover the best it can.

Plan = Less Stress

I’m not sure my husband would agree with me on this one, but being that I am much more Type A than he is this one is more for me. Whether you are racing or will be spectating having everything planned and in places makes it less stressful.

We focus really hard on minimizing stress the week before, so for me that means setting a race plan in place, figuring out where I will be spectating, and having all the important documents packed and ready to go. We also like to take a lot of our own foods to have in the hotel (especially for race morning) so I like to get it all bought and ready.

Anything I can do to help alleviate stress as the day gets closer tends to help us both have a more enjoyable and relaxed (as possible) time.

At this stage in the game, after racing or being a spectator for my husband for roughly the past 8-9 years its become a lot easier. We’ve learned to try not to put as much pressure on the race day and remember that part of it is about having fun. These trips are always a lot of fun for us and always hold a lot of special memories.

What is one thing you try to do on race week?