Nerves - Let's Get Them All Out!

[Neoflynn]

My method is called the Pac-Man. I line up at the start with others of similar goals (usually via a pacer). Then when the race starts, I intentionally make sure I am slower than them. I let my little ghosts go about their little ways. When I hit about mile 10 is when I chomp down on my Pac-Man "power pellet" and it's time to go get me some ghosts. My goal then is to seek and find the ghosts that got away from me in the beginning and chomp-chomp-chomp.

My rationale is that most people tend to start too fast at the beginning. If I line up with people of similar goals, then my assumption is as long as I am going slower than them at the beginning then I'm right where I need to be.

I love this idea, I wont be using it for the marathon as my goal there is to just finish so I will try to be as consistent as I can the whole time not knowing exactly how I'm going to respond after the 20 mile mark (my longest training run). But my next half I'm totally doing this, I have done something similar in my other races when ive been feeling good where Ill pick someone just ahead of me and try to run them down and then move on to the next one and so one until the finish

 

[Patsydust]

I have to admit I am getting kinda nervous for Star Wars in April...gotta start running again, ha ha. Although, I am not as nervous as I was for my Princess Half this past year. It was my first half and I was terrified. Those Balloon ladies were gonna crawl out from under my bed and eat me! I had never ran a big race before so I didn't have a time to submit, so I was in one of the last corrals! So close to balloon ladies! Turns out I didn't have much to worry about. Really appreciated the 6 minute lag time between corrals. My training paid off and it turned out to not be as scary as I thought. Just gotta keep on going! Good luck to all the runners in January!

 

[Baloo in MI]

Wise words. I just had an epic crash-n-burn (and also a PR!) in my last marathon because I was feeling GREAT at the start and went with a pace group that was running several minutes ahead of their advertised goal. Seeing the first few splits, I knew I was running at the absolute limit of my current fitness, but I was hoping for a little race-day magic and stuck with the fast pace. I paid for it with a big positive split in the second half of that race and a death march over the final 10K. Even when you feel great, it's important to leave a little in the tank for a longer distance like the marathon. Hitting the wall is no fun!

That is the perfect description of my last marathon; you speak the truth!

 

[FFigawi]

My method is called the Pac-Man. I line up at the start with others of similar goals (usually via a pacer). Then when the race starts, I intentionally make sure I am slower than them. I let my little ghosts go about their little ways. When I hit about mile 10 is when I chomp down on my Pac-Man "power pellet" and it's time to go get me some ghosts. My goal then is to seek and find the ghosts that got away from me in the beginning and chomp-chomp-chomp.

My rationale is that most people tend to start too fast at the beginning. If I line up with people of similar goals, then my assumption is as long as I am going slower than them at the beginning then I'm right where I need to be.

I follow a similar approach. The first half should feel very easy. It gets harder around 16-18, and from 22-finish, I just hold on for dear life. If I'm laboring at mile 10, I know it's not going to be a PR and I adjust accordingly.

 

[ExportedMolson]

FWIW, I have been racing since I was in Grade 3 (lets just say it has been a number of decades now) and still have nerves before any and all races. It usually kicks in the night before and means less than a full nights rest at best. You will also see me pacing before warm up or in my corral, though at Disney races I am usually sitting with my head down, eyes closed and bobbing to the music playing. I have never been able to shake them no matter how prepared I am, regardless of the distance or how many times I have run it before. I got them when I was relatively fast and now when I am a decent recreational runner. I just try and use the nerves now to psych myself up for the start. Once the gun goes off and I start running it takes about a quarter mile and I am back to normal. The only downside is the release of all the nervous energy at the start has caused me to go out too fast on many, many an occasion.