… and all through the apartment, Maria was running around like a chicken with her head cut off.
Yeah, not exactly like the Christmas story you might remember… but it is a pretty accurate description of how the night before a long run feels. There’s a few key things that must happen to ensure the success of the next day’s run.
1. It’s important to eat a (healthy) carb-rich dinner. Usually this means pasta of some sort for me—because that’s easy and I don’t have to think about it. But tonight it meant pizza.
Honestly, I would have preferred spaghetti, but The Husband threatened mutiny if he had to eat spaghetti again this month.
I also try to start hydrating early. I obviously don’t want to be peeing all night, but I do try to have an extra glass or two of water with dinner.
2. Since I am already in the kitchen, my Camelbak bladder needs to be cleaned, filled, and refrigerated. The refrigeration is optional, but it’s easier to fill in the night before. One less thing to deal with tomorrow…
3. All electronics to be used tomorrow must be charged.
This ends up with my computer having 5,344,340,359 cords attached to it. You can see I’m charging my Garmin 205 and iPod above, but I also need to charge my phone and my Bodybugg (because its battery beeped at me this evening and is on the way out).
4. If I’m feeling like it (and I have the time) I try to make a new running playlist. Some weeks I download new music for it and others I just rearrange the music I already have. I get bored of songs quickly, so I try to limit running with music to long runs. I made a playlist earlier this week, so I just need to sync it with my iPod tonight.
5. The weather must be checked about 500 times.
In case you are curious, this is what I’m dealing with tomorrow:
After checking out the weather and taking different factors into account (temperature, chance of rain, humidity, wind, cloudy vs. sunny), I will decide what time I want to run. I will be waking up extra early tomorrow to beat the sunshine and heat.
6. After determining what the weather should be like (surprises do happen!), I plan what I’ll wear and lay it out. I am incapable of making logical or rational thought before 9 a.m., so I do as much as possible the night before.
7. The alarm is set (double, triple, and quadruple checked) and I hit the sack early to get enough sleep and wake up for the run.
What does the night before a long run look like for you? Any different than mine?
P.S. I posted yesterday about the awesome compression socks I bought (with my own dollars) from Pro Compression for half price. Today I received a coupon code in my e-mail from the company and thought I’d pass it along to you. Coupon code SOM612 expires July 10, 2012. This is for orange socks only, but it’s a great deal at 40% off retail price.
