Tips for running your first 10km race

Pre-race
Try to eat a light breakfast at least 1-2 hours before the start of the race. This keeps your body's energy high. A normal race breakfast for me would be multigrain toast with peanut butter and a banana. You can take cereal or muesli bars but always remember to read the nutritional labels. A lot of cereals or muesli claim to be healthy options but are in fact loaded with tons of sugar! If you are watching your weight, you need to watch your sugar intake. Remember not to try eating anything new on race day. It could lead to stomach problems.

During race
I am going to break down this segment into a few different parts.

Pace
A lot of newbies make the mistake of going out too fast at the start of the race. I understand that the start is very exciting and the adrenaline in your blood just wants to make you shoot off. However, starting too fast may result in a painful finish. After 2-3km, your body discovers that it has started to fast but you have used so much energy that you have nothing left for the rest of the race. Remember to stay calm and ALWAYS run at your own pace!

Target time
By now you should have run a sufficient number of training runs such that you should have an idea what your pace is and approximately how long it should take you to run a 10km race. Set a target time for yourself and use that to pace yourself to the finish line.

Hydration
Hydration is very important for good running performance. Try to drink at every water station. Stop, grab a drink, walk and take sips. Aim to drink just a portion of the cup. A full cup of water may be a bit too much and running with sloshing liquid in your stomach can lead to a side stitch.

Post-race
Walk/jog 5-10minutes to cool down and then stretch all the muscle groups. Check out this link for the top ten running stretches:

https://lornpearsontrains.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/running-stretches.jpg

The body needs good quality food to recover well after a race. The most critical window is 30 minutes after a run. Aim to get some good quality protein and carbs into your body. The easiest way to do this is to grab a glass of low-fat chocolate milk or a fruit smoothie.

Happy running!