Choosing and Trying Out The Marathon Running Gear
Once, there's a runner that has trained really well. He managed to pass a distance of 35 kilometers during a marathon with a time of 3.05 (average pace of 5.17). There were no problems with fatigue on his body. However, suddenly his toes felt numb due to the new socks he was wearing in the race. He sat and opened the socks which caused cramps. Finally, he finished at 4.30.
Conditions like mentioned above can be prevented if the runner already prepares and tries all of his marathon running gear during the training. There is one principle that all runners must adhere to, which is 'don't try anything new on race day'. All gears or equipment must have been tested during training to see if there are negative effects that affect performance. If there really is a negative effect, then we can anticipate it from training and replace it with a more suitable one.
Preparing this marathon kit is very important so that we can run comfortably in the race. Marathon running itself requires concentration, do not let any interference that can damage the good especially performance. There are many items that need to be tried before we use it during the race. The following items must be prepared and tried during training:
- Running Shoes
Prepare at least two running shoes when you start your marathon training. One pair of shoes can be used approximately around 600 kilometers. If you training a marathon for 16 weeks with a total weekly average of 50K, then it will be 800K, plus 42K marathon then it will be around 842 kilometers in total. The higher the weekly kilometer of a runner, the higher the number of kilometers he/she will record. Of course, one pair of shoes is not enough. It will be very risky to force it that way. - Running Apparel
Prepare running apparel from hat or hijab to the most comfortable socks (not the most expensive one). Check the weather prediction, if you will run in a cold place, the costumes can be more complex. As for running in a race with warm weather, you should choose a faster one to release body heat. It is because our core temperature is increased during the run. All the apparel must be tried during training so we can run in the most comfortable way in the race. - Additional Energy
According to science, the glycogen reserves of the human body are not enough for a marathon run. That's why additional energy is needed when running. There is a lot of additional energy that can be chosen, such as energy gel or liquid energy. Although for recreational runners, it is generally more efficient to choose energy gel, but many also try fruit or other energy sources. Just go ahead, try anything you want, but try it on the training. If you are used with a particular brand of energy gel, then don't try other brands during the race event though there's a famous new brand in the running universe. - Isotonic Drinks
In Indonesia, the brand of the isotonic drink is one of the sensitive issues among runners. Regardless of the choice of your personal brand, you should still check the isotonic drinks available in the race and try them during training to find out the effect. In general, the content of almost all isotonic drinks is quite the same, it just depends on your usual one. So there's no need to hesitate to exchange brands while trying it first. - Food
A few days before the race, runners will usually do the carbohydrate loading. They are also going to eat breakfast first before going to the race. The breakfast before the race is kind of different from normal days. Therefore, all must be tried since the training. Then, make sure whether the food we normally eat is available at the race location. If there is none near the race, then you have to bring it from home. It is just to avoid new nutrients or anxiety because something is 'missing'.
The gear list can be longer, depending on your habits and needs, well you're the one who knew about it. Once again, make sure everything has been tried since the training so that you can run comfortably in the race. -- @andriyanto.run
