Preparing for Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

♠ Posted by Paul Naylor at 8:46 AM

Big Cottonwood half is coming up in just over four weeks. I've only run this race once, but it has become my favorite race at the half marathon discipline. I have posted an article last month about the race itself, stating that it has to be one of Utah's best.

I recently increased my weekly mileage to prepare for the race, I want to get a PR(personal record or personal best) at this race. And I think that it is a great to get a PR in, since the race is mostly downhill. Below is a elevation chart of the race:

Now because this is a downhill race, I'm looking into a slightly different approach to training for the next four weeks. Normally I have 2-3 quality workouts a week, that consist of tempo, interval and long runs. For the next few weeks, I'm going to replace on of those workouts with a quality downhill workout. I'll post more about the details of downhill training in another post. Another element that I'm adding is lower body strength training. I already do leg workouts, but I'm going to be increasing weight and reps. I have through about including more core workouts and overall cardio exercise, such as swimming.

I have also thought about the shoes that I'm going to wear for this race, since its a downhill course, it would make sense to wear shoes with more support and padding. I have been debating this one since I also want to go for speed to get a personal best. I'm leaning towards shoes for speed, but I will no more once I start downhill training.

For and technique is something that has been on my mind as well with this race. The elevation loss is just under 3000 feet, which quite a bit when you think of a half marathon. With downhill training, this will be a focus on stride and pacing. When running downhill, runners tend to over-stride due to the natural pull of gravity. So I'll be preparing for a shorter stride and quicker turnover.

Lastly, I have been visualizing the race, trying to see every aspect to prepare mentally as much as possible. I'm trying hard not to get over-psyched for the race, having adrenaline wailing before the race is never a good thing. I'm hoping for great weather for race day, but that sometimes doesn't always happen. So thinking of all the possibilities in weather that throw off your mental game.

So these are some of the preparations that I'm making for this race, I'm sure they will be more as the race gets closer.

See also: Next Race: Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon

See also: 250 miles in August

See also: Changing workout routine