Shake it out

So, I keep finding reasons to give this 5K tomorrow more importance. Someone special is coming to watch the race and while it would be silly to write that I'd like to impress her, I do. But she's a track coach and a pretty accomplished runner herself.

Anyhow, I digress.

Here's a link to a fascinating story I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's about shakeout runs.

Short runs of about 10 minutes done about three hours before the race. Since tomorrow's race is at 8:30, that means I'm setting my alarm clock for around 5.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Deena Kastor is among the dedicated early risers. "It’s not the most pleasant thing to do, but it’s definitely helpful," she says....

...The good part is that your still-sleepy brain and body won’t have to struggle to perform anything strenuous. "It doesn’t have to be more than a very slow jog, interspersed with some stretching, and maybe a few easy strides at the end — just enough to get you up and going," says Kastor. The Hansons runners jog easily for just 10 minutes. "For a marathon, we’ll reduce that to maybe only five minutes," says Keith Hanson.

It's going to be a great race.