Well, here we are Saturday morning on the day before the 39th City2Surf and it is time for my Number 1 tip to strip minutes from your City2Surf time.
How to avoid the Vindaloo Line
I just made that up’? (I had a particularly hot vindaloo last night, and I know you don’t want to feel like I did first thing this morning!). The Vindaloo Line is what I call (as of now) all those people who line up at the port-a-loos at the start and along the run. This untimely stop can cost you many minutes.
There are only two reasons you’ll need to stop, (lets call them ‘no.1’ and ‘no.2!’)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8UOUbPILkw How to avoid no.1
The trick to managing no.1 is to fully hydrate yourself the day before. Don’t be one of those people who skull water before the event ‘? believe me; it will want to come out just as quickly as it went in.
Your body can’t absorb water at that rate, it will just fill your gut and if it doesn’t make you feel that you want to go, it will hang in your gut and weigh you down. Remember, 1 litre of water weighs 1 kilogram.
It takes time for your body to absorb water. You should drink a minimum of 2 litres the day before the event, and drink it in small sips throughout the day so your body can fully absorb it into your cells. (We should be doing this all the time anyway… but how many people actually do!)
If you are fully hydrated at the start, you can easily make it to the first drink stop. And there are drink stops all along the route. If you take a small amount of fluid at each drink station, you’ll be fine. After the run you can skull what ever you like.
How to avoid no.2
This is the big one, (a bad pun I know, but apt!). Learning to time your no.2s can be a little harder (you can’t avoid puns here ‘? that was unintentional).
What works for me is to eat early the night before and top up with a light breakfast on Sunday morning. I find dinner at around 5pm to 6pm at the latest on the Saturday night produces the result you want when you get up.
Don’t eat too much for dinner or for breakfast. If you are like me and travel interstate to get to the event, there is a tendency to meet up with friends at a nice Sydney restaurant and then one thing can lead to another and the next thing you know you are full. You don’t want to feel ‘full’, but rather simply adequately satisfied.
Italian restaurants are particularly popular in Sydney on the night before the City2Surf so you may need to book early.
Have a great day
The most important thing is to have a great day, enjoy the festival atmosphere. Maybe we’ll catch up after the run. Good Luck.
My City2Surf training program is now available as an eBook via all leading online bookstores and I also invite you to join me in my free Facebook training group the City2Surf 100 day Challenge.