You are only days away from the Baltimore Marathon. You have spent countless hours preparing for this long endurance event, and now that it is down to the wire, you find yourself asking, “What should I do now that I only have a few days before my marathon?” Here’s what you can do before the big day Saturday.

In the final fours days, I recommend not doing any running. If you want to do cardio, use an elliptical machine or bike. Both of these exercises are low impact, which is good for your joints. Do this no later than three days before your marathon.

In your final few days, focus on diet and rest. The day before your marathon do carb loading. Most professional marathoners do carb loading before an event because muscles that are packed with glycogen before a long endurance event like a marathon stand a better chance of finishing and finishing strong. Stored glycogen starts to dwindle after a certain amount of time. So when you are around the third hour of continuous movement in the marathon, you are essentially running on empty. You will still have body fat to burn, but fat can’t be utilized without carbohydrates. So the more carbs, the more energy and the longer and stronger you could go.

Make sure you have the right equipment for your marathon. Pack everything you need the night before the marathon. Make sure you have a fairly new pair of running shoes. This is important because you wear out the support in your running shoes over time. Add insoles in your shoes for extra support, and make sure you do not tie your shoes too tight if you have additional insoles in place.

The day of the marathon, make sure you eat a healthy breakfast a few hours before the marathon.

Take multivitamins, allergy medication, some any pain reliever and drink plenty of water. Warm up before the marathon and stretch as much as you can. And don’t forget to charge your MP3 player the night before.

Sail Abdul is an NSPA-certified trainer at the Merritt Athletic Club in Canton. His column appears Tuesdays. Contact him at ptbysail@gmail.com.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.