General Blog

I know for us more mature people in the club, we understand the language and we use these terms all the time not knowing new club members might not understand.

I have made the following list that will demystify the Harrier language:

Marlborough Harrier Club Language

Saying	Definition
Hybrid	Not sure if I am a walker or a runner
Time Trial	Time it takes to start in one place and finish time and distance
Race Bib	This is worn when racing on your feet, not racing your food down
Pack run	Running or walking in a group together – not with a pack on your back carrying food, drinks or bricks
Hilly	Some serious hill work
Undulating	Gradual to steep hill work
Flat	See for miles but could be the odd hill
Chat	What we do during afternoon tea or even some during a run
BBQ	Food
Approx	Applies to distance so could be longer than, but never shorter
Shorter	Applies to distance so less than approx
Cross Country	You could get your feet wet and definitely dirty
Volunteers	YOU
Handicap	The Handicapper looks at what you have run before estimates your time for today’s run, adds a bit, takes off a bit and is clearly deaf and open to the odd payback – generally he beats you.
Setup	Coning, taping the course and setting you up for a great race
Up to 2 hours	Could be more could be less
“Scenic Native Bush”	At the end of the run you ask “where was the bush?”
Selectors	A person that picks a team to run for the club based on how fast you are on the distance. This is based on previous times or if you pay for a round when it is their your turn

What to eat  in the final week.

People should choose relatively concentrated sources of carbs, like juices, pasta, potato, rice, bread, veggies and sweets topped up with protein like chicken. That way the volume of food needed isn’t so enormous. In addition, lower-fibre foods may be good  since that could reduce the potential for stomach distress during the race.  Don’t completely upend your normal diet though. Stick to foods that are familiar. It’s always a bad idea to experiment right before a race. And don’t expect that diet alone will lift you from the back of the pack.
Have you participated in the 5km time trial on offer.  Far more important in the overall determination of people’s finishing times was their training and their fundamental fitness.  Runners who were fastest during the time trial generally are fastest in the marathon.
The evening before the race, spoil yourself with a good feed of quality fish and chips. Does not take long to prepare! No dishes and boy oh boy after the weeks of controlling that diet, it will taste like the best meal you have ever had.
On the day eat a light breakfast.
You can’t alter your training or talent at this point. You can though, have a chocolate chip cookie on Saturday and call it race preparedness.

What to drink in the final week.

Start one week out from the day drinking plenty of water interspersed with your favourite sports drink. Drink enough that you need to visit the bathroom regularly and also your urine is clear or near to it as possible. If it stays yellow, drink more. You must be the judge.
While out running in preparation for the day also practise if you can to drink successfully out of a plastic cup. The secret is to drink the water, not bathe in it.
Cease this regime the night before. Drink sufficient on the day to keep you topped up.
Do not overhydrate. Drinking too much water, known as hyponatremia (low blood sodium), is a leading cause of death among marathoners. So drink just enough. You’ll have no problem determining what that precise amount is late in the race as your muscles seize, your head throbs and your blisters erupt. By then it is too late. It is all in the preparation.
During the race, do not miss a drink station to take on liquid even if you have to stop to take it. There is no race rule that says you must start running and stop only when you cross the finish line.

Bill Hunter reports:

I am often asked how did I arrive at the handicap for a runner? When compared with someone else.

The workings of the handicapper are pretty straightforward and rely sometimes on the honesty of runners I have no history for. Take the Novice cup for instance. Times are used from the scratch race and Novice cup the previous year plus the scratch race run before the Novice cup.

All the times are correlated and the FASTEST time from those 3 races is used as the handicappers expected time the runner should do for the race.

Unfortunately we don’t always get it right, but generally it is a tried and true method of getting a time that the runner should be able to run.

New runners with no history are a problem, so after asking a few questions regarding what they have done or how long to run 5k, I slot them in a space that I feel is about their ability.

No account is taken for runners who say that they are injured or haven’t trained much. The time given on the handicap sheet is the time they will start.