Last-Minute Tips to Crush Your Marathon

Dr. Gregory Lowe PT, DPT, cert. MDT, CSCS
Oct 10
5 min read

As fall weather FINALLY seems to be upon us (cue Buffalo runners celebrating), this weekend features one of the biggest and fastest major marathons— the 2025 Chicago Marathon weekend is here!

Whether you’re racing, cheering, or watching the broadcast at home, it’s hard not to get excited about this marathon!

Chicago increasingly has become the race that top pros and new marathoners alike go to run fast! This year’s race features some exciting storylines including another World Record attempt by Kenya’s John Korir and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, as well as an American Record attempt by Connor Mantz!

If you’ve never watched Mantz compete before, I would highly recommend flipping on the broadcast to get inspired– he’s an extremely gutsy racer that isn’t afraid to get after big goals or run up front with the world’s best.

With Chicago this weekend and fall marathon season upon us, we wanted to share a few last-minute tips on how to crush your upcoming marathon!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend including some of our awesome clients!

Tip #1: Carbo-Load Like You Mean It

This doesn’t mean you need to eat five plates of spaghetti the night before the race… the week leading up to the race, you should be incorporating more carbs than usual throughout each day, and the day or two before race day is the time to really top off those glycogen stores.

This will help provide the glycogen stores your body needs come race day to be able to push through 26.2 miles (in addition to fueling along the course).

Consult with a registered sports dietitian if you’re unsure where to start with carbo-loading, and everything should always be personalized to your individual needs and preferences.

In general, try to increase the portion sizes of carbs and add more carbs than usual to your daily diet– this might include a bigger helping of pasta and bread, eating more carb-rich snacks like pretzels or bagels throughout the day, drinking more juices and carb-heavy sports drinks.

All these little things will accumulate to load your engine up for a long race ahead!

Tip #2: Visualize (the Good and the Bad)

When you’re approaching any race, visualizing represents an effective tool to prepare mentally for the race. This can especially help when you’re lying awake from nerves in the nights leading up to the marathon–use visualization to walk through race day and help calm those pre-race nerves.

Visualize yourself going through the entire race morning, starting when you wake up to when you’re warming up, and then actually running the marathon. Visualize running strong and celebrating through the finish line!

And visualize the tough moments too, because the rough patches will come at some point in the marathon. It helps to mentally prepare for those moments and determine how you'll approach them when they do appear– that way, you’ll know what to expect and how to talk yourself through those hard moments in the race.

So think about what you might say to yourself to get through a rough patch, and visualize yourself overcoming those moments to crush your race goals!

Tip #3: Have a Race Plan

Having a race plan in place will help you prepare mentally and can help settle those pre-race nerves. Try to break the race up into chunks– and as you run, you may need to keep breaking the race up into smaller and smaller chunks making it seem more manageable (i.e., just get to the next water stop).

Have a pre-race strategy in place– make sure you stay controlled in those beginning miles when everything tends to feel good and your legs are fresh.

When making a race plan, it’s also important to consider the course and weather conditions in the process– your plan may change depending on these conditions. For example, on a warmer day, you may consider taking a more conservative start so your body doesn’t overheat too quickly.

However you individually tend to perform in workouts and races, keep this in mind when personalizing your race plan towards the best approach for you!

Tip #4: Have a Nutrition Plan

Hopefully at this point, you’ve practiced your nutrition intake during your marathon build-up, so it’s time to have a plan in place to ensure you’re fueling with enough carbs, water, and electrolytes during the race.

Also note that this should be adjusted based on weather conditions– a warmer race day means increasing your nutrition and hydration intake, since you’ll be sweating more and your body will be burning through more fuel in order to cool itself AND run an entire marathon.

As a general plan, aim to consume at least 4-5oz of liquids (with carbs and electrolytes in) every 30-ish minutes, and take a gel or eat some chews/gummies every 45min-1hour.

However, everyone is different, so ensure you create a plan individualized to your own nutrition and hydration needs!

Tip #5: Come up with a Mantra

Prepare a mantra or two to repeat to yourself when you’re pushing through the pain of a marathon. This will help you remain positive and prevent those negative thoughts from creeping in!

This mantra can be generic or personal to your own running journey. Something like, “you are strong,” which may get down to one word, “strong,” when you’re deep in the pain cave.

Repeating this mantra in your head will help keep your mind fixed on the finish line ahead. It also helps to write this mantra on your wrist, so every time you go to check your watch, it’s there to remind you to keep going!

Tip #6: Remember How Far You’ve Come

When your nerves start to take over, reflect on the journey it took you to get to that starting line, and be proud of how far you’ve come!

Look back at old workouts, read your training logs, check out your Strava graph...think about all the hard runs that you pushed through and overcame demons. Think about how you got through those tough moments.

The work is DONE, now it’s time to CELEBRATE– the race is the celebration of all the hard work you’ve put in to crush this marathon!!

You’re ready, now let’s get after it!!

It's our mission at AWAKEN to provide the highest level of care through our process of determining the root cause of your issue, then establishing an individualized plan to help you prevent recurrence and come back stronger than before!

At AWAKEN, we truly offer specialized services FOR RUNNERS, BY RUNNERS– and Dr. Greg is committed to continuing to become a leading expert in the field!

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