Stay Warm Trotters
Event Director George Regan speaks on staying warm for Thursday’s run
TROY - With runs all over upstate New York coming this Thursday, runners will need to battle possibly the coldest weather conditions they have had to deal with on a Thanksgiving Day event.
Troy Turkey Troy Event Director George Regan is preparing for everything from the runners, to volunteers, to the runners.
“The temperatures are going to be chilly,” said Regan. “We are north easterners we get the cold weather and we know how to dress for it.”
Regan advises runners not to forget hats and gloves, and layers that can be easily removed and added as they participate in this year’s run.
“This group is a hearty group and I’m sure they will get through it just fine,” said Regan. “You need layers for sure, but what happens, as you exercise and run, you’re going to heat up. You want to dissipate that, so you can take a layer off and if you get chilled or you get a wind, you can put a layer on just like that.”
Gloves, hats, and layers. Check, check, and check. Regan has even gone as far to prepare for the start of the race and how runners will warm up their muscles and keep them warm prior to the big race.
“We are going to try and keep the announcements short, get them lined up, and get them off quickly. They still have to stand around, not moving, so they are going to be losing body heat,” said Regan. “We are going to put some heaters right at the start, right outside the atrium there, and they can use the atrium so they can stay inside until they have to go out, then we will have heaters in the starting area so they can have a warm- ing area.”
Regan also warns runners to make sure they start hydration at least 24 hours before they run. In a cold weather run, runners are more likely to lose water. Runners should drink half their body weight in ounces of water. So, for a 200 pound man, 100 ounces of water should be in your system.
To add to that hydration aspect, runners should be weary of the festivities Wednesday night so not to hurt themselves.
“Of course, being the night before Thanksgiv- ing, people are home and they are with their families and they go out to celebrate. They need to keep the alcohol consumption to a minimum,” said Regan. “It tends to dehydrate you and constrict your blood vessels, which the cold can do that too, so it makes for a double whammy. Top of mind awareness when they are out the night before for morning.”
Choice Physical Therapy will be aiding in the warming up for runners with dynamic stretching to get the muscles firing prior to the run.
Regan has also put consideration into his volunteers, who will be doing some standing in the cold weather.
“We have brought in a warming tent to put in at the finish line and that’s where most of them will be out for a long period of time. It’s important to keep them warm,” said Regan of the volunteers. “On top of the warming tent we will also have the heaters out there. We’ve got six of them ordered for the finishing line, so they will stretch from the starting mats to the refreshment area.”
Regan will also have extra gloves and hats and hand warmers for volunteers who forget.
Regan is considering even the freezing of the water and what it means for runners.
“There are little things we need to attend to that people may not see,” said Regan. “One of them is when do we pour the water for 4000 people and will the water, when it is in that 6 oz cup, freeze?”
Forecasters are predicting Thanksgiving Day will be partly to mostly sunny and frigid with wind chills in the single numbers to below zero.
“It’s going to be cold,” said Regan. “It looks like we are going to set a record for the cold.”