The Reto Jacó Extremo can be a pleasant experience or a bad memory. If you arrive with time, prepared for the heat and run intelligently, it will surely go very well for you, but if not everything can be a disaster. Here we leave you seven tips so that everything turns out the best:
1. Arrive well hydrated, stay well hydrated. With heat easily exceeding 30° Celsius and humidity near 90%, hydration plays a life-or-death role for successfully running the Reto. That doesn't mean stuffing yourself with water in the hours before. Drink enough liquid so you don't arrive thirsty at the start of the event and drink water during the race as you wish (as your body asks for it).
2. Avoid the sun in the moments before and don't warm up. In Jacó the struggle is not so much against the kilometers but against the heat. Preventing your body temperature from rising too much is key for you to have good performance, because if you get too hot your brain perceives a risk and sends signals to not recruit as many muscle fibers, you feel weak, you strain too much and you don't advance as fast as you had planned, and if the temperature keeps rising you run the risk of heat stroke and even fainting. Try to stay in some shade in the hours before the event and in the minutes before don't do a very long warm-up, precisely what you need to avoid is a body too hot when starting. Do just what's necessary for your muscles to "wake up" and you can start running without problems.
3. Start easy, finish strong. The only thing worse than being suffocated by heat mid-race is being suffocated and exhausted. The best thing you can do in such difficult races is to control your pace at the start, go at a comfortable rhythm, saving strength and energy for the strongest kilometers, which will be the last ones when the heat is felt most intensely. The good thing is that in the second half, if you feel comfortable and you've run an intelligent race, you can accelerate a bit more and finish strong while everyone else watches you pass.
4. Pour water on yourself. It's proven that pouring water on your neck and head makes the perception of heat drop. That is, you'll give your brain a signal that your temperature is in a safe zone and that will give you a boost either to increase or maintain the intensity you were carrying up to that moment. Don't forget to keep the bag or deposit it in one of the barrels that the organizers will place on the route.
5. Quickly find the harder sand. As soon as you enter the beach just before kilometer six quickly look for the part with firmer sand. This is usually near the water, but not so close that you start sinking in the sand freshly wet by the waves. Firm sand will allow you to maintain a better pace because you spend less energy than when you run in soft sand.
6. Don't eat too much lunch. Since the race is at 4:30 p.m., many tend to eat abundantly in the hours before and arrive with discomfort and a feeling of fullness when the race starts. Remember that digestion increases body temperature, which you want to avoid, and that food digests more slowly when there's some anxiety, like in the moments before a race. Better do a good breakfast around 8 or 9 a.m. and then eat something lighter and lots of liquids at lunch time. That way you'll arrive with good energy and with your digestive system in order.
7. Arrive with time, park with time, enjoy to the max. The mental part is very important for good performance. If you arrive stressed, rushed, worried about the keys, the packet, the parking, that I forgot the water, that I don't have shorts, that it's about to start, that…; things won't work out. Better arrive two or three hours early, park your car in a good spot, relax, put on your uniform, hydrate comfortably and enjoy the event to the max without stress or complications.
