Bridge Run prep: Tips you need to know before running

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Eat pasta, drink water or wear cool clothes. There are many suggestions of what could be done before running a distance event like the Cooper River Bridge Run, but which is the is the right thing to do?

For Terri Haynes, there is no time like the present to participate in the Cooper River Bridge Run.

"There's a first time for everything," said first-time bridge runner Terri Haynes. "I've been exercising a lot."

Haynes will be a walking the Ravenel Bridge with support from her brother. She says it's taken a couple months to get ready.

"I've been trying to get some cardio in at least four days out the week and trying to lift some weights also as well," she said.

Walkers and runners should both be getting a good stretch in before the race.

"Make sure that you are getting a good stretch before and after the exercises that will really allow yourself to be limber and agile through the whole entire race," said East Shore Athletic Club trainer Thaxton Armbruster.

Armbruster says simple stretches like toe touches and runners motions can help. Armbruster says what you put into your body can also make a difference in your race experience.

"The day before the race you want to have a heavy starch like a pasta or something like that don't overload it," he said. Don't make yourself sick but eat more than you would normally do. Taking in things like broccoli and getting some nice veggies asparagus helps. Eating really clean is what's important."

What's on your feet can also make the journey across the river much easier.

"Your feet need to be able to have oxygen the more that you sweat the more your feet are going to hurt so you need to keep that moisture from happening and be nice and dry," Armbruster said.

It's very important to have good stretching and also when you are doing your distance exercises you make sure that you push yourself every time. If thirty minutes is not a hard time to run you need to switch up the type of training you are doing.

"You're losing a lot of sugars in the middle of an exercise by sweating a lot, so your body needs to have more sugars in it that normal so carbohydrates are a really good thing complex and simple," he said. "You should relax. You know a lot of your body is going to spend a lot of energy the day of it and you really need to prepare for something that strenuous."

Armbruster says that getting sugars back into your body is the most important. Fruit is great thing to have as soon as you are done you should be thinking replenish your body.

"Any time that your body doesn't feel comfortable and it becomes something that's a dulling or hurting type of pain just stop pull off to the side stretch a little bit," he added.

The best thing to do before the race is to rest because distance events can be the hardest on your body. Trainers say remember to replenish after the race is over so make sure to grab fruit to eat so you are putting sugar back into your body.

Trainers also suggest stop running if you feel pain or if you feel uncomfortable. You could cause more harm to your body by trying to finish.

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