Quick Tips for Santa Cruz Turkey Trot 10K

TCM has a long tradition of excellence at the Santa Cruz Turkey Trot. It falls at a nice time of the off-season to get a baseline time trial on your running. And they pretty much do the same course every year. Especially if it's an area of focus for the upcoming season. It's a pretty straight forward race but here are a couple of tips:

Don't go out too hard

I say this about almost every race but this one it's a particularly easy trap to fall into here. The first section is flat, straight and boring and there are usually a bunch of kids sprinting right out of the gate. Start your race when you hit West Cliff Drive.

Warm up

It's probably going to be a lot colder that you've been used to running. Bring plenty of layers! Even though it's likely not a big goal race for you, get a good 10 mins warm up in at least to avoid injury risk.

It's not flat

It's not a difficult course but don't have the mentality that it's a completely flat by the seaside affair. Don't blow you heart rate out completely on the little kickers on the way out, shorten your stride and just get up them in good condition. Save your effort for the return journey and you'll pick up a few places if you do it right.

Strava segment for Turkey Trot and Superbowl 10K