Are You The Turkey? 🦃

A Thanksgiving Tradition Worth Starting

Nov 15, 2024

Are you turkey trotting?

This year, I'm healthy enough to run in a turkey trot! I'm really excited for my return to racing after my race last month at the Peace for Police 5k.

I haven't done many turkey trots in my life - probably less than 5 - for various reasons. But this year, I'm training well and on the trajectory to be in shape in January for a sub-5 mile attempt.

Why Turkey Trots Are So Popular

When runners show up in turkey costumes, it’s hard to be anything but low key
For most of us, it’s the end of a long season or year of training
With holiday races, the stress level is way low
There are loads of different types of runners who participate in turkey trots, making them family friendly

Is a Turkey Trot Right For You?

For beginner runners, turkey torts are a great way to have fun in a very low-key racing environment. Turkey trots are fun, there's no pressure or expectations to run a certain pace - it's an all-around fun time.

For competitive runners, it's relaxed which is good, but usually there are fast people who come to different towns to find a good hard effort. So while there aren't a ton of things at stake, it's still possible to run a fast race with competition.

For non-runners, a 5k turkey trot is a safe distance to come to without any formal training. It's a good pre-holiday event that can help you kick-start your festivities.

Training Required?

Yes. In most every sense if you want to run fast, you need to have some training under your belt.

To just complete a 5k, especially a turkey trot where some people will literally be wearing a costume, the amount of training required is minimal. Of course, it's always a safe bet to have some kind of athletic background or level of current fitness before doing a 5k, but not being in shape wouldn't be a deal breaker.

If this is the end of your season, you can go all out with little regard for blowing up. There's no pressure and the relaxed atmosphere helps lower the stress level of most races.

But if your season is just kicking off - like me - then a turkey trot is a great way to use a hard effort to get a bump in fitness and also use the race as a stepping stone for more serious and hard training in the weeks and months to come.

Gear

While a turkey costume is absolutely optional, the typically colder weather will alter what you might wear to a summer or fall race.

Personally, I'm a fan of switching from the singlet to a tee and wearing arm warmers and gloves. If I start to overheat during the race, I can always take the gloves off or pull the arm sleeves down.

That's one of the main reasons I don't like wearing a long sleeve shirt during a race - the unpredictability of how warm I might get is too great.

If it's really, really cold out I would wear tights, but otherwise I will most likely wear running shorts or half tights for the race.

Warmup & Cool Down

Most novices will forget the warmup and cool down and go into the race cold. For those that are hanging on for dear life with their training, they should most definitely do a warmup and if they know they are taking a break after the race, I would be totally okay with skipping the cool down (even though you'll feel so much better if you do cool down).

For friends like me who are continuing on, a good, long warmup will help you be prepared for the race and a cool down will help you make the hard effort into a longer day so the next day can be a true recovery day.

If you haven’t found a local Turkey Trot yet, check one out (if it fits into your training schedule).

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