Race Preparation –
This post will hopefully give you a few hints and tips in leading up to a race about what you can do to help your mind and body be ready for your race.
Imagine you are training for your next race. Whether you are a professional athlete or its your first Park Run the week before your race should be your easy week and you should begin to taper down and begin to mentally prepare for your race.
Marathon Distance –
The week before your race is crucial in your preparation and how you will perform for your race. If your race is a marathon you should have started reducing your mileage and speed so that by the time your race comes around you have no heavy miles in your legs and you are fresh. However, you have no stopped running altogether. The mileage has dropped and so has then speed but you are still running to keep the legs turning over.
If you would like some more tips and hints on race preparation for the marathon below is some links to where I recommend you have a little read. The first is a link to Runners World which if you haven’t come across it before you should definitely have a little read and investigate as they have some great articles. The second is to ACTIVE who are a great site for some interesting posts.
Short Races –
For a shorter race such as a 5k or 10k this can vary with the athlete’s fitness and experience. Everyone is different and reacts differently to different types of training however, personally if I am racing a 5k or 10k at the weekend I will carry on training normally at the start of the week and begin to taper down mid-week and take a recovery day the day before a race to make sure my legs have recovered completely. This personally allows me to go into my race feeling ready and able to give it 100%.
The Night Before –
What you do the night before a race can have a huge impact on your race. A lot of athletes find that a warm shower or bath can help them loosen off any muscles or joints that are tight or sore. My personal routine is to have a warm bath to loosen my muscles before bed and to use my foam roller to get an extra rub down to ensure my legs are fresh for my race.
Your routine might be completely different and that’s ok as we are all different and prefer different things. Find what works best for you.
Sleep-
Sleep is a topic that has a lot of debate and discussion about it. Some athletes perform better on the maximum amount of sleep they can. Others prefer a little less than the advised amount. It entirely depends on what your sleeping habit is like. Many runners worry needlessly about how much sleep they get the night before a big race. Typically, the more critical they think it is, the less sleep they get. You can relax. How much sleep you get the night before a race has not been shown to affect race performance. What is important is how well you sleep over many nights leading up to your race—chronic sleep deprivation affects both your body’s ability to recover and your ability to concentrate during the race.
Food and Hydration –
Arguably, food and hydration is one of the most important factors in how well you can race. You should load up on carbohydrates for one (before most races) to three (before a marathon) days leading up to your race, so the role of your pre-race breakfast is to top up your liver glycogen stores and maintain your blood glucose level. Your pre-race breakfast should typically contain 100 to 200 grams of carbohydrates and be low in fat and fiber with a moderate level of protein. Several studies have found improved endurance performance after pre-race meals with a low glycaemic index; however, this seems somewhat variable between athletes and personal food preferences and tolerance seem to be the most important factors. If the race is early in the morning or you are too nervous to eat, then a high carbohydrate sports drink or liquid meal replacement is a good option.
How long before the race you should eat depends on how much and what foods you will eat, and your individual tolerance. For most runners, a light breakfast two-and-a-half to three hours before the race is fine. To find what works best for you, test your pre-race meal before less important races and workouts.
Drink enough (but not excessively) the day before the race so that you are already well-hydrated and only need to maintain your hydration level on the morning of the race. To top off your tank, drink about a pint of fluid the morning of the race. Sports drinks containing carbohydrates and sodium provide useful energy and help ensure fluid retention.
Before the Race –
Warm up is a very specific routine to every individual. The purpose of warming up is to prepare your body to run at race pace. The shorter the race, the more important this is since the physiological demands are higher and there isn’t time to gradually build up to race pace. There are also psychological benefits from a warm-up routine, which help you remain relaxed and confident.
When you accelerate at the start of a race, the amount of blood pumped by your heart increases five to six times, and your oxygen consumption increases about 15 times. Warming up prepares your energy systems by increasing your heart rate, breathing rate, blood flow to your working muscles, and oxygen consumption, and activates enzymes for aerobic energy production. If you do not warm up thoroughly, you put unnecessary strain on your cardiovascular system and produce more lactate.
A thorough warm-up also increases your muscle temperature, which makes your muscles and tendons less stiff, so they are ready to work hard with less risk of injury. Since the heat your muscles produce contributes to your body’s heat load, you should reduce the length of your warm-up on a hot day. In hot weather, you can also wear a cooling vest to keep your trunk relatively cool while your cardiovascular system and running muscles warm up.
Mentality –
Standing on that start line can be a very daunting situation to find yourself in. There will be races that you are standing in the wind and rain wondering why you even here. The hardest part of a race is starting. Once that starting gun goes off you have to battle that voice in your head telling you to quit every step of the way. I am sorry to say there is no cure for the pain other than to keep going and to keep pushing. However, there are things you can practise that can help make it a little easier.
Having a positive mind set before going into a race and during a race can make you beat that PB. Starting a race saying in your head you can achieve your goal and the determination that those little thoughts can give you are so powerful.
Everything here is either my personal preparation so this might not work for you. I would however, recommend that you try it or a your own version of it and see if it works for you.
As always happy running
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