Race Day Advice

Superman

Training for an event is not all sunshine and rainbows, sometimes it’s hard work, hard work that isn’t too often shared on social media or Strava. Getting up early when you’ve had a tough week, or fitting in your long solo run when you just want to curl up on the sofa with your family is tough.  Sometimes it’s looking at the snot, the tears, the blisters, and the gut-wrenching exhaustion square in the eye and owning it. 

Knowing that you’ve shown up, owned the bad runs when at times it hasn’t been perfect, should give you the strength to stand proud on the race day start line.

Race Day Advice

At times during the race, it will be hard, but the hard miles will pass, and subsequent miles surprise you, and you may learn so much about yourself, who you are and what you are made of.

That should be celebrated, not many people put themselves out there on the line, literally, in lycra for all to see, and once that is put into perspective, then the nerves will turn into excitement for the day itself.

How are you going to run the race?

Are you going to turn up, run as fast as you can for the first 5 miles then hang on for grim death? Or try to tick off as many pb’s within the 10-mile race?

Are you going for a time? A new pb? Or are you going to use it as part of a bigger picture training run? Or it could be that this is going to be your very last race, so it’s got to be perfect before you hang up your running shoes?

How do you pace your race?

This is such a hard question to answer, if you feel good at the start of a race how do you know if the first few miles are too fast and that you’ll regret it later?

Use your GPS watch as a guide, a tool that will help you in those early miles. Aim for a 10/20 secs slower than race pace start for the first couple of miles; this ease you into the start, find your bearings and get into your running rhythm.  Then stop looking at your watch and run-on feel, a comfortably hard pace, not easy to describe as we are all different, but a pace that you can continue to run at but if you went any faster your legs would start to burn, and you’d feel a bit sick.

If you look at your watch….

whilst you are running you might get freaked out; this pace wasn’t in your head, it could be faster or slower than you had in mind, and this info could have an negative impact on the rest of your race.

Run the mile you are in, try not to think about keeping up this pace for another, however many miles, just say to yourself, yep, I can keep going in this mile. 

Do a quick body scan…

of how you are doing during the race, starting at your feet working up your body, does anything really hurt? Is anything really going to fall off?

Your body knows the best pace to run at and it will naturally find it.  Listen to those internal cues, your breathing, your posture, your foot strike, just try to enjoy the freedom of just running.

Every race is different, no 2 races are ever the same due to outside influences that we can’t control.

But in every race you can learn so much, develop skills, resilience, and determination, try not to hang too much happiness on the results of one race.

Should you run on your own or with friends?

This is a tough one bearing in mind what I’ve said previously, if you are used to running with someone, who sets the bar on the pace? Whose internal cues do you listen to?

I have forgone races in the past because I didn’t feel confident enough to say I was going to run my own race; I’ve stayed with a friend because she felt poorly for her to then outsprint me at the finish line claiming glory for beating me.  I experienced being left for dust when friends have said they’ll run with me which has left me feeling rubbish and I’ve also been used as an excuse because someone didn’t feel 100% so they would run with me! Nothing like feeling like the booby prize!

Exceptional Weather Conditions

Check the weather forecast! Be warned, your race day might fall on exceptional weather conditions that can add another layer of challenge, terrential ran or a heatwave, extraordinary weather can have an impact on your whole experience, but not necessicerily in a negatvie way. Sharing adverse conditions brings a camaraderie to an event that adds an unforgettable element to your whole experience. Be prepared in advance for it, adjust your expectations, take the pressure off and remember fondly, in years to come how you conquered that race.