Race Fitness
It’s the night before the race. You don’t know what kit to wear tomorrow and it’s going to be a ridiculously early start. You may have just eaten your own bodyweight in pasta and you’re still worried about what and when you’re going to have breakfast. You also start asking yourself that question: “Why?”
You’ll remember back to when you signed up for the race and how you visualised feeling light on your feet and running elegantly through the finish line. You’ve done most of the training and yet you still don’t feel ready. You will ask yourself again, “why am I doing this?”
Afterwards you’ll know, but how can you make it easy to get to that post-run glow?
Practice.
As with most things, the more you do, the more normal it feels. You feel more confident about it and you can get a routine taking into consideration kit, food, travel.
If you are training for a specific race then it’s always worth fitting in a race or two in the build up. You can use these races to practice different aspects of racing
pacing: get a target pace and stick to it from the start
nutrition: what can you eat/drink along the way, does porridge for breakfast work
kit: shorts, tights, long-sleeves, short-sleeves?
people: how do you feel running in a crowd, will it feel supportive or will it put you off
Pick one or two things to focus on and judge your race on that, rather than overall time. If something goes drastically wrong then use that as a learning point and don’t do it again next time!
What distance should I race?
I’d advise racing shorter distances than your target race. If you’re aiming for 5km or below then you can get away with it as long as there’s sufficient recovery before your target race date. For longer distances you can use races to fine tune your speed and really test out your pace. If you’re stuck for races to enter that fit with your schedule, there’s always parkun, which can give you a race experience.
Being fit to race is more than just physical fitness. Practicing your race day strategy can give you the best start for your target race so don’t forget to do it!
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