Tips on Pre-Race Prep

Come Sunday morning, I, along with 300+ others, will be at Kalamalka Provincial Park running our hearts out!  The North Face Dirty Feet Trail Run Series is coming to town!  The options are 8km, 25km and an intense 50km Ultra Run.  This time around I have decided I will try the 8km race with a goal of completion:) in under one hour.  Back in February when I ran the 10km I finished in an hour so looking to beat my time.  It will be interesting to see how road vs. trail plays out.  I know I enjoy the varied landscape of trails more than straight paved road so it should be a good one!  I am excited!

10 km in February 2014

Over the past week or so I have been researching pre-race preparation.  I will list a bunch of the sites at the bottom of this post for you to take a gander at if you are interested as well.  I narrowed the tips down to the items that I was really curious about and though some sources provide differing views on certain subjects, overall most were very similar.  So what I have for you here are nuggets that I took away from all my reading!  Here we go:

1.  Race-Day Breakfast:  aim for 75-100 grams of carbohydrates 3 hours prior to the race.  Your breakfast should be a high energy, easily digestible, low fat, low fibre meal.  Eat 2-3 hours before race starts so that you give yourself plenty of time to consume and digest.  Some sources recommended a sports drink to provide you with electrolytes.  Also advising that the sports drink and food be something you have consumed before to know for sure that there was no negative reaction to it.

2.  Water Intake:  double your water intake the day prior to the race and drink 16oz of water 2 hours before the race.  Hydration is extremely important.  A sign of dehydration is more yellow in your urine and if you are worried about your hydration levels, some suggested adding salt to your food the day before the race as salt helps the body retain water.

3.  Exercise Day Prior to Race:  a short, easy workout the day before the race can keep your body primed for race mode.  Going for a 20 minute light jog is one idea that was prevalent throughout the articles I read.

4.  Sleep:  try to get 8-10 hours of sleep the night before the race (and even better try to get many good nights sleeps in the days leading up to the race).  Plan to get up a minimum of 3 hours before the start of the race for optimal performance.

5.  Warm-Up:  start your warm-up about 30 minutes before the start of the race.  Begin with an easy jog then do some dynamic stretches such at toe touches and walking lunges.  Then finish with a few 20-30 second bursts at race pace.  You don't want to start warming up too early as you don't want to expel more energy than needed.  Try to have your warm-up completed about 5-10 minutes before the horn blows but keep moving during those pre-race minutes.

6.  Food Day Before:  eat carbohydrates 1-3 days leading up to the race.  A rule of thumb if you need something more specific is 4.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight.  You also don't want to consume new foods the day before the race just in case it has adverse effects on your body.  A few elite runners shared they thought the best strategy is to eat smaller meals & snacks that you know your body easily digests.  Taper down the amount as you get closer to bed.  I found this article about carb-loading very useful http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/fill-er?page=single

7.  Other Jems:

• Have a mantra for when times get tough ~ and they will somewhere along the line.  For example, "Think strong, be strong, finish strong"  "Run fast, go past" "I got this" 
• Ignore all the speedsters at the start of the race ~it's easy to get caught up and before you know it you are running your neighbour's pace and not yours ~ focus on your pace ~ start conservatively and build throughout the race.  Ideally, this will lessen the chances of fizzling out soon into the race.  And, hopefully, you will have more energy to complete the race.
• Visualize your race and visualize completing it.  Mind over matter.
• Have your clothing all laid out day before and gear all packed.  Don't wear new items of clothing or new shoes ~ go with ones you know you are comfortable in. Gear to think about is I.D., camelback, energy shots like Stingers or energy bar, tunes with buds if permitted on the race, race package.  Read over fine print and race details and familiarize yourself with the area you are racing in ~ check out the maps provided on-line, etc.  
• Wear good running socks! *Side note:  I am in love with Smart Wool running socks!

Here are the key sites that I found most useful if you find you want more detailed information.  Like I said I simply took what I considered to be nuggets of good information.  

• http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/pre-race-preparation-rest-fuel-and-warm-up
• http://www.active.com/running/Articles/10-Race-Day-Preparation-Tips.htm?page=3
• http://www.active.com/running/articles/what-to-do-before-your-5k?page=2
• http://jeffgalloway.typepad.com/jeff_galloways_blog/2013/05/preparing-for-race-day-5k-10k-131-262-or-ultra-distance.html
• http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/fill-er?page=single

*Disclaimer:  As with everything, there are many differing opinions out there and finding out what works for you will come with time.  Talking to a trainer would be worthwhile to get some more informed opinions:)