Have you ever gone to a race and gotten there a bit late? Do you feel anxious and nervous? Like you aren’t really ready to race? Yeah, me too. It’s a terrible feeling.
It’s a shame because it’s so easy to get rid of that feeling. This blog post will walk you through exactly what you need to be thinking about so that on race day you can focus just on the race!
There is no worse feeling than being on a start line you really don’t deserve to be on. If you haven’t done the work, the race will chew you up and spit you out. When this happens, there isn’t much you can do except stay calm and rely on your racing experience.
If you’ve ever heard the quote “failing to plan equals planning to fail”… Yeah, this is kinda what they are talking about. Going into a race with a plan can lessen your stress and anxiety and help you perform better.
If you have some pre-race planning under your belt, however, you’ll never feel totally out of place.
Use this race day checklist to plan for your next race and never be surprised by anything on race day ever again:
Food
What am I going to eat?
Knowing what you’ll eat and drink 48 hours, 24 hours, and day of the race is important. Don’t neglect planning for this. Before you travel out of town for a race, locate places where you’ll enjoy the meal. Have a plan in mind for not only what you’ll eat but when you’ll eat. Plus, you’ll probably want to locate a grocery store so you can pick up snacks and things you’ll want.
If you are racing close to home, prepare healthy, balanced meals that you know sit well with your stomach. In either race situation – close to home or across the globe – bring snacks that you are familiar with. You don’t want to have the first few miles of the race searching for a porta-john.
Parking
Where’s the best place to park?
If it’s a big city race or has potential parking issues, you’d better have an idea of where to park before the race starts without you. Get to your location early so you’ll still have time to warm up and do your pre-race routine.
If you can, bring a non-racer with you as your chauffeur. Have them drop you off and find parking while you get any last minute tasks done, including warming up. You’ll want to get to the race at least 90 minutes before the race is supposed to start so you can take care of everything you need to.
If you are familiar with the area, but can’t park close by, try warming up to the starting line. I wouldn’t suggest this method if it’s your peak race as this can be a bit more stressful than a typical warm up.
If you find you can’t locate a parking spot, don’t panic. Stay calm and think about how you can best resolve the issue.
Check the Course
What’s the course like? What’s the finish like?
Regardless of what race distance you’re running, you should do a bit of research prior to race day and find out what the course is like. Are there hills or sharp turns? You may not know this if you haven’t looked at the course prior to the race. It’s not always easy, for example, to run a marathon course prior to race day, but you could run sections of it or you could jump on YouTube and do some internet scouting of the course.
Nowadays, most courses have online maps. They are there for a reason! Knowing when a hill is coming or a 180* turn around can ease your mind and help you prepare for the course.
At the very least, you should know what the last mile looks like. At the end of a hard race, it’s very helpful to know when the finish line is coming. You’ll be thankful you did when you’re tired and searching for the end.
Weather
What’s the weather going to be like?
Pack for the worst-case scenarios. You can always take clothes off if you have them, but if you don’t have anything to put on, you’re SOL.
Be prepared for rain, snow, wind, sunshine, heat wave or ice storm. You can never be too over-prepared, just underprepared.
Pacing
What’s my pace? What should my finishing time be?
Going into the race, you should know what you’re capable of and set a realistic goal based on the training you’ve done. If you’ve run the course before, you’ll be able to compare your current fitness to your previous fitness and predict your finishing time. If you’ve done everything the same, you should still be able to run faster because you’ve logged more cumulative miles than the previous year.
Back-Up Plan
Having a Plan B is very important as well. You’ll want to make sure you account for and prepare for something to go wrong. If your shoes come untied or you require an extra bathroom break, what are you going to do? You’ll have already thought about it, planned for it and it won’t be a big deal.
Bottom line. Just because you’re not a professional runner, doesn’t mean you can’t prepare like one. Be sure to do your homework before you lace up for your next race.
You’ll want your GPS charged, your favorite race attire washed and ready, and a familiar meal prepped and ready to devour. If you take care of the basic racing essentials, you won’t be caught on race day lost and without a clue.
Use this running checklist to be as prepared as possible when racing! #runcoach #TrainwithMarc
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