TAPER WELL
A proper taper (adjusting and reducing overall running volume) is a crucial step for feeling sharp and ready for race day.
For the coming week, try to focus on those elements:
Reduce your overall running volume by 30-50%: This will make sure your muscles recover while maintaining movement and overall fitness.
Maintain the intensity & reduce volume: Keep a high-intensity running workout but shorten the duration. For example, if you were used to hit 12 intervals of 1' in Z5, keep your last high intensity track session to 5-6 intervals to just keep the legs turning (we recommend doing this session on Thursday.
Avoid new activities: for this coming week, stick to familiar exercises and routines. Stick to your plan, running sessions and functional resistance training. It's not the time to try trampoline.
Try to have a short run with a FAST FINISH format at the beginning of the week for a quick burst at race pace.
START TO VISUALISE YOUR RACE
We all know how the "mental game" is crucial for having a positive outcome and to feel confident in your race.
In order to stay calm, assured and relax before and during the event, try to take 5-10 minutes each day to be with yourself and to do a visual mapping of the race. Mentally preparing how this futur event will occur is a vital tool to have that "brain scan" of all the little details of a future event.
Close your eyes, take a big breath, and start to map out all the different steps (in a chronological manner) that will take place the 26th of Mai 2024. The time you'll wake up, your pre-running meal, the clothes you are going to wear, how you will get to Le Parc Cinquantenaire, when will you arrive, the place you will warmup, the excitements of meeting all the runners gathering together, the details of the parcours and how fresh your legs will feel. Putting those informations back to back will give you a lot of clarity, avoid mistakes, forget something and focus more on what truly matter: why you decided to complete this race in the first place.
Practicing your self talk and positive cues is also an important part of this visualisation process. Knowing what kind of inner thoughts your mind will go too during darker time and how you will mentally confront this inner dialogue his vitally important.
PREP THE RACE SEGMENTS & PARCOURS
If you perform a competition in a foreign environment, you might not be able to scout the whole parcours beforehand (if you can, going through certain road segments might help you with the visualisation process we discussed earlier). But you can still prep where some elevations might show up, where some tough hills might be and where the refueling stations will be placed. Prepping those informations will allow you to know exactly which segments might be harder and to prepare your pace strategy accordingly.
SLEEP
This one should be obvious. During the remaining days leading to the race, sleep with the best of your abilities. Put your sleep in priority. Schedule extra time to properly wind down, and to not let anything distract you from those precious sleeping hours.
On Sunday morning, as the race is scheduled at around 10am, I'd not suggest you to take an extra hours or two. You might have some struggle to sleep that night due to the excitement and stress of the race (that's completely fine). This is the reason why you want to have a solid week of proper rest and restorative nights of sleep prior to that. Stay as close to your regular wake up time & take those extra minutes to settle your mind.
PRE-RACE MEAL
When it comes to your breakfast (aka pre-race meal), it ultimately comes down to personal preference. By now, you should know the meal that sits well in your stomach before you hit the road and what will bring the sufficient amount of energy. If you haven't properly tried your pre-race meal, keep those general guidelines in mind.
Aim to eat a small meal 90'-2h before race time with a heavy focus on carbohydrates (1-1.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of your body weight). This amount ensures that your muscles are well-fueled without overloading your digestive system.
Your food choices should be base on ingredients you can easily digest. My personal go to is a bagel topped on peanut butter, banana, cinnamon, honey, pink of salt and peanut butter powder (#peanutbutterfan). Thanks me later.
Avoid high-fiber and high-fat foods. High-fiber foods can cause digestive issues during the race. Stick to a lower-fiber and high fat ingredients as they will slow down digestion.
Hydrate properly. Drink water with your meal but avoid over-hydrating. About 500-1000 ml of water with your meal until race time is usually sufficient. Slowly sip your water up until about 30 minutes before the race starts. The water content should have a sufficient amount of sodium in it. Depending on your water/salt loss ratio, you should aim to top off between 3000-4300 mg sodium / 750ml to a full L of fluid respectively in order to increase your overall blood volume.
PS: If you want to learn more about this make sure to listen to Dr. James DiNicolantonio's podcast - OPTIMIZING SALT INTAKE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
COME EARLY
If you've ever experience a running race event, the 1h before race time goes very quickly. Public transport, crowded city, parking spots, you name it. Don't make this mistake of shooting to come just 30' in advance. It won't be enough. Be a bit more optimistic here and be around the starting line 60' before the race begins. This will make sure you feel calm, relaxed and allow you to warmup properly.
INTRA NUTRITION & HYDRATION PLAN
Gun shots. Cortisol levels and adrenaline is pumping through your veins. First kilometers pass by like nothing and you slowly find your rhythm. Depending on your pace prediction, as a general rule of thumb, respecting the 50-60g of carbohydrates source per hour formula is a good starting point. Combine this with a minimum of 500ml of water/h that can be with a source of carbohydrate to meet those 50-60g or plain water with electrolytes.
Theoretically, if you did your job right, you've prepped during your long runs the type of carb source you will use during the race and the quantity that goes with it.
There you go. You have everything in your hands now for experiencing a successful race. Dice are thrown.
Don't guess or let luck dictate the outcome of this race & control the controllable as much as you can.
Ohh. Don't forget to HAVE FUN too!
Passionately,
Max & Ben
Written by Benjamin Desmet
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