How to Prepare for a Virtual Race
You’ve done countless hours of training. The “hay is in the barn”. It’s race week. What’s the right balance of training and recovery to get it right? The last thing you want to do is go into race day too tired from too much race week training or too lethargic from not enough race week training. Then there’s nutrition to consider. Should you carb load? When should you start? So many questions, but they all must be answered before the week of the race so you can have your best performance on race day.
A race week slogan I like to use is “sharpen the sword”. You have done the work. All you have to do now is stay sharp. As you get closer to race day, your workouts should back off drastically in volume, but the intensity should stay high which will keep your system sharp.
For example, if you were building up to race week with a 60 minute cycling session with a main set of 5 x 5 minutes at threshold intensity, early in the week you would want to back the session down to 45 minutes with the main set being 5 x 2.5 minutes at threshold intensity. 1-3 days out, the session would be 30 minutes with the main set being 5 x 1 minute at threshold intensity. Staying sharp, but not depleting you too much. You’d want to keep this same structure across all 3 disciplines.
In addition to training within the 3 disciplines of swim, bike, run, you need to make sure you body is functioning at its highest level of efficiency. Our bodies get use to the intense lifestyle of training we conduct day in and day out. When you taper, although you are staying sharp, you still are not getting in the same amount of movement per day your body is use to. This leads to race week stiffness. We have all had this if your a triathlete. You say to yourself, “ Great, I made it this far without getting injured, now I feel some pain race week”. This is common and all the more reason you need to be sure to stay loose by using a foam roller daily, stretch before and after workouts, get a massage, and complete 2-3 short sessions of functional strength work.
Nutrition is very important race week. You need to keep your glycogen reserves topped off but not over carb load, and you need to hydrate but not over hydrate. Early in race week I tell my athletes to keep doing what they have been doing. Nothing new. Eat how they have been eating. This is a good time to get caught up on some calories you might have been missing. With less volume in training, you are burning less calories with means more of those calories consumed can go to restoring glycogen and rebuilding muscles. Do not worry about race week weight gain. You must be topped off. If you go into race day depleted because you cut calories race week you will not have a good day. I’d rather you be up a few pounds and strong, than down a few pounds and weak. 3 days out from the race you can start your “carb load” This doesn’t mean you go nuts at the all you can eat bread bar down the street. This just means you choose carbohydrate options and snack on carbohydrate rich foods. You can still eat fats and protein, but carbs are the focus.
Example Carb Load Meal Plan:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Almond Butter, Toast with Jam
Snack-Fig Newtons
Lunch- Wrap with Turkey and a Sweet Potato on the side
Snack- Pretzels Dinner- Pasta, Marinara Sauce, Chicken Breast, Salad
Race morning you are topped off with your glycogen (carbohydrates) you can eat your oatmeal with a big scoop of peanut butter with some avocado on the side while you sip on an electrolyte drink.
Regarding hydration, never drink straight water. You must always have electrolytes added to your water. Electrolytes(sodium) help the fluid transfer from the intestine into the bloodstream. If you dilute the sodium in our system too much with straight water, the sodium you do have becomes inefficient. You need to keep the balance in order, so always add electrolytes to your drinks or even a bit of extra salt to your food. You will seat any excess out race day, but you need to go into race day topped off with electrolytes. You want your pee to be on the clearer side but not too clear. If you are over-hydrated, you might feel sluggish/tired and all of the peeing will keep you up all night. Sip on your electrolyte drink throughout the week, but don’t chug it down all day everyday.
2 days out from your event is a good day to take an off day if you feel you need one. It’s a perfect day to travel to the race, get caught up on sleep, get a massage, complete your race check in, stroll the expo, decompress, and relax.
1 day out from the race, do some short workouts with short intense efforts. This will get you ready to rock, and work off some of the race day nerves.
All of this sounds like a lot to keep in mind but you put a lot of time and energy into your training for race day. You don’t want to stop just short by not doing everything you can race week in order to have your best race possible.
~Coach Jim
