Race day can be very stressful, between registration, trying to remember all your equipment and warm-ups, it's hard to stay focused. This episode details everything you need to help build a solid pre-race routine to make your race day stress free.
We are going to look at tweaking your pre-race routine. Any race day can be stressful, especially if there is something big on the line, your performance on the day is dependent on three factors; your physical and nutritional preparation, your mental preparation and your pre-race warm-up. Putting time into planning your pre-race routine will save vital energy from being sucked away by wasted time and effort. Ultimately it would be great if someone could do this for us, but we are semi-pros, not pros, so we need to take it into our owns hands to ensure our systems are tight. Having a system in place ensures that nothing is left to chance, it also allows us to build habits that protect us from unplanned events. The system below is built on my experience in self-supported races, meaning I’m the person getting everything ready, no soigneurs here.My main here is to list out all the elements involved so you can get an idea of the level of detail involved in putting together a complete pre-race plan. It’s a comprehensive list so don’t be overwhelmed.
Night beforeShower: Don’t waste energy showering on the day of the race.Pre-Race Routine Checklist
Race Site
It’s the one thing that can most likely break your race if not done right, or at all.Most days pro road riders hop out of their team bus and roll to the start line without a warm-up, but before the time trials, mountain bike races, crits and ‘cross where it’s necessary to bust out from the gun at peak effort, the riders warm up. I want to take a closer look at warm ups because they are the 80/20 of the pre-race routine. I am going to focus on the elements surrounding your warm-up rather than the warm-up itself. I am saving that for next time because it deserves its own episode.Here you will find a list of useful ideas and tools for a better warm up. While yes you are going to need a trainer, ergo, rollers, whatever you use, there are some other things that help in certain situations such and hot and cold weather.Let’s start with the weather: The colder the day, the longer you would want the warm-up to be. You will be wearing layers of clothes, strip these off as you warm up.
While I’m the topic of breathing and noses if you use Breathe Right make sure you put it on before you even break a sweat. It won’t stay on properly otherwise. Also, one other tip, tape your warm-up to your top tube.The practicality of warm up is an article that is a great place start when planning the system around your warm-up. I have copied their list below.
1. Have a routine that prepares you physically and mentally2. Set your watch to the “official” race time so you won’t be late.3. Time your warm-up to finish about ten minutes before your race start.4. Know where the start is, and how long it will take to get there. Factor this into the warm-up.5. Give yourself a 5-minute cushion to get to the starting area, make sure you are sweating (but towel off after the warm-up)6. Sit alone or roll around and focus on the effort, thinking about the desired wattage and heart rates for the effort you are about to put forth7. Arrive at the line ready to go.
And you're away! Like I said at the start there is a lot that goes into your pre-race routine so don’t be overwhelmed at this stage. I am going to put all this information together in a pack so you can really experience stress-free race days!
