Preparation and planning for race day.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
- Benjamin Franklin.
I remember hearing a story of a stage actress (sorry, her name
slips my mind) who, before every show would go on stage and run through every
line, every movement, and hit every mark before the show started. Without fail,
she did this every show, even if the show ran for several months. One would
think that after so many shows, she would stop this routine. But there she was,
every night before the curtain raised, going through every line on stage.
This really stuck
with me when I heard it. It was her dedication to her craft and the seriousness
that she took her job. Her excellence may have been seen as talent, something she
was born with, but what no one saw were the hours of work she put in.
What would a theater production and stage actress have to do
with a triathlon or any race for that matter? Great ideas, focus,
determination, and preparation are important in everything we do if we want to
achieve success.
It is
coming to the end of the season. Everyone’s “A’ races are just around the
corner, whether it is your first race, a local 5k, World Championships,
Wisconsin, Kona, Arizona, or any number of other races. What I have come across
recently are many athletes who have put in a lot of training, but outside of
nutrition, heart rate, or power data, they have no real race plan. They know
little about the course. They know what they will have for breakfast, which is
good, but only know if it is a flat bike or hilly run, etc. When you go into a race, leave as little to
chance as possible. Here are some areas to think about when coming up with a
race plan.
1.
Know
your course. When I did Ironman Wisconsin, I knew the bike route like
the back of my hand. I rode it with friends many times before and I went up to
ride the loop several times before I raced it. Every time I rode the course, I
planned out my race. I knew when the roads were fast, I knew when they were slow.
Everything was planned out, from how to take a corner so it was fast to the
large rollers- carry speed down and use momentum to carry myself over the top
as to not use too much energy climbing. I never rode the entire route out and
back, but I did drive it. A big mistake
I made when training for Wisconsin was never looking at Observatory hill. It
would have been easy for me to bike most of the run course on one of many trips
up there and that little extra riding would have helped on race day. Every
Olympic I have raced, I drive the course a day or two out. At one pre race
dinner I was telling other Pro’s about the bike course and warned about a
dangerous turn. Sure enough on race day a very famous triathlete was being
loaded into an ambulance on that same corner (he was not in our discussion). I
don’t know if he ever drove the course, but I knew a hard turn there would end
in a possible accident. Riding the run
course is part of my day before race prep. Knowing where the turnaround is on
an out and back can be a huge mental advantage. Knowing of any hills, exposed
areas to the sun with no shade can help prepare for the run. You may not be
able to see the entire course, but there are maps out there. Study them. Look
at elevations and where on the maps any climbs are. You may not be good at
reading elevation maps, but will have a better idea of what to expect.
2.
Segment
the course: I tell all my athletes to segment the course. Break it down
into parts. This makes it a lot easier on race day from a mental approach. 112
miles can sound daunting. If you break it into 4 x 28 miles stretches, it does
not sound as bad. Wisconsin is an easy course to segment on the bike. There is
the ride out, and then each loop, and finally the ride back in. If you focus on
each section then the parts are easier to handle then the whole. Break your
swim up by buoys and turns. The bike and run can be done by aid stations and
out and backs. The longer the race, the more important it is. During Hell Week
for Navy Seal Training, where the candidates get very little sleep, they are
told, just make it to each meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. When it gets
difficult, if you focus on each individual segment, it becomes a lot easier to stay
motivated and keep moving through each section..
3.
Train
to your race strategy: Once you have a race strategy and know your
course, train to it. If there is a bike course that has a lot of turns (ITU
World Champs in Chicago for example), work on your cornering and pickups out of
those corners. If you go into a race without working on small spikes in power
for a race with a lot of corners (you spike in power as you get back up to
speed), then when the run comes, your legs are going to feel flat. If there are
hills, do some practice on hills or simulate hills in some way. What is the
history of the swim venue? Is it usually choppy, flat like glass? Make sure to
prepare yourself at least mentally for the conditions you will race in.
4.
Practice
every situation: What are you going to do if you get a flat during your
race? Have you practiced changing a flat so you are quick and efficient and there
is not panic? Prepared if it is a non wet suit swim? Do you know what to do if
you throw your chain? Preparing for as many situations as possible will not
only make correcting the situation faster, but will also keep you calm.
