Race Day Essentials

Chapter 13 – Race Day Prepration

What makes elite athletes perform to gold medal standard? What is that motives them to perform better than their peers? If you study their training programs, most are similar to those used by folks they are competing with. Ask most coaches and they will quickly tell you that their primary job is to mentally prepare the athlete for competition.

Not every athlete can have the benefit of an individual coach, but the advice in this chapter can give you a tremendous advantage over your individual competitors. It will increase your personal performance, whether your target is to beat the last time you ran a particular distance or to run a challenging new distance.

How to Practice Positive Imagery/Mind Power

I. Visualization

• Visualize the first goal of your training. e.g. to run 5 K, to complete the marathon. • Next visualize the key elements that get you there. • Then fill in as many details as possible. • Be positive but realistic.

II. Analyze the Problems

• Motivation? Determination? Performance? • Where are you losing it? • What are the causes?

III. Focus on Your Successes

• List the times when you started to have the problems and then overcame them and went on. • Relive the successful experiences and store them in your memory. • Your past successes can lead you to future ones! IV. Power Words • Develop a power word for your success with each of your major problems. • With each new or recurring problem, use the words and store the successes, e.g. imagining the word “character” as noted in our hill training session.

V. Mental Rehearsal

• Rehearse the experience many times each week. • Start with the key elements, problems, successes and goal fulfillment, and then fill in key details. • Always be realistic but positive and successful. • The more problems you project, the more likely you are to overcome them. VI. Shifting into the Right Brain

• The logical left brain has all the excuses. • The creative right brain can get the job done. • You can train yourself to shift over through Ignoring, Distracting, Projecting, Imaging. •Mental rehearsal will help you shift into the right brain so you can “do it.“

VII. An Unlimited Bag of Tricks

• Creativity can overcome almost any problem with time, realism, visualization. • If you believe in something, you can make it happen if it’s doable. Tricks: • The rubber band: think of a huge rubber band pulling you up the hill. • The fishing rod: you have hooked the person in front of you and now you are slowly reeling them in.

VIII. You Have the Capacity to Overcome Any Problem

• Work through your problems. • Learn from your experiences. • Become part of your success

Psychology and Running

Some final points...

1. Can people be overmotivated?

Overtraining or overstress can be a problem when all these stresses add up. It shows up in our motivational state. For example, not feeling like working out, feeling fatigued, sore, achy, having colds that won’t go away, having an elevated resting heart rate in the morning, etc. As suggested above, monitor your “feeling index” and look for patterns. If you feel this way for more than a few days in a row, perhaps go and see your doctor and get it checked out. It may be a virus or something else, but it also may be your system’s way of saying “Give me rest!”

Decreases in performance are because our bodies are responding to training stresses. With a bit of rest and time you’ll be back stronger than ever. It is part of the training cycle.

2. Dealing with setbacks.

Some people get worried if they miss a workout or two, don’t. The key to increasing your performance is to be consistent over the long run (months or years). Therefore, if you miss the odd run, there will be plenty of time to catch up in the future. Rest if you feel tired. This way you will have more energy for the next workout. Rest is as important as exercise. Missing an occasional run is unavoidable owing to other commitments (e.g., work, family). Learn to keep a healthy balance.

3. Dealing with Injuries.

There is a strong tendency for runners to ignore their body’s warning signs of stress. Often these are aches and pains which precede major overuse injuries. See a doctor if your symptoms haven’t alleviated in two or three days. Running on injuries usually makes them worse. We often put stress on other body parts when we run on an injury. The result...another injury. Just think of things in the big picture. Taking two or three weeks out to heal an injury now with professional help may save you from having to take six months off after trying to run through an injury and trying to cope with it yourself.

Helpful Tips on Keeping Motivated

1. Run with a friend, pet or running group.

Having to meet somebody is a great way of making sure you run, on days when you’re unmotivated.

2. How do I know if I’m lacking motivation or if I need a day off?

Try the 10 minute rule. If you start running and feel like you have no energy and are tired, try one of the following tips:

• A walking warm-up: sometimes you feel more like running once the stresses of the day have been eliminated.

• Jogging for about 10 minutes: if you feel better, carry on; if you do not, it’s probably you’re body saying “Give me rest.”

• Try at another time of the day after you’ve had some food. You may just be low in energy from being hungry, or just because of our normal daily “bio rhythms.”

3. How do I keep going on a run when I’m tired?

One idea is to break down the run into smaller segments and then focus on completing each segment as they come. Think positively; it’ll make your goals more attainable.

4. Keep things fun.

Try new runs; perhaps drive to a new training area and explore. Speed or hill training once or twice a week can break up the monotony of long runs. Cross-training can also relieve the monotony. Think of your runs a playtime! The Last 100 Meters

The highlight of the race comes in the last 100 m. Much has been written about the various stages of a race, in particular the marathon. The famous “wall” has entertained many readers, but the true joy and rewards usually come in the final 100 m or so of any race.

I have seen many a self-professed big tough runner brought to tears of joy as they run the final 100 m. Watch the finish of a marathon, you will see the joy of success mixed with the tears and toil of hard work that has brought the runner to the finish line. The real elation comes from the fact that each runner has pushed and paced themselves though the various difficult stages of the race. They have gone through the high and low points of the race and now can savor the sweet smell of the successful finish. Every runner that crosses the finish line knows that they have achieved success and are all winners in life as well as in the race.

Runners learn that during the race they need to focus on the goals of the day to get through the low points of the race. Experience teaches us that during each race, everyone goes through some low points where they ask, why am I in this race? We think: I like running but I don’t like racing. It hurts. Why don’t I just quit? Who will know? I’m too old for this; people are asking why is that runner even in the race? I could just drop out and never enter a race again, no one would notice. I could take the bus back and even stop for a muffin and cold juice. I’m too old; I’m too fat.

We have all heard that negative side of our brain nagging away at us during these times. Well, that’s when it’s important for you to take control of the situation and get the old positive brain—the “I feel great about everything” side—kick-started to take control of things. The best way is to think about something that requires your creative brain. A technique you can use is to run the final 100 m of the race during the warm-up. That way, when you’re running in the race and are at a point where you’re struggling, focus on that final 100 m, or think of the final 100 m of a previous race. Visualize the race finish banner, the crowd cheering you on and the race announcer’s voice. See yourself finishing in control with powerful strides. You are strong; you are fit; your breathing is in control; you are in control. Feel the elation of the finish and savor the moment for future training runs and races. The final 100 m is the self-motivational start of your next goal.

After the Race

The time immediately after a race is a great time to get motivated to train again. Change into some clean, dry clothes and savor the electric feeling that comes after a run. Enjoy the company of the other runners.

Try to keep moving around after the race. It will help flush your muscles of any waste products that can leave you sore. In the evening, a warm bath will help you gently loosen your muscles. If you are visiting a new city, the post-race afternoon is a great time to do some touring and model your new race T-shirt. You have special bragging rights for the balance of the day. You did it.

The day after the race is a good day to take off to allow your leg muscles to recover from the hard effort. You can swim or bike, if you want, because those activities will help loosen up your legs. Depending on the distance and your recovery, you may find that running only every other day during the week after a hard race will help the recovery of tired legs.

Often, after a race in which everything has gone well, you will be left with a new sense of motivation and confidence that will get you right back to your training with some new vigor and enthusiasm.