5 tips to planning your race day and making sure you have a stress free race!
It can’t be said enough that having a plan when training is vital to getting the best performance you can give. But why do so many people then throw that all away on race day by not planning for the one thing that we have been focussed on for 10 weeks or up to 12 months (dependant on your distance)? Having a race day plan is easy to do and can make your day go so much smoother.
I’ve put together a list of the things that I have found benefit lots of athletes, some you may already do (well done!) and some you may never have even thought of.
I can’t overstate this enough; you need to know how your own kit is set up every time you race. This is one place where so many age groupers lose huge amounts of time by just not being organised. I tend to work from the head down when I lay out my kit and keep it as clutter-free as possible. The shorter the race, the more ruthless you can be. Question every piece of kit you are taking; if you don’t need’ it, don’t take it.
That being said, if it is your first race or being quick is not your goal, then include the nice to have stuff. The main point here is that you are less likely to panic and forget kit if you’re organised in transition.
Always walk transition as you well during the race, start from Swim in, and walk to your transition area, making mental notes of immovable objects that you can use as landmarks to guide you to your bike (don’t rely on the old ‘my bike/helmet is bright etc.) transition will be chaos when you see it during the race. Walk to your bike a few times until you get it in your head, then do the same for the bike out and run out. This will not only save time but will also save stress. Take a look at your pre-race athlete information for a layout of the transition area or find one located in race HQ; this way, you can get a real clear view of where you are and where you need to go.
This is about the only chance you and I will probably be in with a chance of beating the pro’s; there are plenty of times you see people falling about on their arses because they can’t figure out how to get out of their wetsuits or end up with their swim cap still on coming onto the bike……Or even bike helmet still on when running. These are the little mistakes that can be ironed out quite quickly with some time dedicated to practising your transitions.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. The more you rush, the bigger the chance you make a mistake, this isn’t too much of an issue if you forget your sunglasses on a sprint run, but something like forgetting your socks on an iron-distance could be a race ender. Take your time in transition and remember your practice, and you will fly through in no time. I can’t overstate this; take your time now and reap the benefits later.
We sometimes forget that this sport is supposed to be fun and take ourselves far too seriously. Take some time to think about why you started your training and what you hoped to get out of it, and I bet part of that was to have some fun. Race day is all about you and what you want to take out of it; just because you are racing to beat others, yourself or Qualify for a championships doesn’t mean you can’t have fun and enjoy it. You have spent weeks, months or even longer to get to the start line; take some time to take it all in. The bigger the race, the more support and encouragement you’ll get from the crowd. Use it, high five them, laugh at the fancy dress and smile all the way around; you deserve it!
These tips should be nice and easy to practice and implement. They can be the difference between a terrible race and a PB. One of the key things to take away from this is that Triathlon is not all about swimming, bike and run, there are many moving parts to the overall jigsaw, and if you spend time improving the weaker areas, you can get a big return from your small investment.
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