RACE DAY AND THE DAY BEFORE

This handout will deal with details of Race strategy and also the final 
few days of preparation.  It should be remembered that you should be in 
a taper at this stage and not be doing any hard work-outs as they may 
leave you flat for the race.  The amount of taper should be about 1 day 
for every 2 kilometres of race distance.  During this period you should 
reduce your total distance run during the week and reduce the number of 
hard sessions.  It is important to keep the leg speed high so light 
intervals may be useful during the taper.

Race Strategy
If you are racing against the clock rather than other people then the best 
race plan is to run at a constant effort for the whole race.  Only when 
you are racing against others should you consider tactical effort 
adjustment in order to psychologically affect your opponent.  In most 
cases the best strategy is to just 'run your own race'.  Even effort racing 
means slowing down up hills and speeding up going down them not 
simply running at the same pace all of the time.

Although the best strategy sounds simple there are a couple of traps that 
you should be on the look out for.  The first and most common is to start 
out at too fast a pace.  It is very easy to get caught up in the excitement 
of the event an start out beyond your ability.  It is almost impossible to 
start too slow so take it easy for the first mile/kilometre.  The next most 
common trap is racing too fast too early and developing a lactate build 
up early on in the race.  This is quite bad as you start hurting and your 
breathing becomes ragged and you must slow down.  The best(forced) 
approach is too slow down.  Try not to drop off by 30-45 secs per 
kilometre rather try to go only about 5-10 seconds per kilometre slower.  
The lactate should still start being buffered as long as you are below your 
anaerobic threshold.

As a final modification the best strategy should look like: constant race 
pace till about 60%-70% of race distance then if you feel you can run 
faster  gradually speed up for the final few miles/kilometres.

The last couple of days
The main thing here is to get plenty of rest, make sure your muscles are 
fully charged with glycogen, and you are fully hydrated.  So get plenty of 
sleep, eat a high carbohydrate (not fat) diet and drink plenty of fluids.

The day before
I prefer having a light run.  Try and do it in the morning, make it only 
about 15-20 minutes and make it easy with a few light accelerations 
included.

The night before
Pack your bag and include the following: running shoes, socks, shirt, 
shorts, water bottle, bandages and vaseline, money, race number and 
safety pins.  Try and eat a light meal at night and drink plenty of water.

Race morning
After you wake up start drinking to keep hydrated,  drink your last water 
about 20 minutes before the start of the race.  Don't eat, it won't get 
processed in time to do any good.  Tie double knots in your shoelaces to 
avoid them coming undone during the race.  Start the warm-up about 30 
minutes before the race.

Warm-up
The warm-up should look a bit like this.  Walk, Jog, Stretch, 
Accelerations, Walk,  Relax .  The relax part should be about 5-10 mins 
just before race start.

Start
As you line up for the race shift gears and relax, joke, un tense your 
muscles.  When the gun goes off start slowly.  After the race cool down, 
stretch and drink plenty of water.