Ha ha, no, I don't actually own this movie. But in light of this past weekend's Daytona 500 and today's topic, though, I figured this quote was appropriate. I will admit to having watched it a couple of times on the Saturday afternoon movie on TV, though, and if I recall correctly, Tom Cruise's rookie driver, who was a hotshot winner in the minor leagues, is screaming into the radio about the disrespectful other drivers hitting and bumping him on purpose out on the NASCAR racetrack. And of course, Robert Duvall's wise old mentor character stands in the pit and tells him like it is. In other words, nobody is going to hand you anything just for showing up, and if you can't handle the ride, you'd better go buy yourself a ticket for the merry-go-round instead.
So as promised, today's blog entry is about race day. I have been thinking about what exactly to put down in writing here for a while, since at Team Bikeway.com we have all levels of athletes, who compete in a broad spectrum of races (seriously, from ITU to olympic distance tri's, ultra-endurance mountain bike races, Ironmans, duathlons, marathons, road races, criteriums... it's truly amazing). Also, my sport of choice, pro/1/2/3 women's road cycling, is a far different animal, and thus requires a much different approach to the race itself, than what I think is the most common race for the majority of our team members: the local, non-drafting, relatively short-distance triathlon. And, despite many years of being a coach and a competitive athlete, first in rowing, and now in road cycling, I know I still have way more to learn than what I already do know. But keeping all this in mind, I will try to distill it all down to some of what I think are a few universal tips and truths for getting through race day.
Pre-race:
1. Train. This, of course, was the last blog's topic. Do the work: steady state, intervals, race pace work, above race pace, taper, etc etc. Practice transitions. Practice sprints. All the stuff that's necessary to be physically prepared for race day. Otherwise, you won't be or feel prepared.
2. The night before the night before. Adequate sleep is key on this night. Don't stay up doing laundry for race day. Get it done earlier in the week. Otherwise, you'll feel it on race day.
3. Equipment prep. Is your bike working? Your helmet straps all together? Bike computer? Bike rack? Quick shoe laces in? Don't get derailed by an equipment malfunction on race day. Check it all out earlier in the week.
4. Packing. The night before. Seriously. You don't want to be running around the morning of trying to remember everything. Honey! Have you seen my aero helmet?!?! No good when you are stressed already.
5. Travel. Know where you're going. Again, don't be figuring this out the morning of the race. Get out the GPS. Plug in the address. Mapquest it. Know how long it takes. Add 20-30 minutes for unexpected traffic, roadwork or other delays.
6. Food. Eat some; pack plenty. The more you do this racing thing, the more you will fall into routines, including what you eat on race day. Everyone has their preferences and what they're used to. Depending on time of start and length of race, eat what you need so you won't be suffering hunger pangs, but not so much you'll be sick. I tend to stick to easy and predictable food beforehand. I am generally a bagel person but I have found that for a long races or rides, a good day-starter is a bowl of oatmeal (mixed Bob's Redmill 5 grain hot cereal and Hannaford's organic oatmeal) with a tiny bit of milk, a spoonful of unsalted natural peanut butter, a squeeze of liquid honey and a half a banana, sliced. Some people are able to use coffee as a sporting aid. But I drink a couple cups of it every morning, and stay away from it after 7:00 a.m. Anytime after that, and it starts to affect sleep, so when a race doesn't start until 10:00 I don't usually have any more (see race-food discussion below, though). I stay away from large amounts of dairy, eggs and acidic juices before racing, but again, everyone has their preferences. If the race starts later in the day, make sure you have enough. Also, hydrate well, but it is more important to have done that the day/night before so you don't have a problem mid-race! As for after the race, make sure you have plenty of stuff for afterwards, and don't rely on finding somewhere to buy something good and healthy on the road soon enough after your race effort so it will be effective for you.
7. Registration. If you were all prepped and together, and had no problem with the drive, you should be there with plenty of time to stand on line and get registered without worrying about cutting it too close to race start time. Keep a bag of safety pins in your car in case you forget to grab some for your race numbers. For road races, make sure you take note of number placement so you don't get back to your car and have no idea what side you need to pin the numbers on.
8. Race course. Look up the course profile on-line. Try to ride it. If not, drive the course if you can, or at the very least get a look at the finish line. For road racing, based on the course, devise a race plan and identify where selections in the race will be made and where you need to make sure not to get dropped.
9. Warmup. Again, this usually comes down to a matter of routine. Other factors are venue, weather and length of race. For crits I like to bring a trainer, so I don't have to go far from the course and risk riding around on strange roads and getting a flat. Remember to bring a different skewer so you don't wreck the good skewer in your race wheels. Do enough work to sweat and try to put out a couple of short race pace efforts to open the legs up, and follow with a good amount of easy spinning to flush lactic acid. It's hard to time everything and still get a good spot at the start line, but try not to spend too much time standing around after your warmup before the start.
10. On the line. Listen for race instructions. Yellow line rule? Full road for the finish line? Make sure you know the rules of the race or face DQ or worse. Also, place yourself well on the line. No sense in starting at the back. If you don't think you deserve to be at the front, you don't. Check out the Bikeway Facebook page for a link to an awesome pic of Justin out in AZ at a local race that all the pros training in the warmth show up for. Does he go to the back just because the big names show up? No way, he is front and center, getting the drop on everyone. And if you look to the right side of the pic, you'll see the women's winner shouldered her way to the front amongst the men as well.
During:
1. Avoid new food or products on race day. Race day is not really the day to experiment with new equipment, sneakers or food. Figure out what sports drink, shot blocks, gu's or other food to use before you race, or you might ruin your race with stomach problems. I have found that caffeinated gu's do work during the race for me, although they make it hard to sleep.
2. Control your nerves. It's good to be keyed up and race-ready, but being overly nervous is only a waste of energy. If you've done the work there is no reason to be nervous. You know that if you were on the course by yourself, you would get around it sooner or later. The test on race day is whether you are willing to push yourself to your limits and maximize performance to be competitive.
2. Dose your efforts. Obviously, don't go so hard right from the start that you have nothing left at the end when it counts or in the run leg. Unless you have a plan to gun it right from the start and can back it up (ahem, Mike Tanzi) learn how to put out a consistent effort, or even negative splits. In road racing, drafting is key, so unless you have a big team and you are a designated domestique, don't do all sorts of work and then have no legs left as the rest say thanks and go right by as the finish line nears.
3. Go when it counts. While triathlon is generally a more individual sport, since drafting is not allowed on the bike (althoughI am sure it happens in the water and the run), so you need to be pinning it the whole race, road racing consists of lulls and selections. When the road goes up, or an attack comes, again, unless you are a team leader and you have a teammate in the break or covering attacks, you need to be paying attention and making the selection each time to stick with the leaders. In this regard, road racing is a very tactical and strategic sport, where you need to make decisions: do I go hard now to stick with this attack? or do I save myself and count on it being brought back? It's not easy and very hard to explain, and to a very large extent it is an inherent talent and not something learnable, but being able to "read" a race is highly important.
Post Race:
1. Cool down. Try not to get sucked into chatting with everyone at the finish line and getting cold. Cool down, get dry clothes, chat later. Your body will thank you for it.
2. Food. As discussed above, have something to replace electrolytes, fluids, etc etc.
3. Learn from it. Did it go well? Not as well as you expected? What can you do better? What did you execute well? Win or not, there is always something to be gained for next time. For me, the question I always ask myself is if I could have gone harder. If I didn't get the result I wanted, was it really a matter of fitness or could I have pushed myself to stay on wheels and it was really only my head that prevented me from doing so? And this leads us to the next blog topic: mental toughness. And of course, more on that next time.
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