The 3 Days Prior to Your Race
Essential Strategies for the 3 Days Before Your Race
Just like your birthday, race week should be celebrated.
As a runner, it’s often hard to get in all of the training you’d like to do and even when we do have the time, sometimes we get nicked up along the way.
So to make it to the start line of any race is a victory!
Some of us know from our middle school or high school days that we raced often. We’ve been known to race on Saturday at an invitational, turn around and double or triple at a dual meet, and then come back on the weekend and run another invitational meet.
Those days sound exhausting just typing it out.
Luckily, or thankfully, as adult runners we aren’t beholden to any race schedule. More importantly, there aren’t too many midweek races to tempt us to run.
So instead, we get to be picky and choose wisely which races we will run. And since we don’t have to race multiple times a month, we can space out our races leaving us with more time to get in solid training blocks.
In today’s post, I’ll be reviewing what we should do 3 days before our race, and next week I’ll talk about what to do 3 days after our race.
Race Week:
If we have a Saturday race, that means we can get in some decent mileage on race day. Heck, I think it’s even acceptable to make race day your long run day. *I know many high school and college runners would turn around the next day and do a long run on Sunday, but we’re not that anymore.
Knowing that Saturday is race day and potentially long run day, this makes Friday a really easy run with some good striders at the end of it.
A Friday morning run is best because it allows for a bigger recovery window before your race (24+ hours). Friday evening is doable, but less ideal (shorter recovery time until race). Depending on your mileage, I can see 3-6 miles (20-50 minutes) of easy running.
Thursday - 2 days before a race - has been different for me over the years. As a runner, I liked having that day off (no running), but I also know that as a coach, some runners are built differently and have much higher mileage than I do/did. So, I absolutely prescribe Thursdays as flex days, meaning that some might like to take off and others can run upwards of 6-8 miles 2 days before a race. Like I said, all runners are different, so we can’t all do the same thing and think it’ll work out.
Again, I’m not one of those high-mileage runners anyway, but I know that some runners can do this.
Wednesday
I’ve prescribed all kinds of runs for my runners 3 days out from races.
For some runners, 3 days out from race day is the perfect time to do a workout. It’ll be out of their legs for race day, but it’s also the stimulus that they are looking for.
If it’s not a peak race, I feel comfortable suggesting a hearty workout. Most likely, this will be mostly threshold, but if we’re in the part of a training cycle where some turnover will help them, then it might be a combination workout: a little bit of threshold and a little bit of speed.
For others, a simple workout like repeat 400s is great because 400 meters is short enough that you feel like you’re working, but not long enough that you have to mentally strain just to stay engaged.
Higher mileage runners can handle more volume the week of the race while lower mileage runners can benefit from a small taper leading up to the race.
Okay, so that’s the three days before a race.
Are you feeling ready to crush your next race? Now that you know what to do in the few days leading up to the event, I’d love to hear how you’re preparing.
Share your pre-race routine or let me know if you have any questions about my recommendations.
What’s your strategy for fueling, hydrating, and staying mentally sharp? Comment below or send me a message—I’m here to help you fine-tune your approach and make sure you feel 100% ready on race day.
Are you ready for a training plan? Send me a message and we can get started.
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On the Blog:
Common Mistakes to Avoid on Race Day
And From the Newsletter:
Embracing Shorter Race Distances
Practice Race Day Situations in Training
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