A Week of Training Leading Up to Race Day
Different training tactics during race week
On my weekly Thursday morning run with “the dads”, a lot of them have a race this weekend.
None of them were peaking or tapering. None of them significantly cut their Thursday mileage. None of them ran slower or eased off their Tuesday workouts.
None of them slept in and got their runs done later. We all started at the 5 o’clock hour and finished as the sun was rising.
I found this fascinating that every single one of these guys (about 6 of us total) didn’t do anything to freshen up before their weekend race.
Race Day
Now, in fairness, none of these races were “A races” for anyone. They were all just stepping stones to bigger races. So I get that. And I also know that their mileage is considerably higher than mine (25 mpw for me and 40-50+ for them).
The bigger goal for most of these guys is Broad Street Run which requires a different level of training. But these races offer a good stimulus and litmus test as to where they are based on the training they’ve done.
Week of Training
The gents didn’t appear to cut back any of their runs to this point, but that might be the case tomorrow. I can imagine that a 3-5 mile run plus a few striders is on their agenda. Again, because this isn’t their goal race, they are going in with some tired legs and really focusing on trying to run fast with heav legs.
This isn’t ideal for every runner, but I’ve definietly done this. Training through a race, especially a race that “doesn’t matter”, is common for runners who have big end-of-season goals. Racing on tired legs is common and understandable for those who don’t want to cut down their mileage for “just another race”.
For others though, tapering and resting up is a must no matter what kind of race is it. As a coach, I’m 100% behind the act of resting up and letting your body recover in time for a quality race day.
There is not a right way, there’s just your way. And it’s possible that for some races you do rest up while others you go in with some tired legs. You’ll need to assess whether it’s better to be on the fresher side or whether training through makes more sense for you.
Race Day
We ended up talking about what time they’ll show up and what their plans are for race morning. They all decided they’d be there roughly an hour before the race so they could get in as much quality time spent running (without sitting around waiting and getting cold). The consensus was between 2 and 3 miles for the 5k’ers and 2ish for the 5 miler.
This is consistent and what I would deem approriate for a February race which is clearly and obviously not a peak race.
Recovery Tips
It’s true that the more mileage you run the easier it is to recover from hard sessions. I know that when I was running 60-80 mpw, I could recover from a 14 mile run or a long threshold session way quicker than I could ever recover now.
That’s a fact.
So it’s not a surprise that the dads I run with need less time to recover from a Thursday 8 miler. They’ll be ready much sooner (racing on Saturday) than I’ll be for my workout (on Sunday).
I’ve come to peace with it and hopefully after this post, you can be too.
Not every body recovers at the same rate from the same workout. If your body is telling you it needs more rest, that’s what you should give it!
Friday’s Action Plan:
Find a race week strategy that works for you. Each race, fine tune what works and what didn’t
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Quote of the Week:
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