Congratulations!! It’s race week! You’ve made it.
A long, hard winter of race prep is behind you, and now you are staring right down the barrel of the race. I’m sure this is a time of mixed emotions, excitement, uncertainty, maybe a little anxiousness (hopefully all being managed by the strategies I gave you last week). Race week also gives you the great opportunity to be proud of what you accomplished, and enjoy the moment. You’ve earned this moment, so please take the time to enjoy it.
One of the best opportunities this time period provides is the opportunity to reflect on what you’ve learned during race prep (up to and including race day). Here’s a list of questions I use during my race debrief with my runners. Run yourself through this list of ten questions at some point next week and see what you learn:
- What did you do very well during this race prep?
- What could you have done better during this race prep?
- What aches, pains, or injury issues prevented you from performing better during prep or the race?
- Did you do a poor, average, or great job with your:
- Eating during race prep?
- Stretching during race prep?
- Sleep during race prep?
- Strength training during race prep?
- Corrective exercise/prehab during race prep?
- How much did you enjoy doing this race?
- What could make a race more enjoyable next time?
I know this may seem like a very simple list, but it’s a great way to identify areas that you can better address next time around.
Thank you for letting me (and my AFS team) be a part of your race prep; we’ve enjoyed it immensely. Run hard, run fast, but most importantly ENJOY YOURSELF!