What to do the week before your ultramarathon?
As summer ultramarathon events are edging ever closer, here’s comes the dreaded ‘T’ word that every ultrarunner fears – the taper.
This is the time when you question everything you’ve done in training up until this point. You worry about getting enough sleep, so you end up tossing and turning all night and barely getting any sleep at all. The nerves kick in and the thought of standing on the start line is already making you physically uncomfortable.
This is what I’m hearing popping up on coaching calls:
“How undertrained do you think I am?”
“Have I prepped enough?”
“Am I strong enough?”
I want to remind you that if you are having any of these thoughts, you are perfectly normal and not alone right now.
You’ve put in the miles; tapering should be the easy part. But your training hasn’t gone exactly to plan. Maybe you’ve missed some of your bigger training sessions because of injury, illness or just because life has gotten in the way, and you decided to take a step back in training so you can prioritise something else for a while.
Like:
Looking after your sick child
Stepping up to support a partner
Having to juggle childcare issues
Focusing on a big project at work
Bringing a puppy into your home
Balancing work, family life and ultra-training is hard work, but you are doing a brilliant job.
For many of the women I work with, running isn’t always their number one priority. You’re not an elite athlete, you are a human being just trying to do the best you can with what you have available right now.
And that’s ok.
I want to help you avoid the taper tantrums so you can set yourself up for success and ultimately make your first ultra an enjoyable experience to keep you coming back for more.
Let’s look at what to do the week before an ultramarathon.
1. Sleep
This is the big one that comes up with so many of you. No matter how hard you try you struggle to get in a decent night’s sleep in the days leading up to your big race. Am I right?
Think about starting to bank sleep the week before your event rather than just focusing your efforts on the 1 or 2 days leading up to it. Try to get to bed 15-30 mins earlier each night.
There is a whole other blog post in itself here as there as plenty of little hacks you can try to get a better night’s sleep.
A few of my other favourites are make sure the temperature of your bedroom is cool and comfortable, especially if you are in the high hormone phase of your cycle or menopausal. Having something cold to drink before you go to bed will help drop your body temperature.
2. Trust the process
Be confident in your training and the miles you have under your belt, even if they were less than you were expecting to run. Don’t forget that everyone’s approach and response to training is wildly different so avoid falling into the comparison trip. Trust your process and focus on what has worked for you.
I always encourage my athletes that if they are struggling with this to write a list of 10 things that have gone well for them in training and 10 things, they are grateful for as they step up to the start line.
3. Visualise the course
This is one of my favourites. Spend a couple of minutes each day visualising the course. Walk yourself through any obstacles that might crop up in race day and think about how you might approach these. I’d also really encourage you to visualise crossing the finish line and celebrating with the medal around your neck. How do you feel? Who is there supporting you?
If you want to go that extra mile there are plenty of YouTube course recce’s popping up now and the reality is unless your event is totally new, you’re bound to find someone who’s filmed a run through of your course online.
4. Minimise life stress
This is something I don’t often see runners think about until it’s too late. It’s important to realise that as much as it might be an outlet for you, training is a stressor on the body so have a think about things you can do to counteract this in the lead up to your big race.
Whether that’s getting some extra food prep in the week before, arranging extra childcare, getting your partner to take over dog walking duties so you can have a soak in the bath. I say this with kindness as everyone’s situation is different but try to avoid running around like a headless chicken (as my grandma would say) the week before.
5. Shakeout runs
Nothing you do this week will make you faster, but there are a lot of things I see runners do that can make you slower. I like to use a few short, easy shakeout runs in the race week itself and spice a couple of them with 3-4 very short 15-20 second accelerations keeping the pace fast and fun.
It usually comes down to part superstition and part understanding what works for you. I listened to a Run to the Hills podcast recently where Eddie was talking about Paula Radcliffes marathon debut and how she doesn’t run the two days before her marathon. If it works for Paula it can work for you right?
6. Go over your race day strategy
Usually race week itself will involve some kind of travel and if you’re having to juggle crew duties and family around this it can be pretty stressful. Don’t leave this until the day before. Make sure you know where you are parking, what time you are setting off, how long it will take you to travel and don’t forget to leave a buffer in case the unexpected pops up – which it probably will.
I’d also encourage you go over your fuelling and hydration plan for your event. Do you have enough supplies? Are you going self-sufficient, or will you rely on aid stations? Make sure you have a framework of how many calories you will take in on each section of your event and be sure to set up the nutrition alert on your GPS watch, it’s a life saver.
Let me know what you think! Have I missed anything? Is there something you would add? Let me know in the comments or drop me a message on social media.