1. Starting Out Too Fast
On event days, most athletes are filled with adrenaline and nervous energy. This combination often results in shooting out of the starting gate at a pace that is far too fast to maintain during the entire event. This enthusiasm often leads to a dramatic decline in the pace towards the end of the event. In some cases, an athlete who starts out too fast may even have to abandon the event altogether.
Too avoid this fate, be sure to pay attention to your pace in the first ten to fifteen minutes of the event. If you stay close to your training pace early on, your will be able to pick up the pace as the race progresses if you feel strong.
2. Using New Gear During Competition
I learned this lesson the hard way when a teammate offered to let me use her aerobars during a bicycle time trial. Knowing that aerobars shaved seconds off race times, I was thrilled to give them a go. What I didn't count on was that riding with aerobars takes practice. I actually lost time during the race figuring out how to handle accelerations and corners with the new bars. My race time that day was a full thirty seconds slower than my previous times over the same course.
While the aerobars would have been a benefit had I been a skilled user, the new gear ended up being a distraction on race day. The take-away? Save the experimentation for training days and use competition to bring your well-practiced skills to the highest level.
3. Eating New Foods Before or During Competition
Many athletes have a standard eating plan that fits their daily training schedule. However, this routine may not always work on race days. Events may occur at times and places that are nothing like your usual workout routine. These changes may make it difficult to stick to your regular meal plans. To make your race day routine as close to your training routine as possible, try the following strategies:- Prepare your race-day food the day before the event and time your meals as close to your regular routine as possible.
- Schedule your daily training workouts and food plan to coincide with your typical competition schedule. For example, if you generally compete in the morning, try to plan most of your workouts for the morning as well.
4. Skipping the Warm Up
It's not uncommon for beginning athletes to fail to warm up adequately on race day for fear that it will tire them out for the event. Unfortunately, this belief often results in poor performance, increased injuries and a lot of race-day anxiety.
Warming up before the start of an event is essential for both novice and elite athletes. Be sure to arrive early and give yourself time for a thorough warm up before the starting gun goes off.
5. Not Knowing the Course
Many athletes overlook one fundamental race-day strategy that almost always improves performance. Taking the time to review the event course not only eases pre-race jitters, but it helps you avoid injury and shave valuable seconds off your time.
Knowing when to expect hills, tight turns, uneven terrain or water stops allows you to focus on racing. Not every course is well-marked, and even the most fit athletes will have a hard time gaining their composure after they've taking a wrong turn or missed a gate during competition.
Being familiar with the course is a simple race-day strategy that can help you keep you a step ahead of the competition.
