Common racing mistakes - wrong strategy

You have trained for weeks, months, or years and it’s finally time to put all the effort to good use. It’s race day!

You have mapped it all out, you see yourself finally crossing the finish line, achieving a personal best, or even making it onto the podium.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as you expected. Maybe you made some of the most common racing mistakes without even knowing it.

Let’s have a look at some of them throughout the week.

Race strategy

One of the most common mistakes is not sticking to your race strategy or not having one at all. Having a race strategy and sticking to it is the foundation of every great race. Of course, you will have to make some adjustments and judgment calls along the way but if you are planning to finish a race in a certain timeframe, it’s essential to stick to the plan as good as you can.

Pacing

Pacing is the number one mistake athletes make during a race. Most of them start out too quick. It’s very easy to fall victim to the adrenalin and excitement of racing when there are hundreds of other athletes next to you. You simply get carried away and start way to hard. You don’t feel it right away but at about the half way mark you start to feel more tired than you expected and as a consequence your form start to go south and your pace drops considerably.

The easiest fix is to enter your desired finishing time into your sports or smart watch and monitor how far ahead or behind you are to your target pace. If you see you are already ahead by a few seconds, slow down just a bit and keep an eye on your times. Once the race settles and you get into a rhythm, you will fall into your desired pace.

Another easy way is to make sure you don’t go out too hard is to self seed yourself appropriately. What that means is that you line up to the start depending on how fast you expect to be running. If you are a middle-of-the-pack athlete, start, well, at the middle of the pack. If you are a slower athlete, start in the back. That way you will run with people who have similar abilities and you will be able to pace yourself much more effectively.

Course overview

Another thing that athletes often overlook is the course overview. They don’t really know the layout, elevation, road surface, distribution of aid stations, and anything else that is tied to the actual race course.

This can have a significant impact on your race because, even though there are volunteers trying to help you out, you can still take a wrong turn, push to soon before a sharp incline or expect something to drink while the next aid station is still 5 to 10 minutes away.

It doesn’t take much to prepare. A quick glance at the course map provided by the organizers can help you out. If you are in a cycling or triathlon race, you can write some quick notes on a piece of paper and tape it to the top tube of you bike. If you are running longer distances, simply write stuff down on your hand or arm. It doesn’t have to be an essay but something simple like “3 6 9” can remind your race occupied brain that aid stations will be at kilometers 3, 6, and 9.

When it comes to racing there is only one thing to keep in mind:

“There is no perfect race, but you can execute a race perfectly”

Make a plan and stick to it. If something comes up adjust to it but try staying within your capabilities. There will always be another opportunity to race again soon.

Tomorrow we will talk about nutrition on race day as well as the days leading up to the race. You can’t race on an empty tank so it’s really important to make the best of it.