Getting the hay into the barn*

The analogy goes that once the hay is in the barn you can’t do anything more.

Apply that analogy to running and it fits the taper wonderfully. You’ve done your training, you can’t add fitness during a taper, but you can take away from it.

But what you can do during the taper to avoid the tantrums, twitchiness, anxiety and general “maranoia” to use a post London phrase, is… Plan.

I’ve got a race coming up and I’ve asked ETO members for their pre race organisational tips to keep you focussed on the big day in a productive way, rather than fretting.

No. 1, Don’t forget your bottles…

There’s plenty that can be done during a taper to help you prepare for your upcoming event. Far more useful than worrying about whether you’ve grown and cut enough hay, aka done enough training.

Pre Taper Admin

After any event I ask all the athletes I coach to go through a bit of a debrief to think about what worked and what didn’t. This is the time to think about any niggles from the race like where you might’ve put your bib, was a certain piece of kit not quite right? Were the aid station nutrition items disagreeing with you? Whilst it’s fresh in the mind, write these down so you can refer back to them as you get closer to your next event. By no means foolproof but this gives you plenty of time to test solutions during your long runs.

Taper Admin

These are based on my own experience and those of the ETO Running Club members who kindly suggested a good number of these, but by no means exhaustive:

The List & The Timetable: Make a list of the things you need to do prior to race day, (pack mandatory kit list as a minimum!) and when you want them done to make the whole leadup as frictionless as possible. Think of the small stuff as well as the big: Is the power pack charged? Do we have suncream in the house? Have we got any rennies?

Give yourself time to work through your plans, add some backups (pizza, m&m’s, spare bottles etc). Backups, get you back out, cheers Octonauts.     

Weather: Check it, and check it again. In the mountains? Make sure you check a suitable forecaster like the MWIS. This can have a huge bearing on what kit you choose to take with you both in your race vest and pack. Hot/Cold? Consider how you can mitigate the weather and add that to the list.  

Travel: How long will it take you to get where you’re going and what time do you need to allow. Give yourself plenty of contingency, fuel the car in advance, check your toilet stops beforehand.

Visualise The Timetable: Sounds woo woo, it isn’t. What’re you eating and when on race day, getting your watch setup dialled prior to the race for eating alerts. Potential A,B,C,D timings to checkpoints etc.  

Schedule Nerves: I get nervous pre event, I always have done before any sort of competition or sport. Now I set a time where I’m going to have my little moment to myself. After that it’s get into and enjoy it, what will be will be.

I appreciate that for some this might all seem over the top, but if you’ve invested money, time, commitment to training for an event, why wouldn’t you want it to go as well as possible?

Ultimately, races are one single expression of the months of effort you’ve put into training. They should be a celebration of being fitter than you were, being able to get to a start line and, hopefully, running somewhere beautiful with great people.

*In the broadest sense, a barn. Suspend the reality of it being full of vehicles, being the wrong type of barn and we should be fine.