5 Reasons Why You Should Run the Day Before a Race

The day before a race is just as important as the race day itself. What is the right thing to do? Run or rest? And if running, how long and how fast? 

This article will tell you why to run before a race or marathon and when it is better not to do it.

Why Should I Run the Day Before the Start

If an amateur runner aims for a good result, it is worth doing a light running warm-up the day before a race. A short training session will help you cheer up and maintain your tone. You will warm up and prepare your muscles for the start.

After such training, you’ll stay fresh, and won’t get tired.

Here are 5 reasons why you should lace up your running shoes and go for a run the day before a race:

1. Keep your muscles toned

A light workout will make your muscles more flexible, and you’ll get extra tone through short accelerations. In this way, you’ll get all your systems up and running.

2. Relieve muscle tension

This is achieved through light running, cool down and stretching.

3. Deliver nutrients and oxygen to your muscles

All of this comes in handy on competition day. Nutrients are delivered by accelerated blood flow.

4. Check your condition

The day before a race, it’s important to make sure you’re in optimal condition. A short run and some light acceleration is the best way to check yourself and make sure your body is working properly.

5. Calm down and feel confident

Anxiety can grow before important competitions. Therefore, a light jog in the morning the day before the start should relieve unnecessary stress. Especially if you run in the company of friends, or those who will participate in tomorrow’s race.

Everything will be easier to take in over cheerful conversation.

The Main Mistake a Runner Makes the Day Before a Race

Preparation of an athlete for a race always includes tapering: the week before a competition is traditionally an easy week in terms of training, and the athlete is accumulating physical and emotional strength.

One of the common mistakes runners make is trying to check their condition a few days before the race by doing a difficult interval training or test run. This may occur due to distrust of the coach. 

During the period of preparation beginners are worried about the loss of physical fitness due to a decrease in the volume and intensity of training.

All the main work must be done well in advance. Trying to close training gaps in the last week before a race, you will only harm yourself and approach it not in the best condition.

6 Recommendations on How to Train Before the Race 

To get the most out of your training the day before a competition, follow these recommendations:

• training session should be as easy as possible for you;
• start with a 3-4 km warm-up run;
• do stretches and special running exercises (but nothing new!);
• add some accelerations;
• run up to five short intervals at near-competitive speed;
• finish with a short, slow cool-down run and stretch.
  

When Not to Run Before a Race

Because of work, it can be difficult for a beginner to taper as perfectly as a professional, and sometimes amateurs go to the start in a condition far from the most productive.

This is also why such runners need to follow the rules of tapering and not stress out in the lead-up to a race.

Here are a few cases when you shouldn’t run before a race:

1. The day before the start you have to work

Imagine the situation. There is only one day left before the race, and on that day, you work hard. What should a tired runner do?

Here is our recommendation: it is not worth training if you are having an extremely busy and hard day at work and the only time you have for running is, for example, late in the evening.

Training will not do you any good if you don’t feel strong enough.

2. You feel better without this workout

It is not necessary to run the day before the start; instead, warming up two days in advance with a day’s rest may be more effective for you. Keep in mind that it’s all very individual.

It is essential to try different variants of tapering to find the one that works best for you.

However, it is not worth doing such experiments before the main races of the season. Mark the races on your calendar that are not the most significant for you and try different tapering strategies before them.

3. You’ve had a tough week, and you’ve got a long run coming up

It’s worth noting that giving your legs and cardiovascular system a complete rest can be useful on the eve of a long race, such as a half marathon or marathon (especially if the past week was physically or emotionally demanding).

Giving the body a rest in this situation is the right decision. This is the moment when it is better to underwork than overwork.

4. Bad conditions for training the day before a race

Often athletes try to train under any circumstances, in any weather conditions. You should not do this if there is bad weather outside the day before the race. Or if you went to bed late and now risk missing your morning run.

It is not worth risking your well-being for it. Remember that the day of the race is the most important day.

How Long Should I Run the Day Before a Race

Training the day before a race is likely to be the shortest one in preparation for it. As a rule, all activities, including warm-up, cool-down, stretching, small pauses, and accelerations, take no more than an hour.

Avoid chasing volume on this day because it can deplete your glycogen stores too quickly and leave you without fuel when you need it most.

As we said earlier, before a competition, it is worth trying out different training options and choosing the right one for you. It is important to take into account your level of training, health conditions, and recovery time.

Remember that you shouldn’t look at the mileage and pace of other runners, especially professionals. What could be an easy warm-up before a race for a fast athlete may be a full-fledged training session for you.

A one-kilometer warm-up may take a professional runner a little over three minutes, while it can take an amateur runner over five minutes.

Remember that you shouldn’t look at the mileage and pace of other runners, especially professionals. What could be an easy warm-up before a race for a fast athlete may be a full-fledged training session for you.

A one-kilometer warm-up may take a professional runner a little over three minutes, while it can take an amateur runner over five minutes.

Therefore, in addition to the mileage, you should consider the length and limit it to no more than 60 minutes. At the same time, the running part can take only 20-30 minutes and will have positive effects. 

If you train without a coach, determine what distance and pace you feel is a very light load. We said before that it may be 3-4 km with a few accelerations. In the following section, we’ll go into speed and interval length in further detail.

How Fast Should I Run Before a Race

Avoid running too many intervals and significantly increasing the speed at which you plan to run the next day’s competition.

For example, on the eve of a half marathon, it is worth running 1 km at the pace of the upcoming race or performing two or three 500 m intervals at this speed.

Do not perform them at a rate faster than your target pace during the warm-up if you intend to complete a half marathon at 7:14 min/mile (4:30 min/km).

For two or three 500 m repeats it may seem slow and easy, but now, a day before the start, you’re not working on developing speed but rather smoothly preparing your body for the competition.

Depending on your training plan, you may run shorter intervals faster after the race to prepare for the next one on your schedule.

We suggest including two or three 300-400 m accelerations at the pace of your top five finishes before a 5 km race.

For example, if your recent best time for 5 km was 20 minutes and you know that you can complete this distance at 4 min/km, plan this pace for warm-up intervals. No need to run them for 3:40 min/km, even if you feel like doing it and your legs are as light as ever.

If your legs feel light, it means that the tapering is done successfully, and all that’s left is one day to make sure nothing goes wrong.

What to Remember, if You Decided to Run the Day Before the Race

It is important to remember that the warm-up should by no means be difficult. Pre-start training is the final “system setup” before a race, not a hard interval or tempo session. Make sure that you:

• don’t do exercises that are new to you,
• don’t run in new shoes,
• don’t turn your warm-up into a slow but long run, and
• don’t be overzealous when running intervals.

Whether you choose to run or rest the day before a race, don’t spend too much time walking. Simply relax before the start and keep telling yourself that you have trained well and are ready for the race.

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