Beyond Going Long

Lucy Gossage has shown she knows a thing or two about top race-day performances this year. This year she has been supported by Chain Reaction Cycles and has strung together a series of result that have reaped a couple of national titles over duathlon, a European long course duathlon title, 2nd at Challenge Fuerteventura and 5th in Wiesbaden at the Ironman 70.3 European Championships.

It’s safe to say she probably has one or two tips that might come in handy for all of us with regards to how to approach raceday!

Race day prep the Gossage way…

In the ‘old’ days, I used to spend race week fretting about the old banger bike…. Invariably there was some kind of mechanical problem with it, so much so that it became somewhat of a standing joke and almost a good luck omen; without a pre-race bike mechanical I was unlikely to have a good race…. However now I have my shiny Vitus bike mechanicals don’t seem to be an issue, which means I have much more time to focus on the race.

So what do I do with this newly found time?

Rest. Cram training doesn’t work and no matter how tempting it is to get a few extra sessions in, particularly as you start to feel fresh in your taper, it’s really important to keep your feet up, get as much sleep as possible and give your body the chance to regenerate. I sometimes get carried away trying to do too much at work in race week but have learnt that reduced training hours should be replaced by increased resting hours, not other things! If you’re abroad it’s easy to get carried away sightseeing or admiring kit in the race expo. Try and resist spending too much time on your feet and save it for after the race.

A few short, sharp training sessions. I often feel very sluggish at the start of the week when my body tries to adapt to the reduced training load. This is normal so don’t worry. However towards the end of the week I add in a few short, race paced sessions to stimulate my muscles back into action. Everyone copes differently with tapers and it’s a case of trial and error in terms of finding what works for you. Don’t fret if you feel like you’re getting a cold at the start of the week. Taper ‘illnesses’ are common as the body recovers and nearly always disappear before race day.

Massage. The timing of this is important. I try and get one on the Wednesday before a big race on the Sunday. This gives you a chance to work the massage out of your legs before race day.

Eat well. This doesn’t mean eat loads. Try and stick to your normal calorie intake. In conjunction with the reduced training volume this means you will load your muscles up with glycogen without really trying. Before a long race (half ironman or ironman) I cut out fibre a couple of days before the race and stick to a very simple diet (white rice, bread, chocolate, ice cream, plain chicken) to minimise the risk of gastrointestinal disturbance during the race, particularly on the run.

Visualise the race. Don’t spend all day every day thinking about the race. Instead, set aside 30 minutes each day to go through the race in your head, Work out what might go well, what might go badly and how you will cope with different race scenarios. Good race visualisation has been proven to improve performance on race day. Once you’ve done that, think about other things and try and enjoy relaxing.

Prepare your kit. Check you have everything you need a few days before, not the day before. Have you got your race nutrition sorted? Is the bike clean and race ready? Do you have elastic laces in your running shoes?

Don’t get psyched out by the competition! Easy to say, hard to do. Even as a pro I still get intimidated by seeing lots of seemingly confident, superfit women with smart bikes and no body fat wandering around the expo. Try and remember you deserve your place on the start line just as much as anyone else. An expensive bike with all the aero gear doesn’t necessarily equate to a fast triathlete… remember that phrase “all the gear, no idea”?!

Visit Lucy’s athlete page HERE

www.lucygossage.com