The Day Before The Meet: Whatta You Guys Do?

Firefly for 1-2 hours 2-3 hours out from when I race. Usually 150-200 mg of caffeine

I encase myself in Vaseline and lay motionless in a cool, dry place.

how do you find the fireflies help pre race? i only use them for recovery

NO WAY! SAAAAAAMMMMEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That, and a 4 mile very easy run + 3x100m strides

Sometimes take er easy and rest, sometimes relax by hitting up the bar for a pint or getting a massage/rub and tug.

In HS my coach had us do a 3 mile easy pace run but with 800m at race pace somewhere in the middle. Then strides afterwards.

I had garbage times then so I don't know how much it helped or hurt.

Nowadays, unless its a 5K (which I rarely do), I find doing nothing the day before and resting my legs helps me more. I also prefer having the mental break of having a calm day before a race. Sometimes I'll do some random stretches as I go through the day, but that's it.

I don't do races out of state, so maybe I would do a shakeout the day before if I had just done like a 5 hour flight or drove for 10 hours or something

Warmup the day of is more than enough to get me ready for my 10K or longer.

3-4 easy miles and 4-6 100m strides. Roll and stretch after. I usually take an off day two days before. Keep it simple

In college I would not do a morning run the day before. In the afternoon I would do a 3-4 mile run followed by 2X200 around 28 seconds. Then an easy and short cool down.

Most everyone does some version of this. I think keeping it consistent is good not so much physically but mentally. This is the day you talk to your HS kids about their competition for tomorrow's race, approximately what time they are racing, what heat they are in, remind them to pack spikes and a uniform, etc...

Did this in HS but pared down a bit. In college, it was slightly more 'intense' to get better tone: 3 mile jog, 400 at ~5k effort, 200 at mile + 2x100 strides

This thread explains a lot. Not a single one of you understands the essence of competitive racing.

Pssst. Its an open secret. Rehearse in your head over and over what you're going to do. Who is your competition ... what are they going to do? How will you respond? Rehearse your focus, and how relaxed you're going to be. When its time to kick will you be prepared to respond without thinking? Rehearse and do it.

Thinking about your strides and how many diphongs you're going to do the day before is a complete distraction from what you need to be doing.

Physically: I like to run 3-4 miles, preferably not on the concrete, and something like 4×200 at goal pace, or 6x100 pretty fast pace just to get the legs moving at my race pace.

Mentally: I like to spend about 30 minutes picturing the race, my competition, what I will do in each possible scenario (wind, rain, good weather, falling mid race, etc.) And I just want a plan for everything. And before important meets I watch the prefontaine movie.

Rub the nub, baby!