What did you do the day before and the day of your best race?

Arcadia Invitational Junior year of high school. 4x800 seeded race Friday night. I was the first leg, and after the first lap I was dead last in a field of like 25 teams, some out of state teams as well. I came through in 60 seconds. On the second lap I passed the entire field to run a (still) PR in the 800 2:00.1, handing off in first place. We finished 5th or so. Maybe 4th? We all ran personal bests together to run 8:06 and change.

Drove my teammate (1:59.9 anchor) to a indoor bounce house at like 10 or 11 that night, where we proceeded to bounce our flippin minds out for an hour or so. Some classmates of ours worked there, and so like eight or nine 17/18 year old teenagers are bouncing until after Midnight. Drove teammate home. Get in trouble for driving teammate home. Ca Laws/Mothers House. Grounded.

Saturday Evening Arcadia DMR, Seeded race.

I'm the anchor.Teammates proceed to run 3:21, 49, 2:01. I'm in the race at like 4th place.

I split 65, 67, 69, 62. Going from 4th to 8th by the time I hit the bell lap, I just went. We finished 2nd. I passed 6 guys on that lap and we got a pretty sick medal. Overall good experience. 4:24.9 split.

I can't remember what I ate... but I can tell you I must have shit in those porta potties at Arcadia HS easily over 10x that weekend. Anyone else have a stomache like that? Nerves.

Also...I once ate a 6-Inch Meatball sub an hour before a 3k in college, after running a lousy 4:07 1500 earlier in the day. I closed in 60-seconds in the 3k to run a PR of 8:43.

I got a root canal five hours before I broke 9:30 3200m for the only time. I wasn't gonna race because I felt like crap. Glad I did.

I've never been one for pre-race rituals, but I'm not an idiot either, and don't do stupid sh*t like hammering my runs in the last 2 or 3 days leading up to a race.

My best race came after a slightly unusual buildup though! My end-of-school exams finished two days before (a Thursday for a Saturday race) and there was a huge party at one of my friends houses. I started drinking around 6 or 7 in the evening and by 11 I was totally out of it. By 1 I think (not really sure) I was passed out in a tent, having been sick repeatedly in the last hour or two.

I left his house in a mate's car, was sick another few times on the drive back, and got back into bed at 9:00 in the morning. I got up at 11 am and got a donut and a cookie for breakfast and went back to bed. I woke up again at 6:15 pm and missed dinner, so walked a mile or two to the shop and bought a cheap sandwich, then chilled until night-time and hit the hay again!

I woke up the next day feeling pretty drained, having overslept and missed my normal short pre-race shakeout run.

All the way through my warm up and the usual wait for the race I felt pretty terrible, but come the race I ran out of my skin! I broke my PB (was 4:10, down to 4:08), with a much faster final 400 (64 in the 4:10, 60 in the 4:08)... I have no idea how I ran so much better, just two weeks on from what felt like almost the 'perfect race' but I had no complaints! Shame that I got injured and couldn't have a more usual buildup - although this thread seems to be pointing to the unusual providing the best results!

Took the biggest shit of my life.

itslallboutthatbass wrote:

if you are fit you can do anything the day before and it won't matter...

This is the correct answer for most of us.

My best races came when I was so fit and ready that I was cocky confindent. My HS mile pr came about on an 88 degree day, and the only warmup I had beforehand was a waterfight with members of the girls squad. My 800 pr occurred when I just walked up to meet organizer and asked if I could "jump in the 8", did a few accelerators beforehand and that was it. I was just confindent both times and wasn't worried about a thing.

My best race was probably the state meet 1600 my senior year of high school. Day before: drove 7 hours, did a mile shakeout, had a pasta dinner, chilled on the beach for a bit, did some homework, slept restlessly for like 5 hours.

Day of: woke up at 8, had two bagels and a chocolate milk in the hotel. My race was at noon. On the way to the meet I got hungry so I had a granola bar. I also realized I forgot my spikes, so that I was a little frightening. Thankfully my teammate had some I could borrow.

Started warming up about an hour before my race. I only like to do light drills and a lot of strides before races, so I did that. I was somewhat of an underdog as my main competitor had been running faster at the longer distances, but we were pretty equal on paper in the 1600. Gun went off, felt great, used the fact that I was a senior and he was a junior to my advantage. Ended up winning by a pretty good margin.

Right after the race however, I did some strides as I was waiting for the award ceremony and my stomach started cramping something awful. I threw up a little bit right before I accepted my medal and I was having to mask some pretty severe pain during the pictures.

A few minutes later some buddies and I were cooling down around the stadium and my stomach continued to cramp. We stopped at a fence to watch some other races and a coach from a different high school came up to talk to me and congratulate me.

We talked for a minute or so, and then I had to interrupt him so I could step a few feet to the side to hurl my guts out in a trash can. I had no idea my stomach could hold that much liquid and material. It was all the chocolate milk and water I had been sipping on. I think I threw up continuously for like 15 seconds. Seriously. There was nothing the coach could do but stand there awkwardly and encourage me to get it all out. It was very surreal.

Later in the day I ran a really shitty 4x800 leg. I think I ran it slower than my 800 split in my 1600...

I have to say one of my best race was a couple years ago when I traveled across 7 states to run a 5k for a good cause. Got in late that evening, ate terrible (burger and fries) when we landed, did not sleep well that night due to 3hr time change and yet I got up early the next morning to run the race and came in first overall female. Probably one of THE best races for me since it's still my personal best...:)

I have to say one of my best races was a couple years ago when I traveled across 7 states to run a 5k for a good cause. Got in late that evening, ate terrible (burger and fries) when we landed, did not sleep well that night due to 3hr time change and yet I got up early the next morning to run the race and came in first overall female. Probably one of THE best races for me since it's still my personal best...:)

Day before my best race I stressed on my weak 10k specific training. I trained hard but I felt like I lacked in a few areas. Not enough long runs, weak tempo runs. I drank some beers and toyed with the idea of just going to hang out at the race - not evening running. Went to bed at 3, woke up at 5 and instantly realized I could race the 5k. I got to the race before sunrise. I felt excited again, maybe a wee hungover or silly. When the RD arrived I asked if I could switch, he said no problem. I went and warmed up extra long on the course. It was hilly so I did some strides on some uphills. Then ran fast back down in time to ease up front before the gun with the faster group. I stayed with the pack for about a half mile then was left in the dust. I kept going and was having fun and in the last quarter mile I sprinted and passed several people, violently running. It turned out the lead pack of high schoolers missed a turn and short cutted the course before the downhill; they all came in at like 14:30 lol. I was able to win the 5k that day in 18:36!

Had some eggs and sausage for breakfast. Drove about 5 hours to the hotel. Stopped at a Sheetz for 2 hot dogs (for $.99!!) along the way and got a large unsweet ice tea. After checking into hotel, went to McDonalds for a McChicken and side salad. Later in day had some pizza for dinner. Ran a PR the next day.

Went to regionals XC as a team

Chillin with my teammates in hotel

Go down to eat dinner

stealallthebreadsticks.jpeg

Carbo load the fck out of myself with Olive Garden breadtsicks

Next day at race

Open first mile at 5:05 with current state champ

Continue splitting 5:05 for the entire race

Ran 15:47 giant PR

mfw I am the mo farah

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Day before, easy 4 miles in the morning, ran a beer mile in the evening. Went to the bar afterward, had a pitcher.

Day of, woke up at 8 or 9 and had breakfast, drove up 1½ hours to the meet and got there at 2:00. 5000 was supposed to be just after 4 but they were running ahead of schedule. Got checked in, warmed up about 2 miles, changed into spikes, did dynamic stretches and strides. They weren't quite as far ahead of schedule as they'd told me (lots of 200m heats) so I relaxed and did more strides than usual.

Plan was to hit 76s for as long as I could, hopefully be close to 15:50. Started hitting 75s and felt great so I kept it up, ended up at 15:40. I guess it was only a PR by a few secdonds...seemed like a bigger deal than it does now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe because I haven't run faster since.

Haha

Day before:Ran 25 min at 6'am, worked all day teaching kids, drove 4 hours , ate an extra large bag of lifesaver gummys from a Jersey rest stop before 5.5 hours of sleep

Day of: Woke up confident, drank 2 cups of coffee , and went out smart. The most important part! Smart pacing and confidence. 50second half marathon pr

Just concluding:

-Eat Pizza

-Run on pure hate

-Get no sleep

-Get drunk

-Feel bad

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