Year-round maximal racing makes you stale - so while we want to support the leagues that run all year - the Fit4Life, IMRA mountain races and other leagues, it pays to know how to use these races in relation to your training so you do not suffer from the common 'burn-out' that follows athletes who over-race (you can also 'under-race' but leave that aside for now).
Essentially, when you choose to attend a race that is not your 'peak race' (meaning the next very important target for you, if you have one), you must decide how to use it. There are four options (listed below). I recommend you use options 2 and 3 early in training and 1 only when you are fully fit. Option 4 is for beginners and people returning from injury.
1. Race all-out
This is a type of 'see Jesus' experience where you test your body to its maximum capacity. Generally this type of effort only comes out in the races that are most important to you. But you can decide that you need to test your limits because you only have a short period such as 4-6 weeks before a very important race. In that case pick this option - do not pick this option if:
- It's early in your training
- You're coming back from a lay-off / injury
- The race is very different from your target event in terms of distance/duration
- You have an important race within less than 10 days
When you train you put water in the well. When you then 'go to the well' in training you are lowering the waterline - you can only do this so many times before you need to refill, so pick races where you know you'll murder your mother to win wisely.
Any club competition or relay you should expect to run all out as part of the team effort.
2. Use as a time trial
Seb Coe used to say that sometimes he'd race early in the season and 'call it information'. Often having a disappointing race is a sign of training well as long as the result is not alarmingly poor. So if you are early in the season or have many months before your most important race, you can simply set out to run at 80-95% effort (leaving 'something in reserve') to 'see where you are at'.
There are a few rules when doing this:
- Don't tell anyone - it sounds like a lame excuse
- Feel free to change your mind midway through if a Personal Best is in the card - when they are there you take them!
- Stay in control for the whole race
More than anything using a race this way is a mental attitude. It's about going out and saying 'whatever happens, it's just information. Even a poor time may just mean I am training hard. The more important race is coming up'.
One danger of this approach: don't make every race in the year a time trial or it will become a habit to never push yourself to the maximum.
3. Use as a steady run
This is the trickiest approach but also the most rewarding for the smart trainer. It works best when done on tough courses or in trail races where the times are not obvious as it can be hard to stay disciplined when you know the time you are running too or you see 'old rivals' passing you by.
The Kenyans say 'don't expect to live in your house while you are building it' and that is the essence of this philosophy. You should do this if you cannot stay away from the social buzz of racing but you know you should be making yourself stronger rather than race.
To use a race as a steady run try and keep your heart rate under 165 for the whole race (lower if the race is quite long). You're allowed a sprint finish. This should be 'comfortably hard' and no more effort than that.
Finish with a smile and do a very long warmup and cooldown (for example - I would do 5 km warmup, run a 5 km at a steady pace and then run another 5 to 7 km at the end very easy for a total of 22 km of 'training'. The exact distances depend on how much you currently run).
Racing this way will allow you to recover within 24-48 hours and continue your training without impact.
4. Just aim to complete
Depending on your fitness level it might be a tough task to simply complete a race - nevermind trying to worry about what pace to run at - in that case you only have this last option. For this race pace doesn't matter and you are simply racing to experience how it is to complete the distance which is often easier in the excitement and buzz of a racing setup.
Once you race hard over 25 km, it takes a long time to recover fully which is why races like the Wicklow Way Trail 25 km are particularly tough on the body. So if you want to try one of those races but cannot afford a long recovery then 'treat it as an experience' and just go out and 'experience the distance'. Next year you can then make up your mind whether you want to try and push it the whole way over the distance.
80/20 rules
Racing is good - but only if it is balanced with training. For a novice runner you ideally run up to 20 km easy for every 1 km you run moderate to hard. This also applies if you have been injured or ill recently. Very simple: easy running trains you to 'use oxygen' (the most important thing and healthy for your cells) whereas moderate to hard running trains you to 'tolerate oxygen debt' (very specific training and not healthy for your cells in big doses especially combined with other stress).
As you get through the first few years you should run about 80% of your total duration or miles 'easy' with the remaining 20% 'moderate to hard'. So if you've been running for 2-3 years you would run a moderate to hard kilometre for every 5 easy kilometres.
