It’s the beginning of a new year, which means it’s the beginning of a new racing season!
Follow our top 4 tips to prepare you for your cycling race and to start your first event of the year right.
Race Tactics
Whether it’s your first ever race or your 50th race, curating a strategic plan can be the make or break of your race and your results.
Spend time riding with other cyclists and work together to create tactics and learn how to move around in a pack. Practising these strategies with realistic scenarios will help you to overcome any problems if they arise.
Learn the course like the back of your hand to prepare you for what’s to come. Determine if there are any hills and how many, and take note of any dangerous hazards. The last thing you want is to be thrown off guard or to use all your energy before a hill climb.
Make sure to check the weather and plan for any kind of condition. It is important to know how you will overcome any hurdle so you can stay calm and relaxed to overcome it and to focus on your race.
Mental Preparation
The majority of athletes find that the hardest part of the race is overcoming their mental game. Whether it’s those pre-race fears thinking everything will go wrong or those thoughts where you think that you can’t push yourself any further. Create a mental strategy on how you will overcome these thoughts and stay relaxed.
Instead of looking at the race as a whole, segment it into smaller parts and only focus on the segment at a time. Try to create visual points such as a sign or tree that stands out and you know you will remember and learn how far the distance is until your next point. If haven’t gone over the course or you aren’t a visual person, try breaking the course up into shorter distances.
Try to flood your mind with positive thoughts and come up with affirmations to say when you start thinking negatively e.g. instead of saying ‘I’m tired’ tell yourself that you are strong and you can do this.
If nerves get to the best of you, teach yourself a range of breathing techniques to stay calm and relaxed. Remember to believe in yourself and to continually think of positive thoughts.
Nutrition
Make sure you remain hydrated leading up to race day and load up on carbs 24-36 hours in advance to enhance endurance performance. To reduce stomach upset, reduce your fiber intake 12-24 hours before the race. Aim to eat a high carb, low fiber, & low-fat breakfast 3-4 hours before your race to aid digestions. Think of eating a bowl of porridge, baked potatoes, or even pasta. If you feel like you want something else to eat closer to race, have a small snack like fresh fruit or a muesli bar 1-2 hours before.
During the race, stay on top of your hydration and pack some energy bars or gels to help keep you energised. Don’t forget to pack some CrampFix® in your bento box just in case you need it on the day.
Get Ready
The night before your race, check and make sure everything is ready to go so you don’t have to stress about where everything is in the morning. Lay your clothes out that you will be wearing and pack everything you need into a bag. Thoroughly check over your bike to make sure nothing is loose and that your tires are pumped up and don’t have any deep cuts.
The morning of the race, eat a good breakfast as mentioned above and double-check that you have packed everything you need. Try to get to the event with plenty of time to spare so you don’t have any added stress. If you have time, have a quick warm-up before the race and trust yourself that you have trained hard enough to nail this race!
Our next event will be at Tour Down Under on 16-25 January 2020. Make sure to come past if you’re there or check out our social media @crampfix because we will be posting updates on our stories all week!
Our CrampFix® 50mL bottle fits perfectly in a bento box and contains 3-5 serves. It comes in an easy-to-squeeze bottle with a resealable flip-top lid making it easy to use whilst racing. Choose from 3 different flavours; Lemon, Raspberry, & Espresso!