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MiWay Midlands Ultra Race Weekend – the Do’s and Don’ts

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MiWay Midlands Ultra Race Weekend – the Do’s and Don’ts

With the MiWay Midlands Ultra taking place next weekend, we have compiled a short list of some tried and tested do and don’ts to hopefully ensure you perform at your very best on race day

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1. Don’t rest the day before the race. Why you ask? Well the body is so used to training hard each and every day, it becomes accustomed to the consistent stress it is placed under. You take a sudden rest day before the event and most likely, you will feel pretty grim and flat on race day. I am sure most of you will have experienced this at one time or another. The feeling when you perceive to actually feel worse off when taking a rest day. If you are going to take a rest day, do it on the Thursday heading into the weekend. If you are really tired and have trained super hard, then 2 rest days might be in order (WED and THUR)

Come Friday, even though most if you will be travelling to the venue, I suggest train but lightly. Suggested training session for Friday after a complete rest day on THUR (or even 2 days including the WED)

-          Short run of between 45 and 60 minutes – don’t work off distance but rather time. Now is not the time to try and put some mileage on the Garmin or Strava sections. This run can be done before you travel or preferably, upon your arrival. Travelling always stiffens up the muscles so a run of this nature will do wonders for the body when you arrive at your destination

-          A swim directly after the run will also go down well. The cooling down the body temperature factor is one benefit  (it’s very hot at this time of year and Midmar Dam when the sun shines, is extremely hot). Restrict the swim to 20 minutes. You can stop often during this time period to stretch the shoulders and relax. I would suggest swimming without your wetsuit. A wetsuit stiffens up the shoulders and you should rather save the wetsuit use for race day only! If you cannot swim without it (as in you might drown) then by all means, use the wetsuit but if you have a choice, swim in your cozzie!

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Do ensure you have a good warm-up on Race morning.

-          Wake up a little earlier and go for a short run (15 minutes is all you need) before you shower/change and eat breakfast. You need to get that body ticking and ready for action once the start siren goes off.

-          A short  warm-up swim about 20 minutes before race start will ensure that you start the swim “warmed-up” with the engine ready to go!

-          The reason so many triathletes battle with the swim is they start “cold”. When you train at the gym pool, you don’t start off with a 400m sprint do you? You would normally do a warm-up block first followed by the faster stuff. The same rule applies to the start of a race. You cannot start the swim fast if you have not warmed up in the swim properly. Even if you intend to start slow, the adrenalin and natural reaction is to start fast. If you have warmed-up for the swim prior to  race start, more often than not, you will find the swim leg a lot easier. For those that battle with open water and the dreaded “panic” attack, the warm-up swim should also settle your nerves and make the start frenzy, a lot less daunting

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3.  Don’t put your wetsuit on too early.

-          I have seen athletes walk out of their hotel doors with the wetsuit on already, even though the race start might be well over 2hrs away.

-          This is a huge mistake. Don’t do it. Rather wait till around 30 minutes before race start and then put on the wetsuit

-          The only advantage of putting your suit on early is to keep you warm, other than that, it has huge disadvantages

-          If the weather is warm and humid on race day, you will no doubts start de-hydrating sooner just by standing around in the wetsuit. Your body will start overheating if conditions are warm. If you start the race with any small degree of de-hydration, you will be in for a tough day at the office later on in the day.

-          A wetsuit also compresses and restricts movement in the muscles. You wear that wetsuit for 60 minutes or longer before you start swimming, don’t then wonder why you have dead legs and a sore back when you start the bike ride.

-          There is no need to put on the suit early, 30 minutes prior is good enough

 

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4. Do ensure you carry a bottle of fluids with you on race morning that you can sip at continually

-          More often than not, you will have experienced that “dry” mouth effect and sense of being thirsty on race morning. This definitely happens a lot more when you race in salt water. Carry a small bottle of fluids with you that you can continually sip to ensure you do not battle to salivate.

-          The early signs of de-hydration are feeling “thirsty” so don’t let that happen to you on race morning. We are so busy  running around getting our goods together in the transition zone that we often forget to drink.

-          Drink around 500ml of plain water just before you head off for the warm-up swim. This might ensure you start the race on a full tank. Don’t worry about the knock on effect of the bladder being stretched. Those that swim in wetsuits will know all about the triathletes trick and the “warm-patch”

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5. Don’t start the cycle section off too hard

-          90km of cycling on a tough MiWay Midlands Ultra will require a good amount of sustained and measure effort  over the 3 by 30km loops to get you to the end and start of the run 1 piece. Don’t kill the 1st lap, ease into the cycling and gradually build from there

-          Those power cyclists that hit the 1st 30km,  even 60km often pay the price over the last stretch of the cycle and definitely on the 21km run by going out too hard.

-          If you can hold back the reigns for 30km, then build on from there over the next 30km, you should be in a good position over the last 30km to come off the bike feeling fresh enough to run a 21km at your desired pace.

-          Too hard, too soon on the bike and you will be seeing “stars” on the run!

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6. Do ensure that you eat and drink enough, both on the bike and the run

-          Nutrition is the no 1 priority over any ultra distance race.

-          You can have the best looking Ferrari but if the tank is empty and there is no petrol, that super car is going nowhere fast.

-          Same rule applies to your body. A fit, race ready body needs constant fuel intake to ensure it performs at its optimum level so don’t forget to eat and drink, small amounts, all the time during the race

-          “hitting the wall” is a sure sign of lack of proper nutritional intake during the event

-          Don’t try anything new, do what you are used to doing during training and try eating and drinking the same amounts on race day! That is why we have these practice brick sets during the training phase, so you can practice your fuel intake for race days as well!

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MiWay Insurance and the Midlands Ultra crew wish you a successful race day. Use the above 6 listed items to ensure you have a better race day experience…


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