Race week isn’t the time to up your training like you’re studying for a final. The goal is simple: show up on the start line with your body in peak condition — recovered, primed, and not carrying an ounce of extra fatigue.
Here’s how to get there and why it actually works:
Cut Volume, Keep Intensity
The week before a race, you want to drop your total training volume by 30–50% but still keep short bursts of intensity. Science calls this tapering — it reduces accumulated fatigue and lets your muscles fully restore glycogen, while those little speed bursts keep your neuromuscular system sharp. Translation: you stay snappy without feeling flat.
Mobility Isn’t Just a Myth
Tight hips, locked shoulders, and stiff ankles will mess with your form and waste energy. Daily mobility work in race week improves range of motion and activates the muscles that stabilize your form, which helps you run more efficiently and reduces injury risk. Think: 5–10 min of hip openers, ankle circles, thoracic rotations — not an hour-long yoga retreat.
Sleep = Legal Performance Enhancer
Sleep is literally a free performance boost. That’s when your body releases growth hormones, fixes up the muscle damage, and locks in all the movement patterns you’ve trained into your nervous system. Basically, you get faster while counting sheeps. Aim for 7–9 hours, and if the night before the race is shitty because of your nerves — don´t panic. The extra hours you collected earlier in the week still count.
Take care of the “Small Stuff”
Trim your toenails at the lastest three days before the race (if you still have those), check your race kit for chafing spots, and break in shoes if they’re new. Even minor irritations become major issues over 21 km or more.
Don’t start a self-discovery phase with new sports
Race week is not the time to hike 30 km for the first time, try a new CrossFit class, or rearrange your living room solo. Any unusual load can create muscle damage that will still be there on race day. Keep it familiar.
Bottom line: Race week is about doing less, not more. Taper, move well, sleep deep, and arrive at the start line feeling like you’ve been holding yourself back all week — because that’s exactly the point.
Race Week: What Happens When
Long run:
7 days before the race.
Why: That gives your muscles time to fully repair. Doing it later leaves you with heavy legs.
Intervals / Tempo:
4–5 days before
Format: Short & sharp. For example: 3–4 km at goal race pace or 6 × 400 m at 10K pace with full recovery.
Why: Keeps your neuromuscular system sharp but doesn’t add fatigue.
Strength training:
5–6 days before
Keep it lighter than usual, more technique/mobility focused.
Why: Strength work creates muscle micro-damage that can last days. You don’t want sore glutes on race day.
HIIT / hard circuits:
At least 6 days before
Why: Too much muscle fatigue + central nervous system stress if you do it later.
Easy runs:
Can be done up until 2 days before.
Duration: 20–45 min, conversational pace aka Zone 2
Why: Keeps blood flow, helps glycogen storage, keeps routine.
Shake-out run:
The day before.
Duration: 20-30 min jog + a few 20–30 sec strides.
Why: Keeps legs snappy without draining energy.
If you feel calmer with a longer run (up to ~40 min), keep it strictly easy and follow it with a carb-rich snack right away (~1 g per kg bodyweight). That helps restore the glycogen you just used. Just know: longer shake-outs don’t make you fitter — they’re only for mental comfort, and the risk is arriving with slightly heavier legs.
Mobility/Blackroll:
Every day, just keep it short. 5–10 min is plenty.
Why: Keeps tissues loose and nervous system primed.
Not every race is the same
How much you change your training in race week depends on what the distance means to you.
If you’re in prep for a longer distance and that race is basically just a “training long run with water stations and audience,” you don’t need a full taper week. Swap one hard session for the race itself, keep the rest of your week pretty normal, and move on.
If it’s your very first time running that distance, then yes — your body and your head will treat it like a big deal. That’s when the full prep week matters: more rest, intentional spikes, short shake-outs, better sleep, fueling on point. Basically, treat yourself like an elite athlete.
If you’ve run the distance before (and maybe never further), it’s about intention. Going for a PB? Do the full prep week and show up fresh. Just running for fun? Then you can train a bit more normal — just don’t roll up to the start already wrecked.
Bottom line: A race can be a test or just a training stimulus. The bigger the goal, the more intentional the prep.
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