Transitioning

I def need to make this blog more interesting.  I read back occasionally to get clues on fitness and what's working but by god some of it is absolute drivel!

Decent week in the bag for me. 34 miles in 5 days and pace was decent (around 6.30/mm avge).  It's either the trainers  OR I'm in shape!  Probably just the Nikes but we shall find out tomorrow!

Easing down this weekend, a nice solid progressive yesterday was a little quicker than I wanted but felt good. Rest day today to pep the legs up, lots of stretching and rolling plus I REALLY need to eat well.  Tomorrow I'll do a shakeout and strides in the afternoon and then I just have to go an execute.  

I'm genuinely excited about what sort of time I can put in BUT equally without having races in the legs you can only hope it's all good at this stage !!

Got up early yesterday to get the Alphafly drop on the Nike website. If I'm honest, I don't know why I did it. I'm running up to 5k and I don't think they will be better for shorter distance than the Next% that I already have but with so much buzz around them it's impossible to resist. As a complete trainer sicko I also have the Adidas Adios on pre-order for next week so there's going to be some interesting testing going on again!

As I come off the back of this race, I need to pick the 800m or 5k road as a bigger target for the following race. There's time to focus on one but not both so I guess it depends how quick I can go.  Personally I think the 5k is the easier to get better results BUT I have always said as a track runner the 800m time is the yardstick of progress!

So the transition will be either put in lots more speed work, strength work and leg turnover work OR threshold and longer steady state running.

Right now I would guess at a 2.16.xx 800m and a very high 16 5km but with the time I have to focus after Monday they could both come down considerably with some specificity.

So with tomorrows race in mind today's 'interesting' blog is about how I deal with nerves before a race...

Way back when - before a race I would get so nervous I could hardly warm up. I felt tired and sleepy and would rather be anywhere else than on that start line. I fronted it out by acting ice cool and trying to psych everyone else out. 

As soon as the gun goes bang NOBODY is nervous. 

Fast forward to now. I still get nerves but understanding the process and what's happening makes things easier to deal with.

Firstly you feel this way because you care about the result. That's a good thing. You want to do well. Focus on the positive, you are excited about putting in a great performance NOT scared of looking stupid or running a rubbish time or getting beaten by x.

There is no such things as nerves. It's adrenaline, it's fight or flight. Your brain is preparing to give you the BEST chance of performing by pumping adrenaline into your body and focussing on body functions that will make you perform better. Feeling this way is a good thing, if you didn't you would never be able to perform at your best.

STICK TO YOUR ROUTINE - this is what affects people most. Do the SAME warm up and pre race routine ALWAYS and FOR EVERY RACE. Never deviate, always do the same routine. You may have to adapt - sometimes you may be standing around for 20 mins or so pre race or you may have call up rooms for champs races but sticking to your routine as closely as possible will give you the best chance of doing what you do day in day out.

Visualise your race and give yourself specific short term aims. Get out hard, sit in 2nd/3rd in the pack, etc. etc. Give yourself something to think about right at the start of the race, don't think about the finish think about the very first stages and have a specific plan.

Be business like. You are executing a plan that you have worked on. You know if you have prepared properly as you have for every training run and race there is no reason for you to not to perform to your best. You are just executing your job.

IT'S OK IF IT DOESN'T GO TO PLAN - bad races happen, things happen in races. Don't focus on that before the race but be aware this is a hobby, something you do for fun. Be at peace that this is one race of many, you'll do your best but it's OK if things don't work out exactly as you would like - there is always another race!

Once the gun goes bang, everyone forgets all about nerves.

That's pretty much everything I think about to stay relaxed. I feel nervous thinking about tomorrows race but more than anything I am excited about when could go well rather than fearful of what could go wrong.