If you are an athlete that has worked with me as your coach, you already know that I am a huge proponent of scheduling training races into your goal race training. What exactly is a training race? Well, it’s a race that occurs during your training cycle that isn’t a “goal” race for you. There are lots of reasons that I believe these practice races are valuable and I wanted to share this with you, in hopes that it will help you in your own training.
My big race for 2023 is scheduled for the end of July. In my training, I have had a couple of races on the schedule that I consider practice races. This past weekend, I participated in the 24 hour event at the Three Sisters Ultra Festival in Maryville, TN. This race is on a 2 mile loop on the Maryville College campus and consists of some good single track trail, lots of runnable trail, along some decent hills. Each lap has approximately 193 feet of elevation gain. With it being a loop course, it’s the perfect format to practice your racing gear, fueling, etc without having to carry a bunch of stuff with you as you run.
The race took place 8 weeks out from my goal race, so it allowed me to push the mileage, while still allowing me time to come home, have a good recovery week, then go back to higher mileage again. Timing for these practice races is key. Will you have time to recover? You don’t want to do something that is going to put you out for a few weeks, thus hindering your training for the goal race.
With Three Sisters, I took my time. I followed a run/walk strategy and tried to stay steady, not pushing too hard in the 90+ degree temps that we had. My goal was to be on my feet, practice my race strategy, and test my fitness. I also needed to test my energy levels. For the last year I have been dealing with anemia. We took care of the source of the problem back in February, but my iron levels were still VERY low. I was tired all the time, wasn’t sleeping well and had much less endurance than usual. I have had 3 iron infusions so far, and have one more to go. I wanted to see if the infusions were making a difference. The good news…they have made a HUGE difference! My energy levels stayed pretty consistent throughout the race. Of course I got tired. Who wouldn’t after being on their feet for that long in the heat?! But, it was so much better than it has been!
Things that I did:
Took in calories consistently. I grabbed something on every lap. Sometimes it was just a couple of Skratch chews, sometimes it was a 1/2 tortilla with turkey, cheese and bacon. I also had Pringles, Skratch energy bars, boiled potatoes and watermelon. The potatoes and watermelon were great since I could sprinkle sea salt on them to help with salt intake.
I drank constantly. I carried a small handheld bottle and refilled it on every single lap. I alternated between water and Skratch electrolyte mix. I also had some Diet Coke throughout the day/evening, but not a lot of it. I also drank one 5 Hour Energy and my first “nap” break.
I switched to a power hike only once it was dark. Even though I had a light on me, I didn’t want to take a chance on tripping and falling in the night on the trail. There were lots of roots, rocks and holes all over the course. I just didn’t think it was worth possibly getting hurt with my goal race coming up. Since I wasn’t trying to get the most miles possible, this worked great. As soon as the sun started coming up and I could see the trail again, I added jogging back in.
I took two 1-hour breaks. I laid down on my camping cot, which we had set up under our canopy tent. Although I didn’t really sleep, I was able to close my eyes and rest, and that helped. I think that I have decided that in the goal race, I will likely plan on a couple of 20-30 minute “naps”, as I don’t think that I needed the entire hour, plus I’ll be on a time crunch to cover mileage at the big race.
Overall, I feel like this was a perfect practice race for me. I felt good and I felt like my fueling/hydration was on point. My gear was good, although I did have some chaffing from being in soaking wet clothes all day with the heat. It would have been much worse had I not continuously applied lube in all of the hot spots. Again, another benefit of being on a loop course with my gear close by at all times. I managed to complete 66 miles in the 24 hours, which I am happy with. Just 34 more miles for the big one! (And a few mountain ranges to climb!)
Jen, Colleen and I at the Three Sisters Ultra Festival in Maryville, TN. Jen was an AWESOME crew!