No New Things on Race Day!

Any athletes out there NOT taken this advice?

It seems that every event I attend, there is someone I hear say, “I am so excited, I just got this/these new ____________ yesterday. I hope they help me during the race!”

There is advice I have read in every book, every magazine, and have heard from every coach I work with: No new things on race day.

Here is the thinking: I spend hours (literally) preparing for a multi-sport event. One year I tracked my exercise to race ratio, and it was about 20:1. For every 20 hours of training, I raced about one. Now, during those 20 hours of training, I used certain training tools, ate and drank certain nutritional items, and practiced certain affirmations thoughts and self-beliefs.

So, the coaching goes, whatever you do during those 20 hours, do during the race. And, if there is something you DO NOT do during those 20 hours, DO NOT do it during the race!

When we stopped at Starbucks on the way to the City of Angels Half Marathon earlier this month, I had the opportunity to “taste test” the peppermint mocha samples the barista had made up for all the customers. (*Note, I do not drink coffee before a workout, therefore I do not drink coffee before a race. We stopped for a Starbucks so Jodi could get her morning latte!)

I was waiting off to the side of the bar, when Jodi came over with one of the mocha samples. “I just wanted to try the something new,” she said. “I knew you would not want one, remember, no new things on race day!”

What follows is a special note to anyone reading this who is thinking, “But I do not race!”

You are a professional, a knowledge worker, an executive, a entrepreneur, an employee or a leader. Every day, you have routines you adhere to. There are the first few things you do when you sit at your desk. The meetings you regularly attend. The one of three places you go to for lunch, etc.

When you think about YOUR preparation to production ration, what would it look like? Do you work for 5, 10, or even 20 hours to every one hour of being “on?” I’m thinking about the training executive who presents information to a group of people every few days. Her or his one hour presentation comes in the midst of meetings they must attend, functions they must plan, emails they respond to, phone calls the have to take. So, when they “stand and deliver,” how ready are they?

When you stand and deliver, how ready are you?

In my coaching programs (as a high school teacher, I coached varsity baseball and mock trial), I always reminded my students:

How you practice is how you play.

So, today, what do you need to practice? And, how can you replicate that on “game day?” (Oh, and any advice I could share: No new things on race day!)