Race Day Tips by Lee Povey
EUROPEAN MASTERS SPRINT CHAMPION, PERFORMANCE CYCLE COACHING
Arrive early. It is much better to be too early than too late, set off with plenty of time to spare so your journey is relaxed, do not underestimate how much a rushed journey can impact on your performance. If you are travelling with someone else perhaps another competitor or friend/family, it is often tempting to talk about the upcoming event. In my opinion this is best avoided and left until you are actually at the event. In the past I have found competitors can often arrive over-excited/nervous due to over analysis on the way.
Once at the track prepare your bike and warm up/pit area. Keep this area as neat and tidy as you can, this will make it easier to find things should you need to in a hurry. I advise arriving with your warm-up gearing already on and bike ready bar the minimum needed to transport it, sign on if needed, check the programme and note when you are due to race, then get changed, put numbers on and be ready to warm up. As a side note, now is not the time to try new shoes, cleat position, saddle heights, etc! Always try these in training first so there are no mishaps on race day.
Warm-ups. Remember what the warm-up is for: it is to physically and mentally prepare you for the race(s) ahead. You should finish your warm-up feeling ready and able to perform to the max, not tired or still cold. Practise your warm-ups in training so they feel second-nature on race day.
Typical warm-ups would be:
Sprint would start with 15mins on a smallish gear (usually 79”-84” for seniors) around the track finished by a 90% flying sprint of 100m. Come back in, change to race gear and roughly 15mins after finishing first part of warm-up, go back out and do a full-on flying 100m effort, practising your line for the upcoming 200m TT. This effort is done at 100% and approx 20-30mins before you are due to qualify, afterwards have an easy 5mins spinning on rollers or infield and then another 5mins again before you race.
Kilo. Same 15mins as sprint, however instead of flying sprint change to race gear and do two 50-75 starts 1st at 90% second full on 100% no more than 5mins rest between them. Then after 5mins of gentle circulating, do a progressive 300-500m effort seated on race gear, building up to around 90% of race pace. Aim to do this approx 30mins before you race and have an easy 5mins on rollers/infield after effort and before race.
Pursuit. Same as kilo, but do the 500m flying effort at race pace.
Distance races. 30mins on track, progressively getting quicker with a couple of flying laps at 90% of max speed mixed in, followed by 5mins easy approx 10-20mins before the race.
The above examples are suggestions. Find out what works for you as we are all different. When you find a warmup you feel comfortable with, use it in training and racing so it becomes second-nature, this should help you to reproduce training form on race day.
Make sure during the warm-up process you are suitably clothed to allow your muscles to fully warm up (you should break out into a sweat) and you are constantly hydrating.
If it is difficult to get on the track (say your event is later in the programme and there is no break before it) you can also do a roller warm-up. I would recommend 5mins easy-5mins medium pace-5mins progressively getting harder/faster, finishing in a 10-second rev out followed by a further 5mins easy for sprint events. For endurance events, approx 30mins getting progressively harder with a couple of 15-second sprints mixed in ending in 5mins easy spinning.
When warming up it is an ideal time to think what you need to do in your racing, concentrate on how you want to ride, not on thinking about the outcome. Think about what you want to do and say positive things to yourself like “I want to take control of the race and dominate tactically” or “I am feeling quick and strong today” Do not let yourself get caught up in negative thinking! The subconscious mind cannot process negatives, so if you say something to yourself along the lines of “Don’t mess up” or “Don’t fall off”, the chances are you will!
Music can be a great help here, well-chosen tracks can put you in the right mental state to perform at your best and remind you of other times you have performed well. Of course if using an ipod or similar on the track make sure you can still hear the warnings/info from other riders and officials.
You should now be warmed up, psyched up and ready to win!!!
The big man Lee Povey in action at Preston Park
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