I was talking like 5km running races!!
I just potter about for a few mins! 
Shorter the race, longer the warm up for me…not that I’ve raced a 5km for about 10yrs 
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Yeah, we all say that before an Ironman; but then all the logistics in the big events make it as tiring as race day 
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Yup. I’ll be away all day Sunday for my race this year, so undoubtedly i’ll be over compensating (knowingly or otherwise!!) with the girls and giving Mrs GB some space all day Sat. Highly doubt that’ll be relaxing!!!
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Pretty much always do 20mins of shakeout exercise the day before. Never would have used to, but it’s a staple of my coach and would now feel strange not too. There’s always some 50m strides thrown in, so really nice to open the legs out.
I rode the whole 70.3 bike course at Nice 5 days before, and that worked well. On the other hand, doing a 60k ride 48hrs before the Etape, with a single 30k climb and 30k descent, wasn’t so ideal! Although it did provide a big mental aide in terms of knowing what was to come, even if it did leave residual fatigue.
I find this surprising, given your ability. If I take any bike session, or even a lot of running ones, I’ll feel terrible in the warm up, but that’s almost the point! Get the legs working, and then after a bit of recovery, the main set feels so much better.
I sort of understand the fragile ego part, but in reality, if you are thinking to run 5k in 3:15 pace, then opening up for some 100m strides at 3:00 pace is always going to be doable. The same on the bike … if I’m riding a 10 mile TT, I’m going to ensure I’ve done some 30-60s efforts at what are my target race power beforehand.
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Oh I 100% understand it intellectually. It would appear that i have difficulty in balancing that against my emotional bias, which normally wins. If i do go for a warm up, i’m only doing it half assed.
When i ran my tempo 1/2 mara a couple of months ago, i started a warm up, got literally about 300m in and though ‘sod this’. Reset the watch and just got on with it. Ok so wasn’t so important on a not maximal training run over that distance. But it’s very typical of me.
Hence my weird taper position as well. I think i have this unhelpful see-saw going on between confidence in my ability (relative) and fear of failure. Maybe my parents didn’t praise me enough as a kid so i’m emotionally insecure and need external verification (i’ve spoken at length with Mrs GB about this on many occasions, and there is more than a shred of truth in that statement).
I am getting better, with experience, though at overcoming these things. Been doing spin ups and stuff before a workout/race on Zwift for example.
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That’s why I will always pay more for accommodation that means walking less. Even staying at the other end of Tenby main town was a PITA compared to the Altlantic Hotel.
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Why increase pace?
Im listening to this podcast right now
I haven’t done anything since my family walk on Sunday. Given how my heels are, I’m thinking of a risky strategy to leave it until Saturday?
Only thing I wanted to test was whether to stow my poles at the back/bottom of my Adv 12 Set vest (through the elastic loops) or stick to using my quiver.
The poles definitely stow there at the bottom easily but I haven’t tested it over time and wondered if they would rub my back?
I know nothing new on race day but…
So you don’t just plod, start easy build up to proposed race pace to get the body prepared for the demands the next day.
that’s not increased pace then…
Pace may increase as a % of overall training, but pace itself should not exceed anything that hasn’t already been completed in training…
Communication issue! increasing the pace through the run/ride/swim I meant upto whatever your target race pace is.
I really struggle backing off in the lead up to a big race. I know it’s irrational and you’re not gaining any fitness just continuing to fatigue. I just can’t switch my brain off from fear of feeling sluggish.
The last rest day I had was December 20th!
For Outlaw half I’m just going to head to the pool for 10-15 minutes on the Saturday, pack everything up then ride my bike for a couple of hundred metres just to make sure it works
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(the dreaded) Brett Sutton puts the rest day 2 days before the race and the day before you do a little bit of all 3 (if you can) to avoid feeling sluggish on race day.
This seems to have worked really well for me, having struggled before with rest days and feeling rubbish
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Yeah - I’ve always done that.
Rest day is 2 days before race day.
Pre-race day is a shakedown, but generally I don’t swim, mainly due to the faff involved.
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Matt Dixon has an interesting take on it as well, preferring the 3 week tapir, where week one and two involve rest as much as is required snd a shorter more intense sessions as you feel fit but week 3 is building back up into race day. His thoughts are logical, ie after a rest week it takes a good week to start to feel good again and for the gains to take shape. The body needs “waking up” and his observations are traditional style tapers leave you feeling sluggish on race day.
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I like that - too late now tho 
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Can see another benefit in that I noticed whenever I relaxed for holiday or other I would get ill.I know i’m not alone in that & this would allow you to recover from such an issue.
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he mentions how the body is used to a certain level of exercise and cutting that forces it into “repair mode” and that by doing that in the lead up means the body is happy as its at usual levels. I half remember @TTowel saying he had his best race after a training camp, @Toyota_Crown just does IM for taper 
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