Have you a race coming up soon? Whether it is a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon or Marathon here are a few tips from Coopah on how to tackle your taper week.

Here at Coopah, we have a few thing we do not recommend to do before a race.

1. Don’t make any last minute changes to your nutrition / breakfast

Pre race day dinner or your pre race snack is not the time to try out new foods. We do not know how our body will react to it and we do not want to find out during the race (if things go south).

Make sure your meals leading up to race day are all meals you eat regularly and you know will not cause an issue. Stick to the foods you know you and your body enjoy and have used a lot during your training.

If you do want to introduce new foods, great idea! But do this during your training to make sure they work for you.

2. Don’t try and cram in any last minute hard sessions or long runs before race day

Even if you have missed a few long runs during your half marathon, marathon training or a few speed sessions in your 5K and 10K training plan. Now is not the time to try and make up for these. All you need to do this week is a few easy runs with a very short race pace session and then relax and save all that energy for race day.

3. Don’t Go Mad in the Gym

No one wants heavy legs at the start of their 5K race or even less marathon race. On the lead up to race day, make sure you taking it easier than normal. If you are hitting the gym, we advise to stick to the lighter weight or bodyweight exercises and focus on mobility and stretching. Now is not the time to go for that squat PB!

4. DON’T PACK YOUR SCHEDULE WITH LOTS OF ACTIVITIES

For some of us, taper weeks is the few weeks were our spare time is not taken up by running. In the lead up to a race, don’t fill this time with too many other activities, use this time to rest and recover and get ready for race day.

And if you are doing an international race, you may be very tempted to spend the day before your race, exploring the new city. Try not to do too much walking the day before your race. You can always do that once you cross the finish line. We do not want to wake up on race day exhausted.

5. DON’T Panic

Nerves are completely normal and can be a good thing! It also means you care. Now you have done all you could, you just got to just in your training and your ability to run your race. And the most important thing to do before race day is get excited and enjoy the big day!

From all of us at Coopah, we wish you the best of luck and we hope you enjoy the experience. The feeling of crossing that finish line is like no other. And the atmosphere at a running event is next level. You will keep coming back.

Best of luck!

Have a look out our recent blog to read 5 must do’s before a race!

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