| To Race or Not to Race?
That is the Question
From Ironman World Champion Cherie Gruenfeld
With the 2006 race season not yet "wrapped", discussing whether to race or not seems a rather strange topic. But with the growth of our sport, we're now forced into the position of having to select our key races for next season before completing the current season.
The major race decisions seem to include the following:
- Shall I do an Ironman race or a couple of 70.3 races?
- Do I want to qualify for Kona and/or the 70.3 championships?
- Is this a year when I should devote less time to training and do shorter racer?
Once you've has answered these questions and made the commitment to specific key races, there's another kind of race scheduling question to wrestle with: Training Races. What is a Training Race?
These races are sometimes called "B" or "C" races in contrast to your key or "A" race. They will usually be shorter than your key race and will be used to help you get better at racing before your "A" event. Oftentimes, they're local and/or smaller and more low-key than your key races. Because the purpose of these races is to better prepare you for the main event, you will schedule them in the months/weeks leading up to your key race.
Some athletes like to "race themselves into shape" and others prefer to forego racing and simply train while preparing for a key race. There are good points on both sides of the issue and it's a personal decision. Here are some thoughts to be considered:
Reasons for Doing Training Races: - There is simply no better way to test how you handle race day intensity than to be on the race course with other competitors. A race situation forces mental and physical stress that no workout (even with a crowd) can provide.
- You can more easily evaluate where you stand at that particular point in your training, vis-a-vis others. While you're training "at home", it's difficult to asses your progress. Reading the results of a race where you weren't a participant leaves you wondering where you might have finished in the field. If you were part of the race, the question is answered.
- Racing experience is a valuable commodity. You learn something about how to do it well every time you race. You don't necessarily pick up those little gems while training. Reasons to Forego Training Races:
- The stress you'll put your body through on race day could push you over the edge if you're close to an injury. You can modify your training to accomodate nagging signs of potential injury, but in a race, you're less likely to back-off and protect yourself.
- If the race is an Olympic or Half Ironman distance, it may require recovery time. If you don't allow the time to get rested and instead jump right back into a full training schedule, the benefit you stood to gain from racing may very well be neutralized. - Along those same lines, racing will require some timing changes in your training schedule. For example: If you have a long run planned on a day when you're going to do a sprint race, you'll want to reschedule your long run. The danger here is that your rescheduled long run this week now is too close to your scheduled long run next week. It requires close attention to your overall training schedule to get the full benefit of the training race. - If you should, for some reason, perform poorly (or not up to your standards) in your training race, it can cause you to lose confidence in your training. An athlete's confidence is a powerful weapon and a lack of confidence can act like Superman's krypton. As strong as we want to be, we're all fragile when it comes to our confidence level. Understand that this is not the main event and only one data point. Figure it out and move on.
There are good reasons on both side of this issue. You must make the determination about what works best for you and go with it. Keep in mind that the overall objective is the "A" race and whatever helps you accomplish your goals in that race is the appropriate strategy for you.
Good luck
Cherie Gruenfeld Age Group IM Champion
Articles from Cherie:
Key Workouts for a Successful Ironman Race Part I - Part II - Key Workouts for a Successful Ironman Race - Analyzing the Last Season to Have a Better Next Season - Setting the 2006 Calendar - Breaking it Down - Something for Nothing - Work + Recovery = Peak Performance - Getting Back in the Game - To Race or Not to Race? - Kona Moments - PERIODIZATION Ð MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU - New Age Group Record at IM Arizona - Critical Success Factors for a Great Ironman - The Ironman Run: It's a Mind Game - Remain a Competitive Racer - What's This Race All About - To Every Workout There is a Purpose -
My 2008 Resolutions
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Looking Forward to the Future
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How About the Kids? -
Other Kids
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Become An Ironman
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Beware the Pitfalls
To have racing success
Back to the Future
Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3
Circling the Drain
Lessons From Beijing
From the Desk Of Cherie Gruenfeld
Ironman – Now That You've Committed
It's All About the Run
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