i've now run enough races to have made most of the classic race week mistakes at least once. the one where you go for a "light workout" three days out because you're feeling great and don't want to lose fitness. the one where you try a new pre-race breakfast because someone in a running forum said it worked for them. the one where you stand in the expo for two hours and wonder why your legs feel heavy on race morning.
here's what i've figured out, roughly in order of how much it'll actually affect your result.
the fitness is already banked
the hardest part of race week is accepting that you can't make yourself fitter. whatever training you've done is in the bank. the work is done. the only thing you can do in the final 7-10 days is let your body arrive at the start line as recovered and fresh as possible, or screw that up.
most runners intellectually understand this but emotionally don't believe it. so they run too much, too hard, too close to the race. "just to stay sharp." "just to feel the legs." and then they spend miles 18-22 wondering where their fitness went.
the fatigue from your last hard session takes longer to clear than you think. research on tapering suggests peak performance usually comes 10-14 days after the final high-intensity stimulus. that means if you're running a hard workout in the week before a marathon, you are actively working against yourself.
the things that actually cost you time
sleep debt in the days before. not race night, that one barely matters, most people sleep terribly before races and run fine anyway. it's the two or three nights before race night that count. if you're staying up anxious, scrolling, doing last-minute logistics, you're showing up with accumulated sleep debt that affects everything from perceived exertion to decision-making mid-race.
standing at the expo. this sounds like paranoia but it's not. standing for two hours is physiologically meaningful when you're trying to show up recovered. the expo is great. go, pick up your bib, leave.
changing anything in your nutrition. the week before a race is not the time to try the carb-loading protocol you read about on tuesday. if you've been eating a certain way through training, eat that way. your gut has adapted to your training diet. race week is exactly the wrong time to experiment.
running too far on the shakeout. the day-before shakeout run is supposed to be 10-20 minutes at easy pace. it's for neuromuscular activation and calming nerves, not fitness. if you're running 6+ miles the day before a marathon because it "feels good," you're misunderstanding what it's for.
the mental stuff is the real thing
race anxiety is real and it's exhausting in a way that shows up in the data. elevated cortisol from stress suppresses HRV, disrupts sleep, and can contribute to glycogen depletion even when you're not running.
the most useful thing you can do in the last few days isn't physical, it's getting your mind into a state where race morning feels like the natural end of a long process rather than a sudden terrifying event. whatever helps you get there: reviewing your training log, going through your race plan, talking to someone who's watched you put in the work.
you've done the training. race week is just about not undoing it
the actually useful checklist
- last hard run: 10+ days before race
- shakeout run: 15-20 min max, the day before
- expo: in and out
- meals: same foods you ate during training
- sleep: prioritize the 2-3 nights before race night
- logistics: solved by thursday at the latest, not sunday morning
- new gear: none. not shoes, not shorts, not socks