[00:00:00] Number two, race predictor test. 

[00:00:02] So this is under behavioral as we’re starting with behavioral time to do it 30 to 60 minutes periodically monetary cost. I’d say low. It’s probably free. What it does for distance runners.

[00:00:12] It’s like a sneak peek race day, pushing yourself in a test race shows where your fitness really stands how to use it. Do this two to three weeks before your race to see if you’re on track. Race at. Your expected race pace to gauge performance. There’s a lot of different race predictor tests out there. I like Yazo eight hundreds for half marathons and marathons.

[00:00:30] I like doing, you can do three by one mile. If you’re doing five Ks, you could do five or six by one mile. If you’re doing 10 Ks. Um, so one mile is about 1500, 1600 meters, uh, for shorter distances, you can do 400, you can do eight hundreds. So there’s all these different ways you shorten up the rest, et cetera.

[00:00:45] This is not an episode on that. You can Google that stuff. Hit me up. If you want to know how to do it, why it’s important for distance runners. If you want to avoid nasty surprise on race day, this test helps you adjust and fine tune. No more guessing games. This is acute use. So short term, obviously.

[00:00:59] Downsides fatigue, be mindful of scheduling it. So it doesn’t wreck your training cycle, general complexity. I’d say medium overall, it’s a bit vague, but it is hard to do best distance. All distances, other notes. It’s not easy, but it gives a realistic estimate of upcoming race times and helps you With the strategy and pacing, you can use the VDOT calculator, which I did an episode up here.

[00:01:19] Check the links for the VDOT calculator. Or if you’re listening, go on the show notes or just search D Lake VDOT calculator, and you’ll be able to see that episode on that. It’s great. You can plug in whatever interval paces that you’ve done in your training or current race or last race. And then you can get a prediction or what your training pace should be.

[00:01:36] You can update those. The last note about the race predicted test is that I’ve found, and from Some research and studies that I’ve seen, you should do this about nine to 12 days before your main race so that one, you can get the recovery from it and two, you can actually get the performance benefits because when you stretch yourself right after your body gets a bit weak and then it gets strong again.

[00:01:56] So nine to 12 days seems to be about the range. 

[00:01:59] Number three, proper taper. 

[00:02:01] So this is still behavioral the time to do it. You want to do it one to three weeks out from your race It’s a low cost. Obviously, you’re just tapering what it does for distance runners It pulls back your volume mileage kilometers, but keep your intensity So you’re fresh but not sluggish when it’s go time and you need to do kind of a sunset ramping and i’ll talk about in a second So drop your volume one to three weeks before the race.

[00:02:23] That’s how you do it But keep some fast snappy sessions don’t overthink it less is more why it’s important tapering gives you that perfect balance Arrested but ready too much rest equals flat legs too little obviously burned out acute versus chronic use. It’s acute A downside is potential loss of fitness if overdone and the paranoia about feeling lazy So the way I would do it is let’s say, you know, i’m doing a marathon which i’ve got coming up I would do a two to three week taper.

[00:02:50] So three weeks out. I would drop down 80 to 90 percent the volume so if I was doing 100 kilometers a week 60 miles a week, I dropped down to A 80 kilometers a week or that would be 50, 50 miles a week. Then the second week out, it would be about 65 to 75%. Then the third week out would be 50 to 60%. And that would be your race week.

[00:03:12] So you have to calculate obviously the race. I wouldn’t count that in. It’s more like the training sessions beforehand. And it’s okay in this taper week to take an extra day off and just do nothing or light stretching. General complexity is medium because you need to figure out what your body likes.

[00:03:24] Some people don’t like too much of a taper. Some people need a lot of taper. I personally love the taper. I really, really need the taper. The best distances for taper, I’d say all of them, but I found that probably some 10k people, definitely half marathon, marathon, ultra get the best benefits out of a taper and some kind of side notes, embrace the energy that you get the extra energy, trust the process, your fitness, your struggles, say your fitness went away.

[00:03:48] I promise it did not. So there’s some links for the research on taper that I will have again in the downloadable, the free downloadable. 

[00:03:56] Number four. High quality sleep. 

[00:03:59] All right. So. This is behavioral. Obviously you can do this. There’s no drugs need to take it takes eight to nine hours Daily to do I’d say seven to nine.

[00:04:08] I’m actually a seven hour seven and a half hour sleeper. I’m fine right there I’m on the lower end and I found that I’m good Monetary costs low to high depending on your sleep setup Some people need a lot of stuff to sleep what it does for distance runners your body heals repairs and restores during sleep No sleep equals no performance.

[00:04:24] It’s very simple how to do it Aim for seven to nine hours, especially before and after heavy volume and hard, fast sessions. So why it’s so important for distance runners, sleep is your secret weapon, free, effective, and crucial for recovery without. Trying because you got to sleep everyone’s sleep. So you might as well optimize that.

[00:04:44] What is it? It’s a force multiplier. That’s what sleep is. So if you get one extra hour of high quality sleep, you will feel and perform 10x better in running in your life. So why not optimize for that general complexity medium to high because sleep is a lot of people like, oh, sleep’s hard. You got to figure it out.

[00:05:00] It takes practice to sleep. Well, if you don’t already best distance all distances and pro tip, if you do the crime hard training, You got to do the time sleep if you get this right your entire life gets easier and you’ll run faster So there’s so much research matt walker’s book on why we sleep is a great place to start I did an episode on sleep rest and recovery.

[00:05:21] You can get a link somewhere up here or in the show notes or video description below

[00:05:26] number five a resistance band 

[00:05:28] So I’m going to let the co host of this show, sometimes Mike trees, AKA run dot energy on Instagram. Who’s got almost a half million followers. He’s an ex pro runner and triathlete, and he coaches people at very high levels.

[00:05:40] He’s amazing. He’s done it all. He’s been running and coaching for the last 50 to 60 years. This is his take on the resistance band. I don’t believe in there’s no shortcuts. So, uh, I’m an anti hack guy, ankle bands. These are stretch bands that activate the glutes, the leg muscles, uh, and, uh, they’re a great warm up tip I’ve been using to strengthen my glutes, actually.

[00:06:03] Glute, the biggest muscle in the body, also the laziest, tends to switch off. And I find a lot of runners Uh, we’ll actually run without using their glutes. They’ll sort of fire from the hamstrings. So I put ankle bands on, uh, lighter than normal as a warmup before the race. This activates all the muscles I’m going to use when I’m running, uh, and ensures that, uh, I, I run really well.

[00:06:25] I’ll use the bands about 15 minutes before I start running, trying to get as close as I can to the start. Uh, just so the muscles don’t switch off again. If you don’t do it, you feel like you might do a five second less PB. Possibly. 30 seconds over 5K for me at my age. I, I’ve experimented a lot. I do a lot of park runs.

[00:06:46] Uh, and if I don’t do it, the muscles aren’t warmed up. They’re not firing. And for me, I found it works. So it’s an experiment of one, uh, on me. I know it works for me. Uh, I’ve got a lot of experience. I I’m convinced it’ll work for other people as well. I have a few friends that try it and like it. Uh, but I don’t have any documented evidence to say this will save you 10.

[00:07:09] 15 seconds or whatever it won’t harm and I’m pretty sure it’ll help you on a little bit quicker. All right So this is a lot to take in we’re only on number six coming up and you’re probably like yo Darren I just want to get started on something man. Don’t worry. I got you. I’ve created an easy to read table spreadsheet PDF with a checklist, a quick start guide and mega bonus in eight week.

[00:07:31] Don’t start your race so fast free mental, mindful running training plan. Yes, most of us suffer from starting either too fast or too slow, which is me. I always do the slow side of things. This training plan will hopefully fix that. All of this is free because I love helping folks out in the world to scan the QR code right here.

[00:07:49] Click the link in the show notes. If you’re on your podcast player app, listening to it or the video description below bonus, you’ll automatically get signed up for more deep dives like this into consistency habits and incremental self improvement for all the smart self coach runners out there. So it’s the email newsletter that you’ll get and it comes about once a week.

[00:08:10] Let’s get back into it. 

[00:08:11] And the last one sauna, 

[00:08:12] this is behavioral So the sauna will take 45 to 60 minutes to do it And when to do it you need to do it two to three times a week and i’ll get into A bit more of how to actually execute this the right way Via a protocol that I found So I’m going to say hi, because not everyone has access to a sauna.

[00:08:30] It’s also a pain, general complexity. It’s hot. It is a pain to get to a sauna unless you have a Swedish finish sauna outside your house or inside your house, uh, trying to go to a gym or a place, a wellness center that has one. And you got to time this and I’ll talk about the timing. So what it does for distance runners activates heat shock proteins and boost red blood cell count, improving endurance and heat tolerance.

[00:08:53] So this is actually improving endogenous EPO EPO is what Lance Armstrong and a lot of the runners and cyclists are getting hit with doping or they used to. It’s some new stuff now and EPO can be taken in exogenously from other places or your body can produce it endogenously, therefore making it legal.

[00:09:12] How to use it. So again, 30 to 60 minutes, two to three times a week, build up slowly. And this is the way that I found that that works for me. Uh, and some, some studies back this up. So you need to do it for seven straight days to kind of build up. up a tolerance and to build up a saturation for lack of better words.

[00:09:30] So your body is producing the heat, hot proteins, et cetera, the EPO. So you do seven straight days. You want to do it ideally after a workout or when you are dehydrated or both. So right in the morning is great. Or right after a workout, because in particularly a hard or long workout, because you’re dehydrated, you need to be dehydrated.

[00:09:48] You want to go into the sauna and not drink immediately. And you can sip. You can sip that’s okay, but try not to just drink a whole bunch because that will actually negate some of the effects of Being in that heat you need to use Swedish finish dry sauna wet saunas do not do it. You need to get it up to 80 to 90 degrees celsius, which is about 100 to 170 Fahrenheit 190 fahrenheit.

[00:10:16] I think you need to be in that range. It’s dry heat So you won’t won’t burn make sure you have no metal on you Please do not bring your phone in just meditate and you want to get It Up to if you can 10, 15, 20 minute sessions, 25 minute sessions, take a break, do a cold shower, do a cold plunge. If you have one, if you have a cold plunge, amazing ice, ice bath or a cold bath, do that for three to four minutes, then go right back in and do a second set.

[00:10:38] Again, however long you can do it, 10, 15, 20 minutes, take a break for your first time done for you. Maybe for subsequential times, you can do three sessions. So it would be three. 10 to 25 minute sessions total. That would be ideal. So you do that seven days a week, and then all you need to do is once on a session, once per week for about, I’ve read about eight to 12 weeks and that will top you up and you’ll keep with the high EPO levels and you’ll also keep with the high heat shock proteins.

[00:11:06] You can then go back in and do seven days. So what you need to do is do this pretty much like 12. To 14 days out from your race you want to do seven straight days and then you have seven days to kind of like Absorb all the effects of it. Yes. It is a pain, but sauna works sauna with the other 16 things Oh, you are flying.

[00:11:26] So some of the downsides time commitment heat stress if you don’t like hot You’re not gonna like this finding a proper sauna or buying one. It’s just expensive. So this is uh best for um Anyone I’d say anyone from the 400 meters if you’re a sprinter out there, which I’m sure you aren’t 1500 meter runners 5k runners Two mile runners half marathon marathon ultra are going to benefit from this now as I said on those other notes I’m going to say them again.

[00:11:52] You need a real hot sauna. Don’t don’t skimp on this Infrared does not work and The wet steam saunas do not work. They don’t get hot enough. They may feel hot, but they don’t get hot enough. So sauna adaptation and red blood cell production and athletes will be, there’ll be case studies and all the science below in the show notes or the video description, or I’ll actually have it in that free download.

[00:12:13] So check that out. I’m trying to have as much as I can. And I’ll get into a few things to wrap this up more on those warnings from the beginning. So if you hung out this long, you probably are like, well, what’s the downsides to all this again, these 17. 17 tools are add ons to a strong foundation. Don’t expect supplements and quick fixes to make up for inconsistent training.

[00:12:35] Warning number one, be race fit first above everything else. You need to be race fit, not just casually running. but doing structured training with intervals, long runs, progressive loading, hill sprints, strength training, et cetera. You need to do it all these 17 race day kind of tips and tricks that I’ve given you throughout this whole episode.

[00:12:54] They give you one to 3 percent small gains, but on top of the proper training for an hour, 40 minute, half marathoner, that’s still three minutes faster. You might be like only three minutes, but that’s the difference between elite or pro athletes qualifying and possibly winning races. 

[00:13:12] You still here? Want more information? All right. Watch the episode below to get the full ultimate race day guide, 17 tools, tactics, and tricks so that you can run your best time.