Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 117, April 2019 | Page 41

Getting ready to race
at the 2016 Olympics
required many years
of build-up
WALK
THIS
WAY
By Anel Oosthuizen
READY... SET... GO!
So many people have come up to me before a big race and
asked, “Are you ready to race?” The typical answer that I and
most other athletes give is, “Yes, I’m ready,” but what does it
really mean to be race-ready? What does it take for an elite
athlete to get on the track or road, ready to give it their all?
I
find that many people do
not realise what goes on
behind the scenes in terms
of preparing for a race. They
just see you line up at a race
and compete, and don’t see
how you hard or long you
worked to get to that point
where you can push your
body to the limit. There are
different components to this,
including training, nutrition
and mental preparation,
amongst others, which all
need to come together on
race day. Without all of
these components working
together, you cannot be ready
physically and mentally to
give it your ultimate best.
Vital Components
Let’s break it down further.
Training is one of the most important components of being ready to race. But even
more important is training consistently. Getting out the front door to train every day,
and focusing on it one day at a time, is the key to success. But there is a very big
misconception some people seem to have that being race-ready comes about just
in the week or two before a race. Nothing could be further from the truth. Prepping
your body to perform at its best actually takes months of hard work on the track
and road, especially in race walking, where correct technique is as important as
speed and endurance.
Off the road, just as important is that you need to fuel your body with the right
nutrition to be able to perform at your best. There is a well-known quote that says,
“You are what you eat.” Knowing your best weight that you can perform at is a
really good start, and eating the right foods and supplements is important. You get
out what you put in, as they also say.
Equipment is the next component you need to focus on. Being race-ready also
means knowing what shoes and socks you are going to wear on race day. I
always have a favourite pair of socks I race in, not as a race ritual, but for comfort
and peace of mind. I have learnt from past mistakes what doesn’t work for me,
including the wrong socks, and that experience contributes to being ready to race.
Also, going into a race means getting a lot of things ready beforehand. As a long
distance athlete competing in elite level events such as the Olympics or Walking
World Cup, I need to have my own bottles on race day at the feeding stations.
That means I need to make sure my bottles are prepared and marked clearly, so
that I can recognise and grab them easily. I also need to have all my gels ready,
and I always prep the person who will be handling my bottles, just to make certain
that nothing goes wrong during the race. That person must know what I need and
expect from them, because come race day, you don’t want to be worried about
nitty-gritty things like that.
Envisioning a Good Race
When I mentally prepare for races, it starts way before the morning of the race.
Weeks before the race, as I build up to it in training, I envision how I would like my
race to go. Also, knowing what to expect on the route also works well for me. I
like to be in control, knowing that I won’t get any surprises on race day, so I like to
check the route out before the race.
The most important thing that I have learnt about racing is that you should always
focus on yourself, and not on your competition, because believing in yourself and
knowing that you have done all that it takes to be where you are, is the best thing
you can do for yourself. Again, the groundwork for that is done in the long weeks or
months of training before the race.
Lastly, and the one thing that has probably been the most difficult to master over
the years, is envisioning myself
getting tired, and training my brain
to still function properly under
those circumstances. This is even
more important in race walking,
where your technique can suffer
greatly as your body and mind tire.
The only way you can maintain
correct form when exhausted in a
race is to ‘suffer’ during training!
Individual Preferences
At the end of the day, being
race-ready depends on you: How
you approach a race, what works
for you as an athlete, and how
hard you have worked to get the
results you want. If you believe
in your abilities and are willing to
push your boundaries, you will be
able to give it your utmost best on
race day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Race Walker Anel Oosthuizen is a multiple SA
Champion and Record Holder, and represented SA in the women’s 20km at the
2016 Rio Olympics.
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