Race-week travel: getting to your race city and settling in

The week before a race is when good planning pays off. Travel well and you arrive rested, adjusted and ready; travel badly and you spend race day fighting tiredness you brought on yourself. Here is how to handle race-week travel.

Arrive with a buffer

If you can, arrive at least two days before the race. One day to travel and recover, one to register, check the course and relax. A buffer day also protects you against delayed flights and lost luggage — problems that are merely annoying with time in hand, and disastrous without it.

Adjusting to a new time zone

For races across time zones, a rough rule is one day of adjustment per hour of difference. You will not always have that long, so help your body along:

• Shift your meal and sleep times towards the destination before you travel.
• Get outdoors in daylight when you arrive.
• Go easy on caffeine late in the day.

Keep the essentials with you

Anything you cannot replace in time for the race should travel in your hand luggage: race kit, shoes, nutrition you rely on, any medication, and your timing or registration details. Checked bags go missing; carry-on bags do not.

Recce the key locations

Once you arrive, walk or drive the route from your hotel to the start, the finish and the registration. Knowing exactly where to go — and how long it takes — removes a layer of race-morning stress. If supporters are with you, agree the best viewing spots and a meeting point for after the finish.

Eat and hydrate normally

Race week is not the time to experiment with unfamiliar food. Stick to meals you know agree with you, stay hydrated after the flight, and resist the temptation to over-train off nervous energy — the work is already done.

Rest is part of the plan

The training is finished; the job now is to arrive fresh. Treat sleep and downtime as seriously as you treated your long sessions, and you will reach the start line ready to enjoy the day you have worked towards.