What Does Nothing New on Race Day Actually Mean? - Coach Tip Tuesday

Each and every endurance athlete will hear the advice “Nothing new on race day!” at some point in their endurance sports journey.  Typically, this is advice that is given early on, so athletes are often familiar with it right from the beginning of when they start training and racing.  It’s very common advice doled out to athletes that cautions them against wearing anything new on race day, such as shoes or clothing.  Basically, the premise is that athletes should test out gear in training before they use it in a race.

But is this what “Nothing new on race day” actually means?  Most athletes would probably answer “Yes, of course that’s what it means!”  However, I’ve learned that “Nothing new on race day” is advice that applies to far more than just tangible and physical things such as shoes or clothing.  

What Shouldn’t Be New on Race Day

I contend that athletes truly shouldn’t do anything new on race day, and yes, I mean anything.  While what athletes wear does fall under this umbrella, I also think that other things - to include behaviors, habits, and strategies - should not be done for the first time on race day.  Here are some of the most common and important things that I think should be practiced in training (though, as always, this is not a comprehensive or all-inclusive list of everything that shouldn’t be new on race day):

• Gear
• Fueling
• Hydration
• Time of Day
• Race Day Execution Strategies
• Pre- and Post-Race Nutrition (which is different from Fueling)

Talking about what to do or what not to do on race day may seem like an odd topic to discuss now, at the end of the main racing season in the Northern Hemisphere.  But it’s actually precisely the correct time to talk about this because the only way to not do something new on race day is to ensure that the things that an athlete wants to do on race day are done in training.  In other words, this is something that needs to be thought about ahead of time - ahead of race day, and ideally, ahead of the period of time when an athlete is building toward a particular goal race.  By considering this at this stage of training, athletes (and coaches!) can construct a plan that enables them to thoroughly try, test, and refine the things they want to implement on race day.

How Can You Tell if You Did Something New on Race Day?

How do you know if you did something new on race day?  It’s actually quite simple: If you do something (any something) for the first time on race day and/or do something different on race day than you practiced or did in training, that means that you did something new on race day.

Very interestingly, I have watched countless athletes over the years do something new on race day and be unhappy with their race outcome or performance.  I do not think that this is a coincidence.  (For what it’s worth, based on my experience over the years, I don’t think that there is such a thing as a coincidence, especially when it comes to outcomes in endurance sports, but that’s a different post for a different day.)  In many cases, I think unhappy outcomes are linked to when athletes did something different or new on race day.  In other words: Doing something new on race day can (and often does) cause undesired results.

Many, many athletes actually do something new on race day.  Even more interesting than observing this, I have watched many of those same athletes lack the self-awareness to identify that they did, in fact, do something new on race day.  Part of my work with the athletes I coach involves going through a post-race analysis with them.  No matter the outcome (positive or negative), we always talk through what the athlete did during the race in terms of fueling, hydration, gear, execution strategy, etc.  They’ll tell me what they did, and they often won’t outwardly state that they did something new.  That being said, because I’ve reviewed their post-workout notes and have been alongside them during their training, I can tell pretty much immediately if something on race day is different from what a given athlete did in training.  When this has happened, I’ve pointed out to many athletes that they did something new on race day, and when I’ve done so, I’ve had several (as in more than one!) respond with statements such as, “Well, it’s not really new” or “No, I didn’t really do anything new on race day.”

Here’s the hard truth: If you do something on race day that you did not do in training, then you did something new on race day.  I understand why athletes (especially seasoned, experienced athletes who have heard this advice many times over) would be reluctant to admit that they did, in fact, do something new on race day: It is a so-called “rookie” mistake to make.  And upon reflection once they know the outcome of their race, it can seem quite obvious that doing something different or new might not have been a good idea.  It’s very, very hard to admit when we make mistakes, and this only gets more true as we get older and more experienced.

But just because something is hard to admit or you don’t want something to be true doesn’t mean that it isn’t true.  It’s important to recognize when we engage in certain behaviors - yes, especially the unattractive ones! - to be honest with ourselves, and to say out loud what is true.  This helps us move forward in a positive direction and to develop both solid training plans and race strategies moving forward to help set ourselves up for success.  So if you do something new on race day, it’s important to be honest about this and say it out loud.

The Most Common New Things Athletes Do on Race Day

The number one new thing I see athletes do on race day is a new race execution strategy.  A race execution strategy is the process by which an athlete actually goes about completing a race.  Elements such as pacing, power, effort, fueling, hydration, and method are all part of a race execution strategy.  When athletes execute a new strategy on race day, the shape of it can and will differ from athlete to athlete and from sport to sport, but the premise is the same: An athlete has a vision of how they will execute the race, and they attempt to do that on race day without ever having meaningfully practiced that vision in training.

The most common example (by far!) that I see of this in my work is with runners and triathletes who leverage a run/walk strategy in training and who do not want to run/walk on race day.  Instead, they have a vision of themselves running - just running - the entire running race or the entire run leg of a multisport event.  So even though they literally never, ever completed a race-specific training run (such as a long run) without walking intervals, they attempt to run the entire race without using the strategy that they honed (and many times, perfected) in training.  (In many cases, they attempt to do this without telling me ahead of time that they will be doing it.)

Let me be perfectly clear: While Taper Phase does do wonderful things in terms of race preparedness for athletes, it does not magically make athletes able to do things that they have not recently been able to do in training.  The best predictor of future performance is your current performance, and this includes your current strategy in training.  If you haven’t practiced a running-only strategy in the training build-up to a particular race, you will not be able to magically run an entire event well and you will not be able to maximize your current training potential on race day.  Some athletes may get away with it, but they should be aware that that’s what is happening: They are getting away with it.  They are not implementing the strategy that they prepared.  Implementing and executing the strategy that is practiced and honed in training gives athletes the highest probability of reaching their current potential and of having a positive outcome and result in a racing situation.

Beyond athletes who try to run an entire race when they haven’t trained to do so, the second most common new thing I observe athletes attempting to do on race day is related to food and hydration intake: Athletes will change their pre-race nutrition and also change their mid-race fueling and hydration strategy.  Whether they are increasing or decreasing quantities, changing the rate at which they are consuming things, altering the timing of what they are consuming, changing what they are actually consuming, etc., this is a very common thing.

The gastrointestinal system is like the other systems in the body: It can be trained with time, but it does need time to respond to and adapt to a stimulus that is imposed on it.  Thus, the daily and pre-workout nutrition and mid-workout fueling and hydration strategies that are implemented in training should be what athletes implement on race day, as those strategies and behaviors are the ones that the body has adapted to and will function best with.

There are many, many more examples of things that athletes do that are new on race day; these two are simply the most common ones I’ve seen over the years in my work as a coach.  No matter what the new thing is, the premise behind why not to do it is the same: What works well for you in training is what has the highest probability of working best for you on race day, and thus that is what you should implement on race day.

How to Avoid Doing Something New on Race Day

There is an effective remedy that can keep athletes from doing something new on race day: Athletes need to be honest - both with themselves (which is the most important) and with their coach if they have one - and they need to not have any secret goals.  A secret goal is a goal or vision that you do not share with anyone and keep to yourself.  Secret goals can (and do!) include strategies and behaviors; secret goals do not only pertain to timed results.  There are many, many reasons why athletes need to be this honest and why they need to communicate all of their goals ahead of time.

First and foremost, managing expectations is one of the most important components of training plan design.  For athletes who work with a coach: A coach needs to understand what an athlete wants and/or expects.  At the same time, an athlete (whether they are self-coached or working with a coach) needs to confront the reality of what they can reasonably expect to achieve come race day.  

Sometimes, our expectations are not in alignment with our current capabilities.  It is better to have conversations about this before a race or before attempting to achieve a goal.  One way or the other, an athlete will learn if their expectations were not in alignment with their current abilities.  Believe me, it is better for athletes to learn (and accept!) what their current abilities are and to manage their expectations appropriately before a race than after one when they effectively crashed and burned.  Confronting and addressing this ahead of time allows an athlete to recast and/or reframe goals so that they have the best chance possible at having a positive experience and successful outcome at a given race.

Second of all, it is nearly impossible to hit a target that we don’t know exists.  This is true for both self-coached and coached athletes, but it’s honestly a bit more important when there is another person involved (aka when an athlete is working with a coach).  When athletes work with a coach, the coach designs their training based on what the athlete communicates to the coach, including their goals and what is important to them.  Simply put: If a coach doesn’t know that an athlete expects or wants something, then the entire training plan will not be oriented in that direction.  In fact, while the plan will be oriented toward what the athlete has communicated to the coach, if the athlete has harbored a secret goal and/or not been completely honest about what they want, the plan may be oriented in a completely different direction from what the athlete actually wants.

Being honest at the onset of training allows the athlete to aim for the target that they actually want to hit and to practice the strategies, behaviors, and other elements that they want to implement on race day.  Learning whether or not it’s actually possible for them prior to race day will help them have the highest probability of successfully realizing their vision for themselves come race day.

The Bottom Line

“Nothing new on race day” applies to so much more than just gear.  While it does apply to gear, it’s actually far more important that athletes do not engage in new behaviors, strategies, or techniques come race day.  Rather, they should aim to practice those elements in training so they can test out what works, what doesn’t, and what is optimal for them.  Then, come race day, they can be confident in what they’re doing during the race itself and give themselves the best chance of achieving their goals.