We all want to feel good on race day. Sometimes an athlete will come to me with a list of races they’ve already entered and I look at it and take a deep breathe and go hmmmm. It is getting harder to get into races, and the pressure to choose and enter further and further ahead is growing. However, with some thoughtful planning you’ll recover better, have a lot more fun, make more progression and race stronger within yourself.

Race distances and actual (not perceived) recover time between events;

5k - you can race a 5k every week, the recovery is short. You can still recover enough to do workouts during the week and show up for parkrun on Saturday, not every week will be 100% flat out but you can give it a crack each week for 5k.

10k - If you want to improve your 10k time you want to push them out to 6 weeks or two months, to give you time to do a good block of training between races.

Half marathon - If you want improvement in the half marathon I’m going to ask you to only run them every 3 months (you can add a 10k in there if you like!)

Marathon and beyond - When we are looking at road marathons and ultra-trail events recovery is four weeks, your muscles have micro-tears, your organs need to heal, your mind also. Best possible is 4 to 6 months between these longer events, minimum if you want to build back up, feel strong and ready to go again (to keep you challenged add some shorter events in between but not too close to the big ones.

So here are some factors to consider before the FOMO has you pressing that ENTER NOW button…:

Your running experience - the longer you’ve been running the more you’ll know what you can handle and still stay keen and excited to show up to races, and recover between events. And it’s usually longer than you think.
What do you want to focus on (finishing or performing?) - when I say performing I am not talking about making the podium or winning, I mean performing well within yourself, having the strongest race you can, having the endurance muscles build and training, and the endurance mindset that you’ve practised to keep moving forward. And if you want to improve your times, the more training you do between events the more you can build strength and speed.
Don’t forget to think about the impact of your schedule, race travel and intense training on your family and social life too.

A perfect coaching/athlete relationship would see an athlete/coach formulating a list of “potential” events and distances between them, and then discussing this through toward the optimal race calendar (with some A, B, C goal races). It’s always good to have a FOMO free, objective and experienced coach work it through with you :)

Remember that usually, the same races (with all the distances!) will be there next year, if you prioritise well then you will be able to show up every year for your key races ie. you won’t be burnt-out mentally or physically, or have an overuse injury that puts out of the season all together. It’s a long game running, and you want to be running for the long term, so plan well team.

Finish strong, plan your season well with Coach Kate.