What to Do Before a Race, from the Night Before to the Gun

What to do before a race starts the evening before, when the bib is still in its envelope and your stomach has already started doing laps. Pre race nerves are normal. In a 2015 survey of 283 elite Australian athletes, 64% said they had slept worse before an important competition at least once in the past year. This is a race-day timeline for a 5K, a 10K or a half: the night before, the morning, the last hour and the start corral. We finish ours in the corral with one spray, a minute before the gun.

What to do before a race day, the night before

Lay everything out at least an hour before bed. Rashelle Brown, writing a first-timer's race week guide for Active.com, puts the bib on the clothes first, then tries the whole outfit on and jogs a city block or less to check the number doesn't flap against your stride. Add shoes, watch, gels and a throwaway top for the start, all by the door.

Eat a normal dinner in a normal portion, and stay off your feet at the expo.

Then expect to sleep badly. That same 2015 study, by Laura Juliff, Shona Halson and Jeremiah Peiffer in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, asked the athletes why. 83.5% blamed thoughts about the competition and 43.8% blamed nervousness. Brown's line is the useful one here: if you've slept decently for the past couple of nights, one restless night won't decide your race. Go to bed at your usual time and stop checking the weather app.

Breakfast, three to four hours out

Brown's advice is your usual breakfast three to four hours before the start. Canadian marathoner Krista DuChene told Canadian Running Magazine she has a bagel and a coffee a few hours before the gun. The 2016 joint position statement from the American College of Sports Medicine and its partners (Thomas, Erdman and Burke) puts pre-exercise carbohydrate at 1 to 4 grams per kilogram of body weight, eaten 1 to 4 hours before.

Coffee is fine if you already drink it. The International Society of Sports Nutrition's 2021 caffeine position stand (Guest and colleagues) lists 3 to 6 mg per kilogram as the range used in research. Keep race morning to your usual cup.

Arrive an hour early and pin the bib first

Get to the start at least an hour before your wave goes. Parking can be a kilometre or more from the start, according to road racer Dayna Pidhoresky in the same Canadian Running piece. Count that walk as warm-up. She also pins the bib before warming up, so there's one less job when the clock gets tight.

Then join a toilet queue straight away, before you're ready to go. Pidhoresky and DuChene both warn the wait can run over 15 minutes. Do leg swings and drills while you stand in it. If there's a café or a gym near the start with a toilet, use that one instead.

What to do before a race 5K warm-up

Jason Saltmarsh, an RRCA running coach, writes that it usually takes 10 to 15 minutes of easy running to warm up for a 5K. DuChene does 20 minutes easy and some light stretching before her races. Finish with a few short strides at race pace so the first kilometre doesn't come as a shock.

Have a pacing plan written down

If you want to know what to do before a race to run faster, decide now how you'll avoid going out too fast. Saltmarsh's 5K plan is to pick a goal pace, hit it for the first and second mile, and then give the last mile everything. Set the split on your watch the night before. In the crowd at the gun, everyone around you will start quicker than they mean to.

Turning pre race nerves into something you can use

The racing heart and dry mouth in the corral are the same arousal you'd feel if you were excited. Alison Wood Brooks of Harvard Business School tested this in a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General in December 2013. In one experiment, 113 people sang karaoke after saying a single sentence about how they felt. Those who said "I am excited" averaged about 80% on the game's accuracy score. Those who said "I am anxious" averaged about 53%. Say it out loud in the corral. Nobody will hear you over the announcer.

Our pick for the start corral

One spray of Dragon Breath, about a minute before the gun.

Dragon Breath is a 50 ml mouth spray of chilcuague extract. Chilcuague (Heliopsis longipes), also called golden root, is a root from Central Mexico. Spray once into your mouth. For a second it tastes earthy and a little peppery. Within about 10 seconds a bright, electric buzz spreads across the tongue and mouth, then the mouth floods. A customer filmed their first spray and said: "Oh wow, the saliva flow." Another, in a reaction video moments after one spray, said: "Definitely energized."

That's the feeling you take over the start line. The corral dry mouth is gone, the buzz is still fading through the first few hundred metres, and you come out of it switched on for the gun. A clean, fresh feeling lingers after it.

The buzz comes from affinin (also called spilanthol), measured at 6.9 to 8.5 mg per gram of chilcuague root. Where the root grows and how people in Mexico have used it is in our guide to chilcuague root.

Dragon Breath – Chilcuague Extract

50 ml mouth spray. Wild-harvested chilcuague root, dual-extracted. 250+ sprays.

Add to bag

Why a spray works in a start corral

By the time you're in the corral you've handed in your bag and stopped drinking. A spray has no liquid to swallow and puts nothing in your stomach. The bottle fits in a shorts pocket or a race belt next to your gels, and a few sprays is all it takes, so the 250+ in one bottle last a full season of parkruns, tune-up races and the goal race at the end.

The extract stays sealed in Miron violet glass, which keeps light off it and adds significant longevity to its quality and potency. Loose root or powder sits open to the air every time you use it. Start with one spray. Once you know the feeling, some people go up to five.

The root is wild-harvested from growth zones the Mara team selects with the help of local elders, then dual-extracted in organic solutions. It's vegan, gluten free, sugar free and non-GMO. For everyday training runs, we've written up how to get energy before a run.

Dragon Breath considerations

If you're pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or allergic to plants in the daisy family, ask your doctor before using it.

Questions people ask

How early should I eat before a race?

Three to four hours before the start for a normal breakfast, according to Active.com's race week guide. The ACSM's 2016 statement gives 1 to 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram, 1 to 4 hours before.

How long should I warm up before a 5K?

RRCA coach Jason Saltmarsh suggests 10 to 15 minutes of easy running, then a few strides.

Is it normal to sleep badly before a race?

Yes. 64% of 283 elite Australian athletes in a 2015 study reported worse sleep before an important competition at least once in a year, mostly from thinking about the event.

When should I use Dragon Breath before a race?

In the start corral, about a minute before the gun. The buzz arrives within about 10 seconds, and you'll want to swallow the first rush of saliva before you set off.