I stay ready... so I don't have to get ready.

forgot my caffeine today. stopped at a gas station and downed a 5-hour energy. Tried to use it all in 2 hours.

With the exception of time trials and short track races, all my race prep pretty much happens during the race. I am a very slow starter and prefer to race at the very back of races for at least 50% of the race. I use that in part for warm up, but mostly to stay safe and out of trouble and to scope out the field and figure out where to attack/sprint/other wise use up my energy. For TTs, I have a really hard time getting amped up ... and it shows in my results. For Track races, lucky for me we often have 3 races, so the first race is a good prep for me and the last 2 usually go better.

Sometimes this strategy backfires on me and the winning break is gone by the time I see the front, or narrow courses and fast racing cause it to be problematic to move up, but 90% of the time it works great. I have saved all my matches for the important parts of the race, I have an idea how hard the race is, and I have a plan to use up my energy and have avoided the stress of mid pack management.

I think pre-racing amping is something I need to work on. Oh and I get my caffeine via Dr pepper before the race, but that just wakes me up, not enough to add amps.