The Malta Marathon will be held on February 22 but we have to bear in mind that the final two days before the race will be very important.

The final workouts, meals and logistical planning you do within these 48 hours can affect your performance – for better or worse. So, the following are a few useful tips to ensure you get the most out of the hard training undergone so far.

Do a short, fast workout – Your next-to-last workout before a race should be relatively easy, so you’re not fatigued on race morning, but it should include a dash of speed to prime your nervous system for competition.

Start carbo-loading – Research shows that one day of very high carbohydrate intake (4.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight) is sufficient to maximise muscle glycogen stores. But you might as well start two days out for good measure.

The best time to start carbo-loading is right after your short, fast workout when muscles are most receptive to glucose. It takes some work to consume 4.5g of carbs per pound of body weight in a single day.

To get there, be sure to consume high-carb foods and beverages at every meal.

Stay off your feet – Avoid spending any unnecessary time on your feet.

Get a good night’s sleep – Getting adequate sleep is critical to endurance performance but it is never more important than in the build-up to the big day.

A recent British study shows that runners covered six per cent less distance in a 30-minute time trial after being awake for 30 hours than they ran after a full night’s rest.

While that’s a pretty extreme sleep deprivation, even a few lost hours of rest could keep you from reaching your objective.

Because of pre-race jitters and early-morning race starts, it can be difficult to get a full eight hours of sleep the night before a race. So, be sure to get a good, long sleep two nights out.

Short, easy workout – This exercise is better than none at all the day before a race. It relieves mental and physical tension and keeps the body primed for performance.

Keep carbo-loading – Maintain your high-carb diet throughout the last day before you race. Choose familiar foods that have always worked well for your body in the past.

Now is not the time to experiment.

Apparel checklist

Get your gear together – There’s nothing worse than showing up at startline and realise you forgot something important.

To avoid that from happening, take some time to get all of your apparel together now. It’s best to create a race gear checklist that you use for every race.

Plan for race morning – Race morning logistics can be a pain in the neck, especially if you are not prepared. Minimise the hassle by making a concrete plan for race morning that includes a wake-up time, a route to the venue, parking site and arrangements to get home after the race.

Spend some time on the event website and/or look over the race’s various official printed materials to gather all the information you will necessarily need for a smooth race morning.

Obviously, you can’t go through the entire course in real time, so focus on critical parts such as the start, uphills and so forth.

Wake up early – Research on the relationship between circadian rhythms and exercise performance suggests that optimal performance is not possible within a couple of hours of waking up in the morning.

So, set an early alarm to give your body plenty of time to get up to speed. A good idea is to try and climb out of bed at least three hours before the start horn blasts.

Eat your pre-race meal – Nutrition is more important than sleep on race morning and that makes it important to wake up in plenty of time to consume and digest a high-carb pre-race breakfast.

Aim to consume 75-100 grams of carbohydrate three hours before your race start, or at least 50 grams two hours out.

Warm up thoroughly – Start your warm-up about half an hour before the start.

Begin with easy jogging, then do some dynamic stretches, such as walking lunges and arm circles, and finish with a few 20- to 30-second bursts at race pace.

Go through the above tips periodically before the last 48 hours so you are prepared and know exactly what to do when the time comes.

Enjoy your last four weeks of training for the big day.

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