Quick note: You may have noticed that this edition is coming from a different email address, and you’re right. That’s because Shuffle Club is now Ultra Endurant Newsletter. I’ve made this change to bring everything into one consistent umbrella, so it’s less confusing for you as well. Content all stays the same, it’s simply a name change.
TLDR;
On Tuesday we broke down the physiology of race week and why you can't build fitness seven days out. Today is what I actually see runners do that sabotage their race, and what I've learned the hard way myself:
Nervous tinkering disguised as "optimizing": When training volume drops, runners channel their nervous energy into changing gear, obsessing over drop bags, and testing new foods.
Taper tantrums are normal: Heavy legs and phantom twinges aren't lost fitness; they are just your body resting and repairing.
Control the controllables: You can't control the weather or the start-line chaos, but you can control whether you arrive calm, rested, and unfussy.
Physiology vs reality
Three days ago on Tuesday, we looked at the science of race week: why you cannot get a single percent fitter in the final seven days, why your quads need inflammation cleared, and why two nights before the race is the sleep you actually compete on.
That’s the physiology on paper.
And while science is science, reality might be experienced slightly differently from person to person. So let’s take a look at it.
Because when you take an ultrarunner who is used to training 10, 15, or 20 hours a week, and suddenly tell them to run for only 20 minutes every other day… their brain starts to… well, struggle.
And that is usually where the trouble begins.
Nervous tinkering disguised as “optimizing”
Similar to someone quitting smoking can feel twitchy, an ultra runner who suddenly doesn’t run also tends to get a bit itchy.
And it makes sense; an athlete going from hours a day of exercise outdoors to suddenly having hours of free time that need filling with something else… that’s a recipe for problems.
At least if not managed properly
Instead of sitting on the couch and letting your body rest, what do most runners do?
They start looking for things to fill their time with. Often times this ends up being changing gear, trying new nutrition, or second guessing their shoe choice.
Or they read a forum post about a miraculous carb-load powder and decide race morning is the perfect time to try it.
Personally, I believe far more races are wrecked by race-week tinkering than by undertraining.
Because like we’ve established in previous posts, all your body knows is stress, regardless of the source of that stress.
So tinkering, trying new fuel, shoes, second guessing your prep plan will add a lot of stress. That stress will inevitably affect your recovery in a negative way.
Every change you make in the final week adds a new variable. And in an ultramarathon, your main goal is to eliminate variables, not add them.
If you didn’t train with it in month three of your block, it has no business touching your body in the final 72 hours.
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Respect the "taper tantrums"
Then there’s the physical side of resting.
Many runners panic around Wednesday or Thursday of race week.
They say their left hamstring feels tight, their calves feel completely dead on a gentle 15-minute jog, or they feel lethargic and heavy walking up the stairs.
They convince themselves they’ve lost months of aerobic fitness in four days.
Logically they may know that physiology doesn’t work like that, but that doesn’t change the experienced reality.
This shift going from active long exercise hours, to static, empty hours of nothing to do is a huge change and your body knows it.
I call it taper tantrums.
Your body goes from performance/survival mode to reparation mode.
Blood volume expands, glycogen and water fill up inside your muscle fibers (which is why your legs feel like dead weight), and your nervous system finally starts downregulating.
Sluggish legs during a Thursday shakeout run don't mean you're unconditioned. They mean your body is actively storing fuel and repairing damaged tissue.
The legs always show up on race morning. You just have to trust the process and be patient enough to endure the taper.
What my own races taught me
If you ask me what ruined my worst runs, it was never a physical lack of preparation.
It was mental fussiness.
When I attempted the coastline of Portugal the first time with my partner Niki and stopped at 480 km, it wasn't because my legs gave out. It was because systemic fatigue and immune stress quietly took me down from the inside out.
And in my first ever 100-miler, where I literally ended up sliding down muddy hills on my backside for the final three kilometers just to reach the finish line, what got me through wasn’t a rigid, perfect race plan.
It was accepting that things were going to get messy, uncomfortable, and imperfect; and refusing to panic when they did.
If you go into race morning expecting a pristine, seamless day where everything goes to plan, the first blister or delayed aid station will break you mentally.
Expect the weather to be annoying. Expect your stomach to feel slightly weird. Expect to wake up at 3:00 AM wondering why on earth you paid money to do this.
None of that matters if your baseline fuel is topped up, your gear is familiar, and you stay calm.
Show up to the start line boring, predictable, and rested. Let everyone else burn their nervous energy at the expo.
If any of this seemed confusing you're more than welcome to book a 1:1 call with me, completely free, no strings attached.