Race week: the last seven days

The work is done. Whatever fitness you'll have on the start line, you already have it seven days out, and the only things left to influence are how rested, fed and organised you arrive. Race week is where disciplined people get faster by doing less, and it's harder than it sounds.

What does a good taper look like?

Less volume, a little intensity, no experiments. We've broken the whole week down in the taper guide; the short version: cut your training load down substantially over the week so accumulated fatigue drains away, but don't stop moving entirely. Short sessions with a few efforts at race pace keep the legs feeling like yours. The workout that tempts you five days out, the full simulation "just to check", spends fitness you can't rebuild in time. Trust the log, not the nerves.

By the last two days, training is a formality: easy movement, a few strides, maybe a light touch of the stations to remind your hands what a sled feels like. That's it.

How should you handle sleep?

Front-load it. Sleep two and three nights before the race is where you can actually gain something, so treat those evenings seriously: earlier nights, less screen, no late caffeine. The night immediately before is often mediocre for everyone, adrenaline sees to that, and it matters less than it feels like it does. A rested week survives one twitchy night.

What about carbs and hydration?

Eat familiar food, tilt it toward carbohydrate in the final couple of days, and drink steadily rather than heroically. (What to eat before a Hyrox has the meal-level detail.) You're not marathon carb-loading with military precision; you're making sure the tank is full of fuel your stomach already trusts. Big novel meals, new supplements and "race week detoxes" all belong on the do-not list. Hydration works the same way: consistent through the week beats chugging a litre on the drive over.

What kit and logistics should you sort now?

Everything, early, so race morning contains zero decisions. This week:

• Confirm your heat time and work backwards to an arrival time with generous margin.
• Plan the journey. For GoodLife HYROX Toronto that means getting to Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place during the Oct 1 to 4 race weekend; know how you're getting there and how long it really takes.
• Read the organizer's race-day info for check-in, bag rules and anything division-specific.
• Test your full race outfit and shoes in a workout, once, this week. Not on race day.
• Pack early. A bag packed two days out gets checked twice; a bag packed at midnight gets forgotten things.

If you're in a doubles team, race week is also when you confirm the plan out loud: station splits, run pace, who leads into what. Quick call, ten minutes, no new debates.

What should you refuse to try for the first time?

All of it. New shoes, new grips, new breakfast, new energy gel, new pre-workout, new warm-up routine someone posted on Tuesday. Every one of these is a fine idea three weeks ago and a gamble now. The entire strategy of race week is subtraction: fewer variables, fewer decisions, nothing unfamiliar between you and the start line.

And once the admin is done, do something useful with the nervous energy: have a look at who else is in the Toronto field on AthleteField. Knowing some of the faces in the building takes the edge off the noise when you walk in, and race weekend is better with people to find afterwards.