Editor’s note: Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, is writing a daily Coke Zero Sugar 400 diary, giving a peek into NASCAR life during race week at Daytona International Speedway. This is Wednesday’s entry.
As drivers, we’re typically juggling a lot of different things throughout each day.
On Monday, it was balancing recovery from the Richmond race with my exercise regimen and team meetings. Tuesday was an all-day affair, and it was all spent in a car — about four hours in my Ford F-150 getting to and from Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina, and then a little more than six hours in our No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang as we tested different tire compounds for Goodyear.
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Wednesday was the rare day that was all mine, so it allowed me to really go hard in the gym. It wasn’t just exercise for the sake of exercise. It was purposeful — a chance to build strength, loosen up and test my endurance.
I started with a short, easy jog. Just 10 minutes to warm up, get my heart rate up and get loosened up. Sometimes, I’ll ride a bike — out on the road or a stationary — but the idea is the same. I want to wake my body up gently before making it to do the hard stuff.
Once I was warm, I did some rolling stretches on the floor. Rocking forward and backward helped loosen my back and my core. It’s simple, and it makes me feel so much better when my spine and midsection are moving freely.
Next, I worked through a set of deep lunges, each with an overhead stretch. This always reminds me how tight my hips and shoulders can get, especially after long days of sitting. Dropping into the lunge and then reaching upward left me feeling limber and more open.
I followed that with some gentle shoulder work. Nothing heavy, just slow, controlled movements to open up the joints and take pressure off muscles that often carry more than their share of the load. By the end of it, my shoulders felt lighter, as if I’d taken off a weight I didn’t realize I was holding.
The main part of the session was banking 15 kilometers spread across three different cardio machines. I rotated between a SkiErg machine, which simulates cross-country skiing, a rower and cycling on an air bike, which engages both your arms and legs, and the faster you pedal, the more resistance you get from the fan. It really kicks your butt.
Each of these machines asks for something a little different — pulling strength, rhythm, coordination and grit. They all make you push yourself even when you want to quit. The variety kept it from getting stale, but it was a real test of my endurance. I had to focus on steady breathing and pacing, and it forced me to stay calm as the minutes piled up.
I was physically spent after that, so I shifted to some mental focus work. It wasn’t about lifting or sweating, but about challenging myself to stay sharp even while tired. All of this training isn’t just physical. It’s also about keeping steady under pressure.
I closed my workout by lying flat on the ground, practicing slow, intentional breathing. With every breath, my heart rate dropped and my body relaxed. It was a nice and quiet way to end, and I left the mat feeling recharged.
This session had a little bit of everything. Movement to stay flexible, work to build stamina, and moments to slow down and recover. It wasn’t about pushing to the extreme. It was about balance, and I left the gym better than when I walked in.
We push ourselves inside the racecar. It tests our strength, our stamina and our mind. And Daytona is a race that’s mentally exhausting. You’re always hyper aware, hyper sensitive, and sometimes when the racing gets dicey, you kind of forget to breathe, because you’re so focused on what you’re seeing out the windshield and in your rearview mirror. It’s intense, and it’s why I put my body and my mind through the ringer today.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Cody Ware’s Daytona diary: How NASCAR driver works out before Coke Zero Sugar 400 race
Reporting by Cody Ware / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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