Race Nutrition to Fuel Your Next Personal Best

How much work did you put into preparing for race day? The early mornings and late nights squeeze into workouts. To be the person who skips dessert and orders water instead of a cocktail. You know who you are: you are an athlete.

And now you're staring into the fridge on the morning of race day. You are full of nerves and anticipation. You cannot make a decision and before your final race you ask yourself what the optimal race nutrition is.

This race nutrition guide will help you get the most out of your next event.

Practice racing nutrition 3 weeks before your event

Nailing down your racing diet means exercising your gut and building a routine. A nutritional routine means that nothing new on race day uses up valuable energy.

Learn that Nutritional secrets from world champions.

Train your bowels for optimal racing performance

Know what, when, how often and how much you will consume during the race.

Most runners can handle 30 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Most cyclists can handle 40 g per hour. But did you know that increased carbohydrate intake is likely to lead to improved racing performance?Ancestors? (1) FoFor example, cyclists can train their intestines to absorb 100 g of carbohydrates per hour. Runners have a limited intake of carbohydrates due to the sloshing in their stomachs, but 60g per hour is not uncommon for elite runners.

How to train your bowels

Pick a few key workouts in your training plan and try out your racing nutrition plan. Repeat the racing conditions as closely as possible. Take into account factors like time of day, heat, altitude, humidity, terrain, etc.

Start with 30 grams of carbohydrates per hour and see how your stomach feels. Make a note of how the workout went. If it went well, add 10 g more carbohydrates to the next test. Do this until you find the maximum amount of carbohydrates you can absorb and still perform at your best.

Good to know:

Use the product in training courses that you plan to use during your event. No new products on race day!

Race nutrition 3-4 hours before the start

Immediately after waking up, drink about 500 ml of water so you can start Rehydration process. After your second urination, check your urine color with a urine color chart to find out how much to drink. You want your urine to be just slightly yellow in color throughout the day. Be aware that certain foods and vitamins can change the color of your urine.

Don't drink so much fluids that you become overhydrated. Urine that looks as clear as water is an indicator that you have too much water.

Pro tip:

Why do something good for your body on race day? Practice good nutrition and hydration every day!

Note that you need to pee a lot in the run-up to the start of the event. This is due to the correct hydration, but also to the racing nerves! Keep this in mind if it is difficult to find a place for the toilet (example: overcrowded toilets at the beginning of the event).

Now that you're well and hydrated, it's time to get some food. What and how much you eat depends on a few factors:

Individual needs
Race distance / duration
Racing intensity

Good to know:

The shorter and more intense the race, the less you have to eat and the further from the start you want to finish eating. The longer and less intense the race, the more you have to eat and the closer to the start you have to finish eating.

The job of the last meal before the race is to replenish your glycogen stores. Your glycogen stores should be charged by race day. Cutting calories (especially carbohydrates) in the weeks leading up to your event is a terrible idea.

Here are some typical meals before the race for some joint events. Try to have your last pre-race meal three hours before the race start time. Aim for four hours if you have a sensitive stomach (especially runners).

Running events:

5k-10k: very light meal. Toast, oatmeal, and an egg or some other type of protein like yogurt. The race will start hard and end harder. You want to arrive at the start line hydrated and feel like you will be hungry for the next hour.
Half marathon: like 5 km-10 km, but you want to get to the starting line without being hungry. You don't want to feel too full, either. One idea for a meal is to simply add nut butter to the toast mentioned above.
Marathon: Essen a low in fiber, carbohydrate-centric breakfast that contains more than 100 g of carbohydrates. You should have tried this a few weeks before race day. If your race starts early, prepare your breakfast the night before so you don't have to think about it on race morning. Bagels with nut butter, muesli with non-dairy milk, an omelette with 2 eggs, rice dishes can be good ideas for pre-race meals.
Ultramarathon: eat a lot. Drink a lot. Diet becomes a game of how much you can eat without upset your stomach. Experiment to find out what works for you. Then be ready to deal with an upset stomach anyway, because it will likely happen at some point, no matter what.

Cycling events:

Events under an hour (example: time trial, criteria, track races, Zwift races): a very light meal with little fiber. Focus on hydration. Go easy on protein and focus on low-fiber sources of carbohydrates.
2-5 hour events (example: street races, gran fondos, gravel grinders): 200g carbohydrates or as much as you can tolerate. Add in some protein like yogurt or two eggs.
5+ hour events (example: centuries, double centuries, gravel grinders, Ironman, etc.): Eat a lot. Unless you're very competitive and plan to ride threshold intensity for most of the event, just eat a large, well-balanced meal. Diet will be more important during the event, as you will likely burn your food before the race two hours after the event anyway.

Race nutrition 1 hour before the start

You may still feel full from your big pre-race meal. Eat something medium-sized with the glycemic index, like a banana. This is only to replenish your glycogen stores. Keep drinking water.

Race Nutrition 30-45 minutes before the start

Start warming up. Drink water during the lower intensity sections of your warm up.

Once you've done a few accelerations, take a gel or sipping a sports drink.

15 minutes before the start

Go to the bathroom. Stop eating and drinking. If your mouth feels dry, it's just nervousness. You're hydrated and ready to rock. Focus on relaxing your mind and preparing for the exertion ahead.

Do something Breathing exercises and meditation.

To sum it up, here is an example of a pre-race nutrition strategy:

Time until the start of the event	What to eat and drink
When I woke up	~ 500ml water
3-4 hours to the start	Toast and cereal. Fruit juice. SIP of water.
1 hour to start	Banana. SIP of water.
30 minutes to the start	Mixture of drinks with high GI carbohydrates AFTER several accelerations during the warm-up

What to eat during your race

What you eat is just as important as when you eat during your race. While running or cycling for more than 1 hour it makes sense to plan additional energy intake to support your activity Run. But remember, this is what you want to have practiced during your workout. Your colon takes time to get used to. The best options are sports drinks and small snacks these are mainly carbohydrates:

Isotonic drinks
banana
Sports gels
Gummy candies (1-2: 1 mixture of glucose to fructose)

Try to consume 30-80 g of carbohydrates per hour of racing and depending on the event. Drink ~ 500 ml of water or a beverage mix every hour. Make sure you have practiced this while exercising. Only take in as much as you processed before.

Try to take a few sips Water or water mixed with a nutrient mixture every 15 to 20 minutes to stay hydrated. Isotonic drinks are ideal as they make up for both fluid and electrolyte deficiencies. Be sure when the drinking stations arrive on your racetrack. If you need more fluids than is offered, bring your own hydration pack or belt (but make sure you have used it as well).

Know the course and where it is possible or necessary to refuel. Choose places along the route where your body works less hard. You process food more efficiently when you work less hard. Ingesting food during difficult racing moments is a bad idea.

Knowing the course can also prepare you for the challenging moments. For example, refuel 15-30 minutes before critical parts of the race or moments. Crucial moments of the course can be hills or, if you're really competitive, places where competitors attack. If you notice that your mood is getting very negative, have something to eat and drink!

You can also use the course to signal when to eat. Break the race down into smaller, more accessible parts. For example, you can look forward to a drink at the end of a difficult section. It can be enough to get you through a difficult moment.

Important:

Note the emphasis on “unhealthy” foods like gels, sports drinks, and even sweets during your race. Only eat this food during racing and very intense exercise. The rest of the time, focus on eating real food.

Post-race diet

Post-race diet is less important unless you have to race or exercise again soon. Eat a normal, balanced meal when you have a few days of rest before you need to return to training or racing. Having an alcoholic drink after a race can be a great way to celebrate a success, but drink water with it and limit yourself to just one drink.

If you need to focus on post-race diet to recover quickly, just have a recovery drink that has 25g of protein and 40g + carbohydrates. Sip this within an hour of your race. Eat a regular meal when you feel ready. Keep drinking water.

Note that if your race was under an hour and not very intense, don't overeat. Recharge your batteries and nothing more.

Get even more Ongoing nutritional advice!

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