The
three most popular questions asked by TRImyCoach
clinic attendees are:
1. What should I eat
the night before a race?
2. What should I eat the morning of the race?
3. How should I warm-up?
These questions are
interrelated in that they beg for the ROUTINE that one must develop and
follow prior to each race. And that ROUTINE begins w/ 14 hours to go
before the gun goes off.
In essence, any action
that immediately precedes and affects the race outcome is, somewhat, part of
that race.
Moral of the story: Don't take it lightly; it's as much a part
of your race as the swim start or transitions.
14-hours
Why 14 hours before the
start of the race? Well, consider that a normal start-time is 7 or
The 'night-before' pre-race meal:
The night BEFORE the race
is NOT the time to eat something "special", different, and new. When
it comes to the digestive tract and race fueling, we want NO SURPRIZES.
What we ARE looking for is a high complex-carb
meal that's easily digested and also has a proper amount of protein (15 to 25
grams).
Things to AVOID in the 'night-before' meal are:
1. Fat - it slows digestion
2. Fiber - can make getting down to 'race-weight' (ha,ha) less predictable on race day (ie: bathroom stop)
3. Simple sugar - wreaks havoc w/ insulin levels, sleep
patterns, creates sugar cravings, and disrupts a predictable, steady supply of
energy throughout the race.
My two favorite pre-race
meals are chicken-breast with pasta or sweet-potatoes with salmon. VEERRRY
PREDICTABLE and you can usually find something comparable at a restaurant the
night before the race.
The 'morning-of' pre-race meal:
Just as important as what
you decide to eat is WHEN you eat it.
We, at TRImyCoach.com,
contract & work with an endurance nutrition technical advisor named Steve
Born. We do this because research into new practices and products changes this
field almost monthly. It's simply our BEST way to ensure that our athletes have
the most current information.
In recent years, evolving
information firmly suggest that the 'morning-of'
pre-race meal be ingested a FULL 3 HOURS BEFORE THE RACE-START.
Otherwise, insulin and
blood-sugar levels are peaking and falling at a time when YOU are gearing up to
compete. Eating only 1 to 2 hours before race start has 3 VERY bad
consequences:
1.
Because of high insulin secretion, your fat (metabolism) 'usage' is hindered & limited.
2.
Fat is NOT used as much, so you deplete your carb (muscle glycogen) stores
SOONER.
3.
You are at a much higher likelihood of
stomach cramping during the race since digestion is dramatically slowed by
pre-race nerves.
NOT GOOD!
Eating 'simple sugars' (rather than complex carbs) BEFORE-hand has the exact same, detrimental effect. So your two rules of 'morning-of-race' eating are:
Now, let me rock the boat
a bit and define some examples of pre-race foods with "simple
sugars." They include:
-Power-Gelä (3rd ingredient is fructose)
-Gatoradeä (primary ingredient is sucrose)
-Orange Juice
-Honeybun
-Raisons
-Many cereals
I can already hear the
outrage, now: "Are you telling us to
NOT ingest Gatorade or Powergels just before the
start of a race?"
And I'll assure you that this is EXACTLY what I'm suggesting if
your drink or gel contains Sucrose or Fructose (simple sugar). Many
"performance" food/drinks contain simple sugar because they're
marketed for taste above performance. Further, for races that are longer
in duration, simple sugars can cause 'gut-shutdown', especially in hot weather,
and in addition nausea.
We recommend athletes use Hammergelä, Endurolytesä, and Sustained Energyä, rather than Power-Gelä, Gatoradeä, and R-4 Enduroxä, for these very reasons. (But, rest assured, that
there are many other endurance-nutrition
issues & reasons as well.)
Another objection would
be: "If my race starts at
That's right. BUT, know that the goal of this pre-race meal is only to "top
off" LIVER glycogen stores. MUSCLE glycogen, the 1st
fuel to be used in a race, should be already full from the 'night-before'
pre-race meal.
So in essence, the 'morning of' meal could be missed
altogether without harm, provided that you begin to fuel within 5-10 minutes of
race start. And for me, if it's a decision to sleep an hour more or force down
food when I'm not hungry, I'll stay in bed to be well rested.
For a sprint race (60 to 110 minutes) - It is likely that you have
enough stored fuel to finish without additional calories. No calories at all or
as little as 200 calories in a flask w/ water will be plenty to assure a good
finish.
For Olympic distance and longer (2+ hours) – You will want to supplement w/
complex-carb calories at periodic intervals mid-race, anyway.
If you opt to get up
early and get something to eat 3 hours prior to race start, stick w/ a
complex-carbohydrate liquid drink mix like Sustained Energyä, (250-300 calories) and a plain bagel or dry
toast. If you're a coffee drinker and must have your "fix", then it's
best to do so without sugar.
I preach all this
because it seems that, on race morning, the only line longer than the one to
the porta-potty is the one at a hotel's
"continental breakfast" 90 minutes before we hit the beach.
The Warm-up:
I would advise arriving at
the race site at least an hour and a half before the race begins. There is just
TOO much to do. Again, 'routine' is
your friend. You want to be able to put your routine on auto-pilot and focus.
And that routine may go something like this:
1--park
2--air the race-tires
3--proceed to transition
to secure your spot (being
VERY mindful of others, who're present or not, who've staked their spot on the
rack)
4--drape a towel or
jersey/shirt over the rack to reserve your spot and go warm-up on the bike,
getting body-marked on the way out
5--return and set up your
transition area
6--jog lightly
7--stretch
8--recheck your transition
area
9--wetsuit on (if
applicable)
10--enter the water and
perform some drills to warm-up for the swim
[After
steps 4, 6, and 8 you should hydrate w/ some WATER. Again,
avoid simple sugars this close to race-start.]
The duration of your easy bike spin, run and swim warm-ups (steps 4, 6,
& 10) will vary according to the distance of the race, your experience, and
any logistical issues that the race site presents.
The rule has been: The longer
the race, the LESS warm-up you require. The FASTER the pace, the MORE warm-up you may require. However, regardless of distance, I
like to warm-up the same duration every time (bike-20 minutes, run-10 minutes,
and swim-5 minutes). Routine, routine, routine and no
surprises.
NOTE: I know of athletes who prefer to warm-up in the reverse-order of the race
(run, bike, swim).
To me, this presents
"logistical stress" on race morning because you can't finalize your
transition area until the bike is there, and I'd rather have this done sooner
than later. In this order, if you run over a piece of glass while spinning or
notice that the bike isn't shifting well, would you rather have 20 or 60
minutes to resolve the problem?
As far as "how
hard" to warm-up (warm-up
intensity) before a race, one should make the effort very easy and gradual
and include one or two 1 minute efforts at race-pace…NOT faster.
In fact, researchers in
the
"…when comparing three different warm-up intensities, that the highest intensity
treadmill effort, {carried out @ 80% of VO2-max}, resulted in lesser staying power during a
subsequent all-out test compared to two carried out at lower intensities and
was NOT significantly better, in this respect, than sitting in a chair for the
same length of time."
So during the warm-up, get
TO race-effort/pace, not beyond it,
for very brief periods.
And as you stand nervous on the starting line, know
that your previous "14 hours" have positioned you, ideally, for a
breakthrough day.
For more information on
the TRImyCoach.com
training programs, you can visit our website at www.TRImyCoach.com
References:
1. British
Journal of Sports Medicine, vol 23(4), pp 233-236,
1989
2. European
Journal of Applied Physiology, vol 48, pp323-330,
1982
3. Endurance Athlete's Guide To Success, Steve Born, pp27-29, Ó2001