The following are suggested guidelines for nutrition for during training and racing so your energy levels don’t let you down due to dehydration, digestive upset or low glycogen levels.
Your race day nutrition plan should be refined weeks and months prior to your main race of the year. You will determine your own personal plan based on your body size, previous race nutrition experience, insulin sensitivity and personal food likes and dislikes. It is important to experiment with your nutrition plan during brick and long training sessions and in your B and C priority races. Always follow the golden rule of not doing anything on race day that you have not done successfully a few times before.
Pre-Exercise Nutrition
- Avoid high fat foods the few hours before training – ex. Creamy soups/sauces, burgers, fries, chips, chocolate
- Eat familiar foods that are well tolerated
Below is a general guideline to eating before training:
2-4 hours Small to moderate size meal that includes a small amount of protein such as 1-2 oz light cheese, 2 tbsp nut butter, 2-3 oz meat, ½-1C cottage cheese
1 hour Fruit/protein shake or a meal replacement drink
15 minutes Gel or 1.5 cups sports drink
(~ 25g carbohydrates)
During Exercise Nutrition
Eat low fat and high carbohydrate foods that are easily digestible OR drink a carbohydrate replacement drink with electrolytes
- Energy bars or low fat breakfast bars
- Replace, Pro 4, Leppin
- Energy Gels such as Gu, Pro 4, Leppin, Peak Fuel, Hammer Gels
- Honey and nut butter sandwich
- Bananas, oranges, or fruit you can tolerate during exercise
The type of food that you eat during a race will also depend on the length of race. For races of less than 90mins, a well-trained, average person will not need to eat. For races 90mins – 3hrs (as the intensity is higher than with longer events) easy to eat and digest forms of nutrition such as gels and carbohydrate electrolyte drinks are ideal. For events longer than 3hrs a mix of real food and sports nutrition products works well for most people, but experiment during longer training sessions or longer B or C priority races.
To determine how many grams of carbohydrates (or approximate amount of energy) to eat per hour use the following formula as a guideline (note 1kg = 2.2lbs):
Your lean body weight in pounds _______ x 0.5 or 0.8 = _____ to _____ grams of carbs/hour
Example: 165lb (75kg) female with 20% body fat = 132lbs lean body weight
Lean body weight in pounds 132 x 0.5 or 0.8 = 66 – 106 grams of carbs/hour OR 264-424 calories/hour
This is an approximation, so try it in training and find out what works for you!
Post Exercise Nutrition
This is very important for a fast recovery and make sure to also re-hydrate with a 2-3 cups of water. Within 30 minutes you should have 1.0-1.5g carbohydrates per kg of lean body mass and half that amount of protein.
ex. A male with 70 kg of lean body mass would have 70 – 105 grams of carbs which would be equivalent to 2 ½ cups of juice or 2 ½ cups of juice with a banana
- Mix 2-2 ½ cups of juice with 20-30g protein powder
- Drink a recovery mix powder mixed with water
- Fresh fruit
- Low fat yogurt and a banana
- Low fat granola bars or an energy bar
Within 2 hours of exercise you should then have a small balanced meal.
Hydration
Drink water frequently throughout the day; get into the habit of carrying a water bottle with you.
Below is a general guideline to optimal hydration around and during training and competing:
2 hours Before
10-20 minutes Before 2-2 ½ C (500-600 ml) of fluids
½-1 C (125-250 ml) of fluids
During ½ - 1 C every 20 minutes (if its really hot it can be up to 2 C)
After 3 C of water for every ½ kg of body weight loss
Race and event nutrition
1-3 weeks prior to race - As your training volume decreases during a taper so should your food intake slightly. Eat foods familiar to you during this period, don’t experiment.
1 day prior to race - Eat a low glycemic index breakfast and lunch (dinner portion) with limited fiber intake. Make sure to stay well hydrated throughout the day and use a bit of extra sea salt on food.
Breakfast on race day – The larger the breakfast the more time you need to digest, wake 3-4hrs prior to your race and eat a substantial breakfast that is low in fiber. For a nervous stomach in the morning take in liquid or easy to digest nutrition such as Ensure, bananas, apple sauce mixed with protein powder, instant oatmeal or pudding. After breakfast if up really early go back to relax in bed or relax reading until you are ready to get down to the course to get set up.
1 to 1 ½ hrs prior to race – Have a sports bar, gel or small snack (less than 830kJ) that is easy to digest and slowly sip water the hour prior to the start (don’t overdo the water).
General Tips and Guidelines
- Eat smaller meals more frequently. As an athlete you want to make sure there is a constant amount of glucose entering your blood stream frequently, not a large amount all at once
- Include small amounts of protein with all your meals, eggs, low-fat/skinless meats, dairy, legumes, tofu, baked fish
- Eat fresh salads or lightly stir fried/steamed veggies with lunch and dinner and eat fruit with breakfast and as snacks
- Always choose a wide selection of foods and/or take a good quality multi vitamin
- Choose high fibre breads and cereals outside training times
- The less processed the better! Choose less processed foods the majority of the time
- Sprinkle sea salt on your meals (sea salt provides trace minerals that is not provided in regular salt – avoid over-processed sea salt)
