What to eat before the race? - Triathlon Week

DOUBLE DOWN · 08-26-2006, 06:19 AM

What do you guys eat the night before and the morning of the race. It is a sprint distance race this weekend. My ritual is chicken and pasta the night before and Wheat toast with peanut butter and honey the morning of; usually around 5 AM with a race time of 7 AM.

How about any suppliments or shakes that might make a difference?

DOUBLE DOWN · 08-26-2006, 06:32 AM

hmullet mentioned Cytomax. Which product?

sfricks · 08-26-2006, 08:22 AM

Theoretically it doesn't matter so long as your muscles are topped off with glycogen - aka carbo-loaded. An athlete with topped off stores can exercise 1.5-3 hours without any additional fuel. Past that point is the dreaded “bonk”.

In exercise, the intensity dictates where your body pulls energy from. In your Sprint you'll likely burn 1500 calories or more at an anaerobic pace. Only a tiny fraction of this will come from fat stores. By far and away most will come from muscle glycogen. Eating a GU 15 minutes before race start won’t help. It takes days to completely fill your muscles to capacity.

As far as eating during the event, your kidneys can only process and return 200-300 calories/hr back to your system. Eating during extreme exercise is mostly futile as blood is diverted away from your “non-essential” organs, like your stomach, to the muscles that are requiring it. The harder you exercise, the more trouble you’ll have digesting and processing what you put in possibly leading to gastro intestinal distress.

So what about longer races IE 70.3 and 140.6 (Half Iron and Iron respectively)? You must fuel during these events but again, the intensity of exercise dictates where your body pulls its fuel from. In a typical 70.3 the calorie burn is 5000+ calories and of course in an Ironman about 10000+ calories. This cannot be pulled solely from muscle glycogen although glycogen is required to break down fat stores. At aerobic paces (sub 80% Max Heart Rate), your body prefers its energy from fat. Even the thinnest athlete has 10s of thousands of calories in fat stored in their system. At lower rates of exertion, the stomach can do its job and process fuel although not optimally hence the need for a nutrition plan in these events.

So, what to eat the night before a Sprint? You really should start two nights before. Of course rice and pasta are good choices but any low fat high carbohydrate fuel finds its way to the muscles (and too much, to the belly and hips!). I also recommend sipping on sports drink during the entire day before the race (2x28oz Gatorade on my desk now for my 20 mile run tomorrow). This assures hydration and carbo-loading.

The morning of, eat light and early. Remember, once the gun goes off, the stomach shuts down. You don’t want that happening if it’s full of difficult to digest material. For this reason, I prefer Cream of Wheat made with water (not milk) with a little sugar for taste.

Good luck in your race and let us know how you do!

DOUBLE DOWN · 08-26-2006, 10:15 AM

I just purchased my first box of Cream of Wheat in about 25 years!

hmullett · 08-26-2006, 02:17 PM

I love to eat a cinnamon raisin bagel and a banana. I don't use cream cheese, only butter or I can't believe its not butter. I also drink a triple espresso latte about an hour and a half to two hours prior. I know people that eat instant oatmeal (sugar content is higher) and those who don't eat anything. I can't do that, tried and failed.

The cytomax that I use is the Cytomax energy drink. I like it better than Gatorade because it sits in my stomach easier. Everyone has their own preferences. I know that Scott swears by Gatorade Endurance and I've used it too.

Don't forget you'r recovery meal/drink. I love to use Endurox Recovery because of the no fat/low cal and with a great 4:1 ratio. This is critical for recovery of muscles.

Good luck and let us know how the race goes!

Heather

sfricks · 08-26-2006, 05:27 PM

Heather knows her stuff but I do have one tiny small miniscule correction. I H_A_T_E Lemon Lime gatorade. Unfortunately the cold hard fact is it's what's served on the course of most races. I won't risk months of training on GI failure because I didn't train with the same product I'll be racing with. I don't think it matters in a sprint or Oly because you carry what you need. Just make SURE whatever you choose to race with, you practice with.

What's the motto boys & girls??? Fill in the blanks: "Nothing new __ ____ ___."

burton117 · 08-26-2006, 06:06 PM

on race day?

hmullett · 08-27-2006, 05:35 AM

I know, I know. I hate lime gatorade, too. But, on my century, that's what I took because I know that that's the race sports drink. I have to force myself to drink it though. Eyuck!

Heather

sfricks · 08-27-2006, 04:20 PM

you got it burton!!! You win the prize! $what that is I have NO idea$

Yes, LL GA S_U_C_K_S! You think its bad now? Wait until mile 90 of your bike. You'll rather have a mouth full of dirt than another drink of GA.