The ins and outs of what to eat, what to say to yourself and more on your big day!
Its the morning of I have the race and I am a bucket of nerves. Good, excited nerves… but still. I remind myself that I have been training for this, and that I WANT to be here. While brushing my teeth I look in the mirror and repeat a simple mantra “You got this Mama”.
This and the following list/tips is what my morning of the race looks like as well as what my in race game plan is. As many who have been following my blog know, I specialize in the LONG stuff. But this can be adapted to however long (or short) you want.
First, lets take a step back before I jump back in. Before my race, I train specifically for it from anywhere between 1-3 months before it. And during every training that is over an hour, I make sure to eat what I’ll be eating during race day. This helps train my stomach and my muscles to digest and learn how to keep moving while eating. Many people (especially women) are horrible at eating during their trainings. I blame it on our culture but there are probably many other reasons – but in short if you want to feel good and feel strong during your race and your training, then EAT. What exactly? CARBS. Gels, gummies, 4HourFuel, waffles, and fast digesting bars are all great options. But whatever it is, eat it and notice what it feels like in your body. In addition to eating, I also supplement with one or two salt pills every 1-2 hours depending on the heat. I don’t tend to sweat as much as some of my teammates, but I do feel better when I take a salt pill every hour when I am working hard in the heat.
For specific training programs, I actually train athletes (mostly women) so if you are interested, shoot me an email, but this blog won’t be getting into that.
Now to the meat: What the morning of looks like.
I try to get a good night sleep, but usually nerves get the best of me. To help simmer myself down, I take Mission Farms CBD (use BendRacing40) relieve gummies, and while it helps a ton any other night, usually before the race, I am just too amped. However I don’t stress because what matters the most is 2 nights before the race- NOT the night before the race. After I wake, I put my race clothes, start making oatmeal and coffee and then take a few calm moments to sit, eat and drink. Ideally this is all done well before the race start (an hour and a half) and then I head to the race start with my gear (when it’s just me racing it’s usually my bike, helmet and my USWE hydration pack). One note on your breakfast. Ideally you train this as well. If you know you can go hard an hour after eating a full breakfast of eggs and bacon, more power to you. Many however get what we call a “gut bomb” where their body is still working on digesting when it’s go time. To keep it safe, I have always eaten a big bowl of oatmeal doctored up with berries, peanut butter and chia (or whatever is available locally for toppings). In short, find a meal that works for you and then go out and train an hour after eating it.
At the race start, I always think of my kids and shed a tear or two that is filled with excitement, gratitude, worry, sadness and more. It’s a crazy cocktail of emotions, but ever since Spirit B and having Max and Revel I get really emotional right before the start. And then, as soon as they say go, pull the trigger or what ever it is, I let out a huge rush of energy as I surge forward. At this time I hear again my mantra, but this time it is in a little boys voice “You got this Mama.”
This mantra carries me through the entire race, no matter how long. Hours, Days, week? It’s always there. Another one that I tell myself over and over again is “You chose to be here.” and “Be curious”.
98% percent of endurance racing is Mental. Through meditation and breath work, I have been able to find EASE and comfort in the hard. It’s a wild concept, but it works for me. And it’s only through racing and long training sessions that I have really been able to practice it.
30- 45 minutes into the race I eat something. For the past few years it’s mostly been a swig of 4HourFuel. It’s easy, yummy and fast digesting calories to get into my system while on the move. For a more indepth blog on the specifics of 4HourFuel and how to use it, check out this blog post from my teammate! In general I take a swig every 10 minutes, this gets me at my 200-250 calories an hour marker in a way that works for me. I also used to use Spring Energy, which were very delicious but recently we found out that the calories listed on their packaging was not correct. Unfortunately it was way below, but this did give me a little bit of freedom to try out other other gels and gummies on the Feed. It’s a great website that sells all sorts of products. It’s been super fun to test and try a bunch of new to me yummy race food. If you want to try it, head here and get a total of $80 off! So far I love Bonkers gummies and Maurtens gels. And if all the race food overwhelms you, I also LOVE super cheap fruit snacks at the grocery store as well. Something about them takes me back to my childhood and it just feels good and fun. And Jason could live off of pop tarts! Anything other than 4HourFuel is what we call “emotional food” – it still counts as our calories, but for us 4HourFuel has everything we need- carbs, salt, protein and fat. Everything else is a bonus and helps keep us happy.
So, to recap, I try to take in as much as 250 calories an hour, with most of it being carbs and salt. For the LONG haul races, I start adding in some fat (from bars and 4HourFuel Chocolate Banana) and then some real food like ramen and dehydrated meals at around 20-24 hours in. It’s very important to fuel your body properly while racing. But with that said, it’s nothing to stress to much about. Just start training with fast digesting carbs and see what you like. Eat every 30 minutes, ideally BEFORE you get hungry and just keep on that and your hydration for the duration of the race. Endurance racing is an eating race. Eat- drink- move – repeat all at the same time!
As you train your eating and drinking, also train your gear. Wear and practice with what gear you will be using. Get to know the ins and outs of your pack (if you are carrying it), practice drinking from what ever you will be drinking from in the race (I love Hydrapak (use Chelsey10) , learn about how to fix a flat or the shifting on your bike (if its a bike race) and wear your clothes that you will wear to make sure they are comfortable and don’t cause any chafing. And if you do find you have a tendency to get blisters or chaff – use Skindoctor (use BENDRACING at check out for 10% off) every night on that area of your body a week before your race, and then in race use it morning of and every 6 hours.
I know that I am fueling myself properly in a race when I am still able to move at a good pace, and am over all stoked. Sure I may be tired, but if I am eating, I am in general still happy to be there. When I get super cranky, clumsy or irrationally scared then those are my signs that I am either already bonking or on my way there. Bonking is what we call it when you hit a wall and start to move more like a slug/sloth than a human. Or if you have kids, think of a three year old having a tantrum because they “can’t walk another step!” If you have never noticed what your bonk looks like, I really suggest going out on a training ride/run/paddle and get to that point. It’s really good to know what your bonk looks like so that you can be aware of it and ideally catch it before you go super into the hole.
For the most part I race with a team, so pacing myself is a bit easier because we are all working together and monitoring each others pace based on the fastest and slowest person at any given time. When I am racing solo, it is much harder to pace myself. Through training, testing my limits and learning how and when to push past them is how I am learning my zones – when I can push, when I need to chill and when I can be somewhere in the middle are all things I am always fine tuning. There is no magic for this, because everyone is different. It take practice. It takes failing. And it takes being curious.
I hope this helps and please do reach out with any specific questions, always happy to help as I love this topic so much. Any chance to eat, move my body outside is a win.