What do you eat the week of the race for max performance? Is carbo loading still the way to go? Any thoughts especially for the 2 days before the race?
Here is my message I sent to the team I’m training this season. This plan has worked well for me for 4 IM distance races.
About 4 weeks out - Cold turkey quit drinking/eating anything with caffeine. I do this because in order for caffeine to have an ergogenic effect on race day it must not be in your system already and it takes a few weeks to get out of your tissues. I have found I can do this without much of a problem. If you are addicted to caffeine, you should start weaning yourself off of it a few weeks earlier if you plan to want the caffeine boost on race day. I also stop drinking any alcohol. I find alcohol disrupts my sleep pattern and sleep is critical during the heavy weeks of peak training and of course during the taper weeks right before race week.
About 8 days out - I start my race week by waking up 20 minutes earlier every day. This means I’m also going to bed a little earlier too. For you folks doing IM Louisville, you may want to start a few days earlier because you are going to be on EST before you know it. I do this to get my body a little better prepared for the need to get up so darn early on race day. Think about it, you will be getting up on race day in Louisville at something like 1:00 AM PST.
I will typically eat in the following manner on race week:
Hydration plan – Always have an electrolyte drink handy to sip on throughout the day, every day. Could even be lemonade with thermolytes cracked into it. Make sure I’m peeing every 4 hour hours at a minimum. Ease up about two hours before bedtime to avoid having to get up to pee at night.
Days 6-3 before race:
· Breakfast – Herb tea, fresh fruit (apples, oranges, berries & bananas), two eggs and a piece of whole grain toast with fruit preserves. I will alternate the eggs with some hot rice cereal with protein powder mixed into it and turkey bacon now and then.
· Snack (3 hours after breakfast) – Meal replacement bar and some more fruit with yogurt. (Not sweetened fruity yogurt. Plain or vanilla with a real piece of fruit.)
· Lunch – Sensible meal high in protein and carbohydrates. Chicken or beef on a bed of greens with lots of fresh veggies.
· Dinner – Nothing new, limited spices, bump up fiber by about 20%. Make sure all meats are cooked well.
Two Days before race:
· Breakfast – Simulated race morning breakfast of one egg, a bagel with nut butter, a banana and a recovery drink.
· Snack – Higher sodium snacks. Higher fiber snacks
· Lunch – Same as before
· Snack – Fruit & cheese with grapes
· Dinner – Higher carbohydrate meal. Pasta with Chicken is my favorite
· Sleep – The night before the night before is the critical night to get a good night’s sleep. Send family away tonight so you can rest.
Day before the race:
· Breakfast - Simulated race morning breakfast of one egg, a bagel with nut butter, a banana and a recovery drink. (1200 calories total)
· Snack – Lower the fiber intake. Another bagel with some cream cheese and lox
· Lunch – Turkey Sandwich and a recovery drink.
· Early Dinner (before 5:00PM) – Last solid meal before race morning. Light portion size. A can of tuna made into tuna salad heavy on the sodium with a side of tater tots and some apple sauce.
· Snack – Meal replacement shake (400 calories) at about 8:00PM
· Midnight snack – Meal replacement drink (400 calories) at about 12:00AM
Race morning:
· Immediately upon waking @ 4:00AM– Meal replacement shake (400 calories)
· Within 30 minutes - one egg, a bagel with nut butter, a banana and an electrolyte drink. (1200 total calories) Drink one cup of STRONG coffee.
· Sip hydration drink all morning while you are headed to transition and stuff. (200 more calories)
· 30’ before race start take in one gel (100 calories) with caffeine and two thermolyte pills with 12 oz water/electrolyte drink (I cramp on the swim so I take extra electrolytes to combat this)
· T1
· 8 oz Water with 2 thermolytes mixed in is inside my T1 bag. I drink the whole thing.
· Bike is set up with a diluted (50%) solution of electrolyte drink in the aero drink bottle between the bars. (100 calories) I want to settle my stomach and get my HR under control before I start tossing fuel at my gut.
· I drink down the diluted mixture for the first 20 minutes of the bike, then I start my calorie fueling plan.
· Down tube has a 3 hour bottle in it (700 calories of electrolyte drink/carbo pro mixture with a teaspoon of branch chain amino acids and 12 thermolytes cracked open into it).
· Bento box has 3 hammer nutrition bars, cut into 1/3’s in case I want some solid food and a plastic container of thermolytes in case it gets really hot.
· Bike has a watch strapped to it with a timer that is set to go off every 15 minutes to remind me to fuel. I start the timer before I leave transition and it will keep going off the entire time I’m swimming but who cares, at least I don’t have to remember to start it when I’m racing.
· Special Needs - bike (nutrition portion in separate quart Ziploc)
· Has some Pringles in case I feel like eating them.
· Another 3 hour bottle (700 calories) of secret sauce. (Different flavor than the first three hour bottle so I don’t get to hating the taste by hour 5)
· A small plastic water-tight container full of thermolytes in case I need additional salts.
· A plastic baggie with more cut up energy bars, again a different flavor.
· Misc. Bike
· If my pace is over 6 hours I will take some gel at the last aid station to ensure I’m keeping my calories up.
· I will eat a banana piece (1/3 of a banana usually) every other aid station
· If I do not pee in the first 30 miles I will up my fluid intake with supplemental water at aid stations until I pee.
· When I arrive at an aid station I should have drank down my aero drink so I can add some concentrate and dilute it to normal strength with water from the aid station. I mark my bottles with hash marks that correspond to one hour’s worth so I know a pretty good estimate of how much to dump out at each recharge.
· My “secret sauce” has NO PROTEIN. I have found I race better without it. I use branch chain amino acids instead of Protein. That way my body does not have to do the work of breaking down the proteins into amino acids, it’s already done for me. I don’t get bloated and it does not cause the solution to get rank in the heat.
· I try to top off my nutrition in the last 25 miles of the bike so I don’t have to eat so much on the run.
· T2
· My hydration belt is built into my shorts. I can run with two 6 oz gel-style bottles of electrolyte drink, regular strength.
· Into my race singlet pocket goes a tube with 30 thermolytes in it along with a one shot use of Chamois Butter.
· Into the other pocket of my run singlet goes two (2) snack-size zip lock baggies with 13 (6 in one, 7 in the other) of my favorite flavors of cliff blocks mixed together (Margarita, Black Cherry, Mountain berry and Cran-razz) I like to be surprised when the flavor hits my mouth.
· RUN
· I rely on the aid station for a majority of my liquids, only carrying the small gel bottles with liquids for an occasional sip between miles. Refilling them with Gatorade endurance formula when they go dry.
· Each aid station (every mile) I pop a clif shot block and a thermolyte (if it’s really hot) about 50 feet before the station so it’s just going down when I get there. Cliff Shot Bloks are 33 calories each, so if I’m running about 9:00 miles, I’m getting pretty close to 220 calories an hour from them.
· If it is really hot I will cut back my calorie intake by 30% or more if I start feeling bloated or nausea. This could mean I go to cliff blocks every other aid station.
· Each Aid station I take ice and fill my arm coolers to stay wet and drench my head with cold water. On hot days I will take two sponges soaked with water and tuck them under my shoulders (just remember to take them out for the finish line photo)
· If I get to the point where my fueling plan ain’t working and my gut is revolting against me I will hit the flat coke HARD and often. I’ll even mix it with the Chicken broth for some extra salt.
· Every few miles I take stock of the heat and if I need to I will get a volunteer to re-apply sunscreen to my head and neck.
· Special Needs - run (nutrition portion in separate quart ziplock)
· Has some Pringles in case I feel like eating them.
· A couple of jolly ranchers to suck on to keep dry mouth at bay.
· A small plastic water-tight container full of thermolytes in case I need additional salts or mine dropped or got wet.
· A plastic baggie with the same variety pack of shot bloks for the second 13 miles.
· Post race.
· 500 calorie recovery drink within 20 minutes. I just can’t choke down pizza after 12+ hours of racing.
· Try to get a solid meal in me within 45 minutes.
· Next Day
· Eat everything in sight. If it looks good, eat two of them!