By Mark Fulford

This article is based on information I have picked up from coach Brendon Downey (EnduranceCoach.com), information from various articles in magazines and off the net I that have read and digested over the years, and from personal race day experience. It is aimed at longer events, Half Ironman, Ironman length races, or at least events over 2 ½ or 3 hours.

In my opinion a race day nutrition plan can be based on certain scientific principles but it is also an aspect of racing which needs to be tailored to each individual - it needs to be tried, tested, adjusted, readjusted but can never really be set in concrete.

Below are the principles I get athletes I work with to base their initial race day nutrition plan on before going out there and trying and refining it.

PRE EVENT

Breakfast: I am a firm believer in having some form of solid protein prior to a race of significant length. My suggestion is always a poached egg on white toast, another piece of toast with a bland spread such as honey on it followed by a cup of coffee. I find having breakfast approx two hours prior to race start works about right.

I suggest avoiding fibre as much as possible to prevent the need for unplanned pit stops along with avoiding anything else which may irritate or upset the stomach such as too many cups of coffee and spreads such as marmalade.
As long as an athlete has eaten well in the days prior to an event I don't see the need to have a huge breakfast race day. The solid protein will generally help you avoid the hungry feeling for a number of hours prior to and during the initial part of the race.

Various research studies and articles have described how both caffeine and protein in many cases can increase endurance or stamina that in my opinion adds weight to ingesting them prior to an endurance event.

Prior to race start: If your swim is going to take you an hour, and you don't have anything between breakfast and getting on the bike, then that is three hours between feeds. That is quite a length of time to go without food on a normal day, let alone race day when you need to be taking on as many calories as is possible. I would suggest taking on some form of fuel between breakfast and race start. This could be in the form of a sports drink or concentrated carbohydrate (gels etc.). Once again, the key thing is to make sure that whatever you take will not come back to haunt you later in the day or the swim itself.

TRANSITION ONE

This can be a chance to sneak in some fuel on the run. In Ironman New Zealand for example, there is quite a long run (400m on a hard surface) from the swim exit to the changing tent and often it is a good idea to wear shoes for this run (i.e. if you are prone to calf injuries). It can be an idea to have a gel tucked in your shoe, so once you are running you can consume your carbs.

I am not a fan of standing around in the first transition fuelling up. I always think it is important to keep moving toward the finish line all day, so don't stand around doing something that you could be doing while you are on the move.

ON THE BIKE

The rule of thumb that generally works well is: Consume 1 gram of Carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight per hour.
So for a 75-kilogram athlete, they would consume 75 grams of carbohydrate per hour. This needs to be reasonably well spread over the hour, so a 75 kg athlete may take on 25 grams every 20 minutes (3 gels at 20 minute intervals), an 80 kg athlete may take on 20 grams every 15 minutes (4 gels at 15 minute intervals) and so on. This seems all too easy, but unfortunately there are a number of key things to consider, practice, and hopefully cope with on race day.

Key Points

• Concentration: Your body digests an 8% concentration of carbohydrate most efficiently. Generally if you have a weaker concentration of carbohydrate you won't run into too many problems, you just don't get the best bang for your buck. If you ingest a higher than 8% concentration of carbohydrate, your digestive system will struggle to digest it. You can get stomach queasiness, stomachache or end up vomiting.
  Think of your digestive system as being like a sieve. If you tip a solid jelly pudding into a sieve it will just sit there. If you run (hot) water onto the jelly it will melt/dilute and slowly leak through the sieve. Absorption of carbohydrates in your stomach works a little like this. If you have concentration of carbohydrates that won't digest sitting in your stomach, then dilute those contents with water (not hot!) and slowly the carbohydrate will be absorbed.
  So make sure you drink water only with gels and other products that have been manufactured to the optimal 8% concentration.
  If at any time during your event you feel queasy in the stomach, back off your nutrition plan, take on water until the queasiness has passed, then get back into your nutrition plan, but maybe modify the amount you are taking on. Either take a smaller quantity or spread the time between doses a little.
  On the flip side, if you are feeling tired, it may be a sign that you need to increase the amount of nutrition you are having. Your nutrition needs during any given event may be affected by such factors as the length or duration of the event, the intensity you are operating at, the weather and your pre race nutrition.
  All of which means that you may have to back off or pick up your nutrition at any given time so you need to be aware of what your body is telling you, don't just blindly stick to a plan you formulated prior to the event.
• Ease into it: At the start of the ride, often your heart rate is elevated due to adrenaline, and blood is rushing around your body all over the place due to changing from swimming to cycling, not to mention the run and transition activities as well. So your digestive system may not be getting too much blood directed to it to function economically. Eating or consuming calories at this point may be counter-productive. It can be best to wait until your body settles down on the ride before getting into your nutrition plan. This may take 20, 30 or maybe 40 minutes. It shouldn't be a problem as you will have a fair amount of energy stored to at least get you through this part of your day without taking on any extra energy. So over the first hour, the 75kg athlete may only take on 25, or maybe 50 grams of carbohydrate. (Gel at 40 mins, gel at 60 mins, both washed down with water). Once settled into a good relaxed rhythm it may be possible to take on a little more than 1 gram of carb/kg/hour. So the 75 kg athlete may take on 100grams of carbohydrate per hour at various stages of the race. The more the better, as long as the digestive system is coping.
• Intensity: I believe this may play a part in your decision as to which products you use. Many top Professionals rely solely on liquid forms of nutrition. Many age groupers prefer solid foods during their events. I believe that the higher relative intensity that an athlete performs at, the more likely they are to want and need what I call "high octane fuels" such as gels etc. The lower the relative intensity that an athlete operates at, the more likely they are to want and require carbohydrates in the form of normal everyday food or close to it, this includes sports nutrition in the form of bars, along with special favourites such as sandwiches and so on.
  I feel there is a bit of a continuum when it comes to which products you use, "high octane" energy products at one end, and normal everyday food at the other. You may find that you are somewhere in between. You may like some of your nutrition needs to be supplied by gels, some by bars, and have the odd sandwich thrown in there just for variety. As long as you trial everything prior to race day and you can digest everything then there is no definitive right and wrong answer. I would however advise against products with high fibre content, having to stop to use the facilities should not be part of your race plan!
• The final stages of the ride: Over the last part of the ride, it can be a good idea to back off your nutrition. So maybe take on no carbohydrate in the last 30 minutes so you start the run with nothing sitting in your stomach.
  Once again, you are changing activities and running is an activity that generally isn't performed comfortably on a full or queasy stomach. If a good job has been made of ingesting carbohydrate during the ride, your body should have enough energy stored in it to get you through the first part (30 mins) of the run, allow you to settle into a rhythm and then start thinking about taking on nutrition. Obviously during the initial stages of the run, if you want to eat or drink something, then do so, but just be wary of starting out with a stomach full of undigested goodies.

THE RUN

Generally this is an area where you may find you need to "wing it a little". Obviously you need to drink, and you need to take on energy and roughly sticking to the gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight per hour is still a good rule of thumb. However, as mentioned above, the amount you take on can be limited by the activity itself with a greater likelihood of stitch, stomach cramps etc. with running compared to cycling.

If you are still operating and functioning well on the products you have used on the ride, then keep up using those products. If you are not functioning well on those products, or if you can no longer stand the sight of them, I suggest you try a mouthful of coke, washed down with a mouthful of water at each aid station. Once you start using coke, you need to keep using it.
Often in long races (such as Ironman) there are tables with a variety of products on them. You may see something that really appeals, if so, eat it. But just a little. Next table do the same. You may find that at every table you pass something different appeals, no problem, just take a little and move on. Often your body will let you know what it needs by craving the different foods available, chips if you need salt, chocolate bars if you need sugar, fruit if you need vitamins. Listen to your body and go with what it suggests. Be careful not to overeat, and remember to dilute your stomachs' contents with water if you start to feel a bit queasy.

Once again, I would like to stress that the above is a starting point for you when it comes to you developing your nutrition plan for an event. You need to trial different products, maybe different combinations and quantities.

I do suggest that you use Race specific nutrition quite sparingly, especially if you are using products such as gels. It can be easy to over use and therefore get tired of using products such as these. On race day morning you don't want to wake up dreading what you are going to have to eat or drink all day, try and keep the race day nutrition as a bit of a treat.

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