My crits are generally 30-45 minutes long and I’m wondering what meals or snacks the night before and the morning of have made people feel good going into their race? I have a moderately sensitive stomach so I’ve had issues with finding a good “go-to” meal the night before and the morning before my crits. Do you eat a certain amount of time before your race? Do you have a gel at the start of your Crit? Thanks!
For a 45 minute crit, I would just eat normally the day before. No need to do anything special.
Race day morning, I always have steel cut oats, made in the rice maker, with bananas, brown sugar, and any other fruit I have handy. 3 hours before the race.
For a short race, I’ll crack a gel on the starting line.
Coffee followed by beer.
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Depending on the time of the crit will usually dictate eating habits for me. But pretty straight forward.
Twilight crit/6pm start I ate a normal breakfast at 11’ish then a bit of oatmeal around 3/4. Red Bull 45 mins before start.
Normal morning crits: Usually just oatmeal with brown sugar or maple syrup and a banana 2 hours before start. Maybe a bar too. Red Bull 45 mins before start.
My other option would be a bowl of rice and 2/3 eggs with some Frank’s Red Hot.
Night before? Nothing out of the ordinary.
Evening before a weekend crit, I have a curry. No joke.
Breakfast is a granola with yoghurt and then a banana during the 45-50 minute drive to the venue. Get my warm up done (15-20 minutes), then a gel on the start line.
As you can see, nothing fancy.
For races of this duration I don’t eat anything special the day before or the day of the race. You’re looking at such a short effort that your already on-board glycogen stores will be more than sufficient.
Make sure you have an empty stomach (don’t eat anything much for at least a couple hours before the race) but otherwise eat your normal meals. If you’re really concerned about energy levels have a gel at the start - but even that isn’t really necessary for a 30-45 minute effort (although the psychological benefit might make a real difference for you)
I eat about 3 hours before and then take an SIS gel w/ 75mg of caffeine after my warmup.