Pre event Nutrition

It’s freakin’ RACE DAY. Get up at 2:30 and eat. Because, why not? IT IS RACE DAY! Go to bed early.

Unless you’re just showing up to have a good time. In that case do whatever makes it fun. But if you’re showing up to perform then do the things that are going to help you perform.

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I think you are confusing eating ‘regular’ foods with eating mid-race type fuels that absorb more quickly. Eating something with a slow absorption rate that close to the start will absolutely cause a crash - but having something fast shouldn’t cause the problems you describe for the generic person. Obviously individual responses will vary, but speaking in generalities I think most people can afford to eat something in that window - just not ‘regular’ food

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Not confused and not necessary talking about a crash, but rather one’s carbohydrate metabolism and on board fuel depletion rate. It doesn’t necessarily depend on the quality of the food (though that matters), it’s about timing. Almost everyone “can afford to eat something in that window”, as we’re not fighting for a podium spot, but again, the discussion is optimizing pre-race fuel consumption.

On the flip side, if you are racing a sub 1 hour event, you DO want to eat 1 hour out (gel, gummy, etc.) as it will increase your glycogen use. But it doesn’t matter because the event will be over before any negative affects are realized as you have 60-90 mins of on board fuel.

I agree with you that timing is as important - but I think eating something like a bar that you intend to eat during a race in the hour prior to a race, particularly for longer events, shouldn’t cause the severe problems you are describing.

For an event where you’re going to expend between say 2500-3500 calories over the course of 3-4 hours (a typical sanctioned road race) the flow of the race is almost always such that the warm-up and nutrition protocols should be adapted to account for the slower start before real V02 max intervals start later in the race

Kick starting the absorption process will limit you a bit during the start of the race but pays dividends in the second half when it matters more and holding onto the field is much more important

To make a blanket statement that there are no long events where eating in that time frame is helpful is incorrect and will lead people not to experiment with their own digestive capabilities against their own events.

Speak for yourself, I was standing on an elite RR podium just a few days ago :wink:

For shorter events, assuming they aren’t part of multiple events in the same day, or a multi-day event, I don’t eat until the start line, if at all. If I need to recover quickly for a second race or a race the next day I do as you describe and have something 45 minutes out and then on the line

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Oh, I wasn’t speaking about me, as I’ve been on top of the podium for my first 4 races and took 2nd last weekend :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:.

You can argue physiology and metabolism rates if you choose, but that is the current consensus. One should experiment with nutrition/fueling before and during the race, but just do it 3 hours before and after the race has started. Again, if what you do is working then by all means continue. I don’t doubt that if someone feels they “need” to eat before a race to have a good performance then they are probably better off doing so (placebo effect). As those mental gains likely outweigh any physical gains. However, biologically science is suggesting otherwise.

@Adrian_Williams I agree with you…I wouldn’t eat a meal like that 90 minutes prior to start. I was given the advice from a sports nutritionist to eat 1g/kg carbohydrate 90 to 60 minutes prior to start…tried it…it just doesn’t work for me. But taking down 25g of dextrose 15min to 20min before start seems to work well.

One thing that struck me while I was poking around the Kraft Insulin study is the tremendous variability there can be in insulin response from individual to individual. My insulin response is on the fast side. I can eat a pasta/marinara meal and be back in the 80s mg/dl w/in 60 to 90 minutes. But definitely there are many people who have a much more delayed insulin response…so blood sugar can be elevated long after a meal.

Maybe that’s the source of confusion with pre-race nutrition. What works well for one may not work well for another…just due to individual variation of blood sugar/insulin response to a carbohydrate meal.

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@redlude97 thanks mate that’s what I was thinking in my evaluation of the event after. Your input is appreciated. I’ll work out a plan based on this.

Cheers @Brennus I think I’ll take your suggestion of getting up eating and then dosing for a bit more before hitting the race. It will mean bfast at 3:30am, snooze for a bit and get up for real at 4:45am Coffee for the road depart home at 5:15am arrive at the event at 5:50am. Event start at 6:30am. Have a Gel 5 mins before start.
I’ll let you know the outcome.

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@Adrian_Williams I was working through the same conflict for a 70.3 race last weekend. I think you are on the right track by keeping the food type similar to what you have done previously and know works for you. Try the timing in a weekend prior and you can then be confident in the strategy. Looks like you have about 3 hours before as your plan right now; so take down this exact breakfast on Saturday when you wake up (normal time though - not 3:30 am :wink:) and then do your Saturday ride 3 hours later. If you have a few weekends between now and fondo you can iterate it down by 30 minutes to see if you can squeeze in some more :sleeping: on race weekend.

SO for those who had some good advice, post-ride update.
Woke at 3:45 am ate my usual solid pre-event meal, Coffee (instant) at 4:15 am. Espresso coffee pre-event at 6 am. Race start at 6:30 am

Things went well energy levels were fantastic, in fact, a little too good. The first 55kms was done at an if of .98 Norm power was my FTP for the first 2 hours. Stopped at the first feed to re-water but after that, the wheels fell off but I assume it was the result of going too hard too early.
after this, I seriously underestimated the severity of the course. Numerous climbs and pinches with a gradient exceeding 15% with several over 20%. The last one coming with just 15kms to go at 23%.
This was one super tough ride, one which I went far too hard early on for.

I finished the entire ride at .90 IF based on that I should be reviewing FTP or is that about right?
I thought that for a ride of 5+ hours one would be aiming for a .8 IF?

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Well done! And don’t kick yourself for going off too hard, we’ve all been there. Sometimes burning a few matches to stay with a group saves you more time in the long run.

0.9 IF for 5+ hours does suggest a re-test of FTP is worth a go. But don’t forget that (a) normalised power on a ride isn’t a perfect measure, and (b) there may be factors that make your FTP a bit lower on the turbo. So make sure you test rather than just estimate and bump it up.

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thanks mate
Yes planned test for next week when recovered. I do find I manage about 20w more outside. But I don’t read much into it and just go with it.

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Based on these two data points - yes, you need to increase your FTP setting. 0.9 IF for 5 hours should be impossible. 0.98 IF for 2 hours should also be impossible

Differences in outside FTP will account for some of this, but even with a moderate adjustment for indoor and outdoor FTP you should increase your FTP setting indoors

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@trpnhntr Basically my thoughts also, I felt I had a bump in FTP coming into it but hadn’t retested yet.

which is essentially a good thing, now to recover and do a test again.
thanks for your input.