Race Day Nutrition

So my roomie from college, who is also a triathlete, is studying to be a nutritionist. She gave me very helpful information for Race Day Nutrition Strategies.


The Day Before

Eat mostly carbs, plus salty foods if it's really hot/humid/you sweat a lot. These should be neutral, not fibrous, not spicy, not acidic, etc. Eat plenty to top off glycogen stores in the muscle.


Race Day

• 3-4 hours before race start consume 200-350 grams of carbohydrates (and whatever fats/proteins included). This will top off carb stores in the muscle if needed, plus carb stores in the liver from your overnight fast. The liver glycogen stores help keep blood glucose levels steady, thus maintaining good mental/emotional/psychological control.

• 1 hour before race start consume 40 grams of carbohydrates (like a nut butter & jelly sandwich which is easy to make and store and carry around and eat in transition or on the beach or wherever you're standing 1 hour before you get in the water). Again this should be neutral food, not spicy or acidic or anything that will upset the stomach.

• Every 15-30 minutes, or whenever you need to, consume Gatorade or your beverage of choice. Something with carbs and electrolytes will supply carbs for use in the muscle, preserving stores so you can go farther, and electrolytes for whatever you've sweated out.

• 30-45 minutes after you finish the race you should consume 1-2 grams of carbohydrates/kg bodyweight (1 kilo = 2.2 lbs, so for me it's somewhere in the 60-130g carb range), plus .05g/kg protein (for me somewhere in around 30-35g). There's a window of opportunity to replenish carb stores in the muscle that closes at around 2 hours, and the max time is 30-45 minutes after stopping. If you really work hard (like maybe for my Olympic distance in September) you can keep eating another small carb meal every 2-3 hours just so the body keeps stuffing in carbs even though the optimum window is closed. If you work really hard and you think you need to rebuild muscle, you can move more to a bodybuilding system, and eat more protein starting with the 2nd meal after the race. This will supply amino acids to stimulate protein synthesis. In short, if you work really hard and your legs are rubberized after the race, just eat a lot that's low in fat.