Okay so frankly I’m bored of my own writing, so I dread to think how you guys are getting on (assuming that anybody reads this tripe).
One more for you all the same.
This time….nutrition. Not a ‘how to’ guide or ‘do this and this will happen’ montage of expert wisdom. Nutrition is a tricky one. I’ve near as dammit tried it all and have now settled on what, for me, is a tried and tested strategy for race-day fuelling that seems to be working well. Hopefully this can help you with your fuelling, or at least give you some ideas to try. It’s really pretty basic stuff, which might be why it works for me! I have the margherita pizza of brains.
Plain. And. Simple. Please.
NB: This is what I do for the bigger races (comfortably over 90mins).
Night before: I’m not one to ‘carbo-load’. I generally get enough carbs in my system from normal training; you frickin’ need them if you do anything resembling endurance anyway, quite why you’d restrict yourself long-term, as some fads beseech, is beyond me. I have started to get a pizza the night before, mainly just because I really like pizza! That’s about as strict/overly scientific as it gets.
Pre-race: normal-size (as in what I’d eat every day regardless of what I had going on training/racing-wise) bowl of porridge or muesli (soaked overnight if I’m feeling fancy) with a cup or two of coffee. I like coffee. I try to eat no later than 2.5hrs before the race to let it all sink in and settle down.
Racing: (this is where, like I said, it’s specific to me – but might be worth trying for yourself) nothing for the first hour apart from some sips of Mountain Fuel Xtreme Raw Energy with no real method other than to keep from getting ‘cotton-mouth’. On the hour (+/- 5mins) and I’m into the food, a pouch of Longhaul Endurance Sweet Potato and Sesame (because I’m worth it baby!). Thereafter the eating and drinking competition begins. Every 20mins (+/- 5mins) I’m onto the new Mountain Fuel Sports Jelly. I’m not into gels; they’re too sickly and sweet for me after I’ve had more than one. These jelly’s aren’t gels, they’re a sort of jelly/drink hybrid, and for me, they’re a game-changer. Once the next ‘full’ hour comes up, it’s back to the Longhaul pouches, then onto the jelly’s at approximately -20 past and -40 past the hour and so on, and so on. I skip the jelly’s on the hour as I’ve found that I don’t need them with the pouches. All the while there’s some hardcore sipping going on with that Xtreme Energy drink. If I’ve reccied the route, or have done it before, then I switch fully to the jelly’s in the last hour of racing as I’m not so worried about the ‘spikes’, although I’ve never experienced anything like that with the Mountain Fuel system.
Racing (if things aren’t feeling ‘right’): I’ve put this little paragraph in because something wasn’t ‘right’ with me at this most recent race. I had a pretty bad stomach the morning of the race and felt very empty from the start (almost sacking it at the first CP). I’d carried an extra pouch of food for this scenario and found myself chewing it down after only 40mins of running. You’ve got to be proactively reactive (is that a double negative?!?) at times, in the sense that you have your strategy but you have to be prepared to react to how your body is feeling in order to promote continued forward movement. In other words, if you are having serious doubts about even getting to the next CP, in the first half hour of the race, then it doesn’t matter how many jelly’s or pouches you’re carrying for the latter stages, as you might not even get there unless you are proactive NOW. Recognising that need for contingency is important and a good lesson to learn from what became a positive decision.
Post-race: Straight back to ‘normal’ food, whatever your normal is (if your ‘normal’ is 10 pints of Super and four bags of chips then I’d suggest you need to be a bit kinder to yourself – at least stick some brown sauce on them). For reference my ‘normal’ is usually something simple, like a nice, easy quail’s egg souffle and duck a l’orange with a glass or two of a chateau reserve merlot (never less than 25 years old of course – I’m not a fucking pauper). You know, plain, simple food. Those foods above are great for my racing but I’m usually over them for a little while immediately afterwards to be perfectly honest.
And that’s it.
I get that the above is super ‘brand heavy’. Unless you’re making your own quinoa and seaweed rice balls then that’s the way it’s going to be. You’re buying into (hoped for) knowledge and convenience. Other things may work for you, these things above may not work for you, but like I said, it’s just a little insight that may help you as much as it’s helped me. These two brands Mountain Fuel and Longhaul Endurance seem to complement each other really well. I can’t see anything else coming along that I’d trust in the same way.
