RACE-DAY NUTRITION: THE MISSING PUZZLE PIECE


By Kimberly Shah USA Triathlon Level I Certified Coach


and there are two things I have found in common with all of them — they over-train and they have never practiced their race- day nutrition. While over-training is an entirely differently topic, nutrition on race day is an event in itself that athletes should train for just like any other event. Just like swimming, biking and running,


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there are basic techniques that are funda- mental to every athlete, and throughout the phases you start fine tuning and mak- ing little adjustments that are specific to each individual athlete that make every- thing come together for optimal perfor- mance. Today’s market has so many products


that it can get confusing to not only the athlete, but also the coach on what should be taken throughout a race. There are also many factors to consider when beginning a race-day nutrition plan, such as distance of race, climate, and specific dietary needs of the client (physical size, vegan, glucose- free, allergies, etc.). once these are identified a plan can be implemented. As a coach, start with creating four basic race- day nutrition plans (sprint, olympic, half Ironman and Ironman distance) to have a base to start with. Amount of hydration, electrolytes and calories are the primary factors to be taken into consideration. As the athlete’s training is fine-tuned throughout each phase of training, so does nutritional training. Sprint races require a minimal amount


of calories, if any at all, and small amounts of hydration, given that the athlete has prepped their body well in the days lead- ing to the race. This is because the human body has the ability to store enough


hrough the years I’ve had seasoned triathletes come to me in search of further guidance with their training,


energy for large amounts of continual exertion for up to about two hours. races that are over two hours long need more nutritional planning and caloric consump- tion, which can be of great benefit to the athlete during their race by keeping up their energy levels. The longer the race, the more calories are consumed, the more fine tuning needs to be done. When starting a basic race-day nutrition


plan, most information you will find will be based off a person that is 150 pounds; a person who weighs more will need slightly more and one weighing less will need less. Basic knowledge assumes a 150-pound person burns about 700 calories per hour, loses approximately 60 ounces of fluids and around 2,000mg of trace minerals at a high activity state. getting your athletes to fuel about 30 percent of that loss per hour will help them maintain their performance levels. This is where the fun begins — every


athlete is different (and so is their stom- ach) and the planning becomes a little sci- ence experiment. Do your research on the race your athlete is going to participate


in. each race has different challenges such as climate, distance, difficulty levels that could keep someone out on the course 30 minutes longer than a normal course they would race, therefore they need more fuel. Start with the basics at first, then after the first few weeks, start making changes accordingly to how your athlete feels. Your athlete needs to consume products that have electrolytes, hydra- tion and caloric fuel, which is usually in the form of carbohydrates — they are the easiest fuel source to use during activity. When it comes to the calories, some


people cannot stomach solid food and others can; this is why you experiment. When consuming solid food, this is more stressful on the body because you need blood to help digest it — the blood that is currently transporting oxygen to the muscles that are moving you through the race. There could end up being a battle between the stomach and muscles over who gets the blood. Any workout that lasts longer than 60 minutes should allow your athletes to practice what nutrition they would take in during the race; have


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