I feel that getting your nutrition right on the lead up to your race is like giving yourself a head start on your competition.
Most people are so far off the mark, basing most of their strategy on something they’ve read in men’s health or runners world.
The fact your getting this email means you are already ahead of the game so thats not directed at you!
A bit like with training there is no point in cramming all your preparation into the last week – ideally you will have had your nutrition dialled in for months.
If you’ve got this right, then the run up to race day whilst still important will be less so because you will have prepared yourself over time.
If your in the above camp, you will be fat adapted and as such give yourself a much better chance of NOT going low on energy – You will be well fuelled, the reasons are obvious.
If you’re not prepared and your diet has been rich in processed carbs (yes that includes pasta and gels) then you are likely to struggle more.
But you should know that as well by now.
I am going to assume you are fat adapted and share with you a plan of how to prepare for race day. This will work well for sprint distance, as the distance goes up begin the prep earlier, so olympic on Thur, half on Wed, Ironman on Tue.
This assumes you are racing on a Sunday:
– Eat normally all week
– Friday eat a chicken based dinner with 1/3 more carbohydrate than normal. So if you normally have 60g of rice have 80g. The ideal carb source would be sweet potato.
– Saturday eat a fish based dinner again with increased carb content
– Morning of race, eat a breakfast of carb, protein and fat, something like a 3 egg omelette with cottage cheese and avocado is good on a slice of rye bread.
– Pre race, take a spoon full of coconut oil, if you prefer you can have this in coffee.
You will notice no red meat, this is due to the time it can stay in the gut and be processed, you want to feel light.
Upping the carbs is obvious as is the pre race brekky.
The fat pre race should encourage your body to burn fat at the beginning of the race, so you then go to the bike with fuller glycogen stores
Simple.
So as Nike say:
JUST DO IT.
LINK:
Are you scared of swimming in the sea, don’t worry so is everyone else:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/6-tips-to-tackle-ocean-anxiety
RECIPE:
The easiest pudding in the world:
100g full fat fage yogurt
Mix in 1 teaspoon of organic cocoa powder
Add organic honey to taste.
Guilt free and really tasty.
Jamie “get a head start” Leighton