Race Day Nutrition
One Moto Per Day Format – Less Than 30 Minutes in Duration
Execute just like you did in your test.
After the Race – Liquid calories are the easiest to consume and are converted quickly to “feed” the body’s needs: protein for muscle regeneration and sugar for the muscles and the liver.
Multiple Races – One Day Format
This format consists of practice in the morning, two moto race format, and 2+ classes over the period of one day. The variable we must determine, is how much time you have between each race.
Top off your sugar and electrolyte levels with Energy Fuel 10-15 minutes before start of every race.
Scenario #1 – If you have more than two hours, you can eat your normal food items that you eat during the week. Reference your most recent Food & Energy Log.
Scenario #2 – If you have less than two hours, you need to choose foods that are easier to digest but provide no more than 300 calories per hour to avoid gastrointestinal distress. (i.e. peanut butter and jelly, banana and almond butter, high-quality energy bars).
After the Race – Liquid calories are the easiest to consume and are converted quickly to “feed” the body’s needs: protein for muscle regeneration and sugar for the muscles and the liver.
One-Day Race Enduro or Hare Scramble
The challenge with any race longer than an hour in total duration is that you must maintain a consistent source of easily digestible calories to keep mental focus, have sustained energy, and finish the race strong. Finding the configuration or combination of foods is the key component to racing at your fullest potential. As the old saying goes, you are only as strong as your weakest link.
Knowing your sweat rate is going to be imperative when it comes to creating a race day hydration strategy. Find what works for you during your testing session and execute accordingly.
After the Race – Liquid calories are the easiest to consume and are converted quickly to “feed” the body’s needs: protein for muscle regeneration and sugar for the muscles and the liver.
Race Day Nutrition Testing & Fueling Strategies
Nutrition is the key component on race day; however, it is typically not thought about until the day before a race. Race day nutrition is quite simple. Continue to eat the way you normally do. The only two variables that need to be adjusted are food timing and food complexity.
Proper nutrition is all about topping of your body’s natural fuel tanks (muscles and liver) to ensure that you have enough stored energy to finish your race strong. You want to start your race day with your normal high-quality breakfast (see Daily Nutrition). You need to time your breakfast intake so that you have a minimum of two, ideally three hours to digest, assimilate, and purge to avoid gastrointestinal issues and to feeling nauseous. Your breakfast on race day should always be tested in training to ensure your food choices and quantities are sufficient on race day.
There is an inverse relationship between food complexity and intensity. If your race is short in duration, but high on the intensity scale, your food sources must be very simple – sports drinks, energy gels, energy blocks are ideal sources of calories for high intensity training and racing. If the intensity of your training and/or racing is more on the low side, you can go with more complex foods such as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a banana and almond butter, or an energy bar.
Just like a new set of boots or gear, nutrition has to be tested in advance of race day to ensure you have the right combination of foods to produce good mental focus and high levels of energy from start to finish. Below are nutrition and hydration testing protocols. Choose your style of racing and implement the suggested nutrition test to help you create your ideal race day nutrition strategy.
CRS Nutrition & Hydration Test
Testing Protocols for Races Less Than 30 Minutes
** Note: By consistently eating dinner the night before and breakfast the morning of, you will always have approximately one hour of stored energy in your liver and muscles.
- Eat breakfast 2-3 hours before start time of testing session.
- Capture pre-testing body weight (as close to naked as possible). Use the Sweat Rate Calculator to test hydration and determine replenishment strategy.
- Top off your sugar and electrolyte levels with Energy Fuel 10-15 minutes before start of testing session. (European Sweat Rate Calculator here)
- Choose intensity heart rate range that you plan on executing on race day. Execute race duration at specific heart rate range. Testing session should match duration, intensity (heart rate zones), temperature, and humidity of race day, as close as possible.
- Evaluate lap time consistency, energy levels, and mental clarity at the end of the testing session.
- Re-weigh yourself (as close to naked as possible) to calculate sweat rate.
If your lap times were consistent, you had mental clarity, and experienced good energy levels, then you found the right combination of foods (quality and quantity). Your sweat rate should be between 1-2% (no higher or lower) factoring in temperature, humidity, duration, and intensity as outlined in your Sweat Rate Calculator.
However, if you found your lap times to be inconsistent, filled with numerous errors, and/or you felt sick to your stomach, then your breakfast needs to be adjusted and retested. For sample breakfast ideas, visit the Daily Nutrition tab.
Testing Protocols for Races 60 Minutes or Longer
** Note: By consistently eating dinner the night before and breakfast the morning of, you will always have approximately one hour of stored energy in your liver and muscles.
- Eat breakfast 2-3 hours before start time of testing session.
- Capture pre-testing body weight (as close to naked as possible). Use the Sweat Rate Calculator to test hydration and determine replenishment strategy.
- Top off your sugar and electrolyte levels with Energy Fuel 10-15 minutes before start of testing session. (European Sweat Rate Calculator here)
- Choose intensity heart rate range that you plan on executing on race day. Execute race duration at specific heart rate range. Testing session should match duration, intensity (heart rate zones), temperature, and humidity of race day, as close as possible.
- Consume between 250-300 calories per hour through energy fuel, energy gels, or blocks. Consuming more than 300 calories can lead to gastrointestinal distress.
- Evaluate lap time consistency, energy levels, and mental clarity at the end of the testing session.
- Re-weigh yourself (as close to naked as possible) to calculate sweat rate.
If your lap times were consistent, you had mental clarity, and experienced good energy levels, then you found the right combination of foods (quality and quantity). Your sweat rate should be between 1-2% (no higher or lower) factoring in temperature, humidity, duration, and intensity as outlined in your Sweat Rate Calculator.
However, if you found your lap times to be inconsistent, filled with numerous errors, and/or you felt sick to your stomach, then your breakfast needs to be adjusted and retested. For sample breakfast ideas, visit the Daily Nutrition tab.
Race Day Nutrition Ideas…and More
For a more detailed discussion on the on the key components of nutrition and hydration relative to performance, check out Coach Robb’s virtual class on Fueling Performance.
Coach Robb’s Smoothie Recipe Book features over 50 ways to combine fruits and vegetables to create delicious smoothies. Each provide essential nutrients while creating energy, helping with recovery, and supporting the immune system.
Coach Robb’s Snacks Recipe Book compiles 52 easy and nutritious snack favorites – a perfect snack for every week of the year! Take the confusion out of what to snack on throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stabilized, stay mentally focused, and perform to the best of your ability.