Racing nutrition advice
June 6, 2010 by Shaun · Leave a Comment
I finished editing issue #7 of the World Solo Championship newsletter a few days ago and it went out on time. In case you haven’t seen it yet there is some good basic racing nutritional advice for the endurance racer (or most racers) and if you keep your eye on the newsletter over the next few weeks you might learn a thing or two.
This is part one of a three part series and I’m including the relevant text from the newsletter as well as a link to read the rest of the article in the newsletter.
Enjoy!
“Carbohydrate Loading
Good preparation for a 24 hour mountain bike race should begin a few days out with attention to a high carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrate loading, if done correctly, maximizes muscle glycogen stores and improves endurance exercise performance. For effective carbohydrate loading, an exercise taper and a daily intake of 7-10g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight is required for the 2-3 days before the event. For a 70kg athlete, this means about 500-700g of carbohydrate per day. Achieving these targets requires planning and it is essential to practice this strategy during training and less important endurance events as it can represent a significant change to your normal eating plan. Commonly, athletes attempting to carbohydrate load fail to meet these targets and consume too many high fat foods along the way. Effective carbohydrate loading is associated with a body mass gain of about 2kg due to the increased stores of muscle glycogen and the water stored with it.
Race morning
A normal sized meal should be eaten 2-4 hours before the start of the race to allow sufficient time for digestion. Choose familiar foods that…”
To read the rest of the article go to the archived newsletter and scroll down towards the bottom:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs005/1102936960953/archive/1103188354292.html
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