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RACING FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE
Fueling Your Body For Performance
Nutrition and fluids are the two key ingredients for fueling an athlete’s body for endurance training and racing. There are
many different approaches to eating to improve performance. Each athlete needs to individualize his or her own approach
to developing a training and racing diet plan. Understanding the basics of sports nutrition will help you develop a diet plan
for endurance training and competing.
The basic components of an athlete’s diet are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water. The key nutritional
factor in an endurance sport is carbohydrate. Carbohydrates provide the primary fuel during intense exercise. Carbohydrates
in the form of blood glucose or stored glycogen are the most readily available source of fuel for exercising muscle.
The limiting factor to endurance sports is the amount of carbohydrate available to exercising muscle. A person is limited
to the amount of carbohydrate that can be stored in the body. For example, a well-trained male endurance athlete
weighing 150 pounds stores about 1,800 calories, which provides energy for approximately 90 to 180 minutes of continuous
exercise. Symptoms of glycogen depletion include severe fatigue, dizziness, muscle pain, abnormal heart rate and
decreased intensity of exercise capable. In marathon racing this is referred to as “hitting the wall.”
Endurance athletes need to train his or her body to spare glycogen in order to complete an endurance event that may last
8 to 15 hours. Raising pre-exercise level of muscle glycogen stores as well as ingesting carbohydrates during exercise can
prevent glycogen depletion. Endurance training with a proper diet will increase the body’s capacity to store glycogen. This
is a gradual long-term process that takes weeks to months to develop. There also is an upper limit to the amount of glycogen
each person can store. A well-trained endurance athlete is capable of storing up to 1,800 to 2,000 calories. Endurance
training also spares glycogen by training your body to utilize fats during exercise.
An endurance athlete’s diet should consist of high carbohydrate consumption. Complex carbohydrates are the best source
of nutrient dense carbohydrates. An endurance athlete’s diet should consist of about 65% of calories from carbohydrates.
There is currently no scientific data that supports a high fat, low carbohydrate diet. You should carefully analyze your diet to
make sure you are eating enough carbohydrates. Athletes need to replenish glycogen stores depleted from training. Chronic
glycogen depletion leads to decreased performance and over-training. Time to exhaustion can be increased when
consuming a high carbohydrate diet while training.
An endurance athlete training at high intensity levels should consume about 3.8 – 5.4 grams of carbohydrates per pound of
body weight per day. Athletes training at lower intensities should consume about 2.5 – 3.8 grams per pound per day. A
healthy training diet is well rounded and includes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meat to provide essential
vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Focus your diet on eating the right amount of grams of carbohydrates per day. Study the
food labels on packages to get a good idea of the ingredients of the foods you are eating. Eat carbohydrate dense foods with
about 60 – 100 grams of carbohydrate per 16 ounces.
Protein is also an important component of an athlete’s diet. Protein provides essential amino acids for building and
repairing muscle and tissue. An endurance athlete should consume about 1 – 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per
day. Athletes that are training at high intensities and volumes may require as much as 2 grams per kilogram per day.
Vegetarians can obtain adequate protein by eating a combination of vegetables, grains and legumes.
Establishing a pre-exercise and racing diet through experience and training will help determine the best nutrition plan for
you. Experiment with foods during hard training or shorter races. The following guidelines should be considered when
planning your fueling strategy for racing:
Pre-exercise Diet:
1. For the 10 days preceding the race increase your carbohydrate intake to 70 to 80 % of total calories.
2. At 12 – 24 hours prior to the race eat a high carbohydrate, balanced meal and hydrate well.
3. At 2 – 4 hours prior to the race consume a liquid high in carbohydrates, about 3-5 grams/kg body weight.
Use easy to digest foods that are low in fat and fiber that have been tried in training. Decrease the amount of
solid foods.
4. At less than 1 hour prior to the race consume water or a fluid replacement sports drink.
Some athletes may like to eat something light right before racing to fill his or her stomach.
Fueling During the Race:
1. Exercise lasting longer than 90 minutes requires consuming carbohydrates
2. Liquid carbohydrates such as sports drinks and gels are tolerated the best
3. Consume 1 gram of carbohydrate per minute which is 240 calories/hour; 1 bottle of a high carbohydrate drink or
an energy bar will provide this amount.
4. Practice your racing nutrition during training
5. Some athletes find it necessary to consume solids during an endurance race; foods high in carbohydrates and
low in fat and fiber are good foods to take, such as bananas, pretzels, fruits and bagels.
6. Drink plenty of fluids to help better absorb the carbohydrates
Fluid Hydration
The most important nutrient to an endurance athlete is water. Without water an athlete will be in serious trouble trying to
train and compete. Water is essential for many functions of the body. The body uses water for metabolic processes, to store
energy and to dissipate heat. An athlete loses water at a rate of 1 – 3 liters per hour during exercise through sweating and
breathing. Sweat rate is dependent upon acclimatization, conditioning, air temperature, humidity and wind.
Water loss leads to dehydration and increased body temperature. Weight loss with exercise is a good indication of the
amount of water lost. One pound of weight loss equals 450 ml of water loss. Dehydration significantly effects performance.
Every liter of water loss causes:
1. An increase in heart rate by 8 beats per minute
2. A decrease in cardiac output by 1 liter per minute
3. An increase in core body temperature by 0.3 degrees Celsius
A 2-3% loss of body water can lead to a 3-7% decrease in performance.
It is difficult to replace water losses during exercise. The maximum amount a person can absorb during exercise is 750 –
1,000 ml per hour. Most athlete drink only about 300 – 500 ml per hour, which leads to a loss of 500 – 1,000 ml per hour.
The following principles will help prevent dehydration during endurance training and racing:
1. Pre-hydrate to increase water stores; drink 4 – 5 sixteen-ounce bottles of water or fluid replacement daily.
2. Drink up to 32 ounces of water or fluid replacement one to two hours before competition or training.
Drink an additional 16 ounces of fluids immediately before your race or workout.
3. During a race or workout lasting over an hour, replace fluids by drinking 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes.
(24 ounces an hour)
4. In a triathlon, larger volumes of fluid are better tolerated during cycling.
Consume larger volumes of fluids while cycling.
5. Cooler liquids are better absorbed during exercising.
6. An energy drink with 4-8% carbohydrate is better absorbed
7. Thirst is a poor indicator of dehydration. Your body is 2-3% dehydrated when you begin to experience thirst.
Drink regularly throughout the day and during exercise.
8. Weight loss is a good indicator of fluid losses. Weigh yourself before and after exercise.
Replace every pound lost with 450 ml of fluids. Replace your fluids over 24 hours.
Decrease your next training session if you are unable to replace lost fluids.
9. The amount and color of your urine is a good indication of your hydration status.
Urine should be clear, plentiful and frequent. Dark urine is a sign of dehydration.
10. Develop a plan for fluid replacement. Practice it in training to prepare you for racing.
Find out the type of fluid replacement provided at the race and train with it.
Trained athletes become better hydrated.
