Race Day Nutrition, What to Eat Before a Sportive or Race

James. Hello and welcome to the WattPlan Podcast. I'm James. Between the family, the job, building WattPlan and the occasional podium, I read sports science the way other people scroll their phones. This week, race day food. You've done months of training, and it can all come undone with the wrong breakfast or a bonk at three hours. So what should you actually eat before and during a sportive or race? Lyra, our AI research voice, is with me, and every study is linked in the show notes.

Lyra. Fill the tank in the two days before, eat a familiar breakfast about three hours before the start, and for anything over a couple of hours, start eating early and keep going. Most race-day nutrition problems aren't about the wrong product. They're about something new, something late, or not enough early on.

James. Start with the tank, then. Is carb loading still a thing? I remember people starving themselves of carbs for days first.

Lyra. The depletion phase is gone. The modern version is simpler. Normal eating until a few days out, then as your riding drops off, push carbohydrate up, around eight to ten grams per kilo of body weight a day two or three days out, and a little more the day before. It's worth doing for events of ninety minutes or longer.

James. Per kilo. So for a normal-sized rider that's, what, a big bowl of pasta?

Lyra. More like several. For a seventy kilo rider, it's seven hundred grams or more a day, which is why the advice is low-fibre and spread out. White rice, pasta, bread, potatoes without the skin, even juice or sports drink between meals to add carbohydrate without bulk. This isn't the week for salads and whole grains. And expect a kilo or two on the scales. Stored carbohydrate holds water. That's fuel, not fat.

James. But is any of this actually backed by research, or is it just what everyone's always done?

Lyra. Both, honestly. We looked at two studies for this episode, and the first is the big one. A 2016 joint position stand in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise from three organisations, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine. Their position is that performance and recovery are improved by well-chosen nutrition strategies, and they set out guidance on the type, amount and timing of food, fluids and supplements. [1]

James. That sounds sensible but quite general.

Lyra. You're right, it's a framework, not one trial with one number. And it says something worth repeating. For a personal plan, see a registered dietitian. What we're giving you is the general shape, not a prescription for your gut.

James. And the night before? I've always hoped one beer counts as carb loading.

Lyra. Sadly not. One drink is unlikely to make a big difference, but alcohol disturbs sleep, so before an event that matters, skipping it is the cautious choice. The meal itself should be familiar and carb-heavy, light on fat and fibre, and eaten three or four hours before bed so it isn't keeping you awake.

James. Fine. Breakfast. When, and how much?

Lyra. Three to four hours before the start, two to four grams of carbohydrate per kilo. A big bowl of porridge with a banana and honey and a glass of juice gets you a good way there. Keep fat and protein modest, because they slow digestion. Then a small top-up in the last hour if you're hungry, and some sports drink.

James. Three to four hours. So for an eight o'clock start, I'm eating at four in the morning.

Lyra. Yes, and that's the part people skip. If you can't face that much that early, practise eating early before a few long training rides, and shift some of the carbohydrate to the night before.

James. And on the bike. Do I need to eat in a ninety minute crit?

Lyra. Not much. If you're racing something short, under ninety minutes, a properly loaded tank covers it. A little sports drink, maybe a gel near the end. The Coach's line for crits and short road races is the same, load beforehand and keep it minimal during.

James. And the longer stuff, where it actually goes wrong?

Lyra. Between ninety minutes and three hours, the article suggests forty to sixty grams an hour, mostly from drink and a gel or two. Over three hours, sixty to ninety, from a mix of drink, gels and real food. And start early, in the first hour, while the pace is easy enough to eat. Once you've run low, catching up is close to impossible.

James. Sixty to ninety is quite a range for someone doing their first sportive.

Lyra. It is. If you're new to this, sit near the bottom and practise. For a sportive, the Coach works from about sixty grams every forty-five minutes, roughly eighty an hour. And if you use Route analysis in Premium, it marks a feed point at that spacing on your course, sixty grams and half a litre of fluid each.

James. And drinking? I either forget completely or slosh round with a full stomach.

Lyra. Both are common. Start the day well hydrated, then on the bike drink to thirst, roughly half a litre to three quarters an hour in mild weather, more in the heat. Add electrolytes for anything over two hours. In long or hot races, losing more than about two percent of your body weight can slow you, but drinking far more than you sweat causes its own problems.

James. Right, caffeine. I'll be honest, I just drink whatever coffee's going.

Lyra. That's where the second study comes in. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand on caffeine, 2021, in its own journal. It finds aerobic endurance gets the most consistent benefit, moderate to large. The effective dose is three to six milligrams per kilo of body weight, and the most common timing is about an hour before you start. [2]

James. So for me that's somewhere around two to four hundred milligrams?

Lyra. For a seventy kilo rider, yes. And more isn't better. Go well past that and you're mostly buying jitters, anxiety and a dodgy stomach. People respond very differently, partly from genetics and how much caffeine they normally take, and it can cost you sleep or bring on anxiety.

James. Does it matter whether it's coffee or a gel?

Lyra. The source changes the timing. Caffeine gum, for example, may need less waiting time than capsules. And the review found caffeinated gels and chews do improve performance, mainly in aerobic exercise. So a caffeinated gel in the last third of a long event is a reasonable plan, if you've tried it in training first.

James. Which brings us back to the golden rule, presumably. Nothing new on race day.

Lyra. Exactly. If you train with power, you've an easy way to rehearse. Do your fuelling on a long ride with some race-pace work in it, at the rate you'll use on the day, and see how your stomach copes when you're working hard, not just pottering.

James. What can't these papers tell us?

Lyra. Quite a bit. The joint statement sets out principles, not a tested breakfast for a Sunday sportive. Caffeine response varies a lot between people. And neither paper can tell you what your own gut will tolerate at ninety grams an hour, or at four in the morning. Only practice tells you that.

James. So, practical. What should I do before my next long ride?

Lyra. Treat it as a dress rehearsal. Eat the breakfast you'd eat on race day, at the same gap before you start. Fuel at the rate you'd use in the event and write down what you actually got through. And if you want caffeine on the day, try your dose on this ride, not that one.

James. Same breakfast, same timing, count what I eat, and test the coffee. Basically, race day should be the most boring meal of my year.

Lyra. Boring is good. The best race-day plan is one your stomach has already said yes to, several times, before the morning it really counts.

Lyra. The full article and every study we mentioned are on the WattPlan blog, linked in the show notes. And if you've enjoyed this, follow the WattPlan Podcast wherever you're listening, so you don't miss the next one.

James. And if you want a plan built around the time you've actually got, get WattPlan on the App Store or Google Play. Thanks for listening.

Voices produced with ElevenLabs. James's voice is a clone of his own, Lyra is an AI voice, and James reviews every episode.