Pre race diet
- Thread starter Andy_G
- Start date
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Dusty Bin
Guest
Eat anything you like - for a 1hr crit, your fitness will be far more critical than your pre-race diet. I had one of my best race results after a night on the beer, bed at 2am and a bag of donuts for breakfast. That's not a recommendation by the way, but just eat sensibly. High carb stuff is not really necessary, although it won't do you any harm. A good night's sleep and plenty of time in the morning to prep, warm up, etc is far more important.
Dusty Bin
Guest
And very rude of me not to wish you best of luck for the race. Congrats on becoming one of the very small minority of cyclists in this country that really do put their money where their mouth is... 
Have a safe race and a good finish. You won't realise you've enjoyed it until afterwards...
Have a safe race and a good finish. You won't realise you've enjoyed it until afterwards...
Cheers Dusty, A lot of money it was too lol £120 for the privelage.And very rude of me not to wish you best of luck for the race. Congrats on becoming one of the very small minority of cyclists in this country that really do put their money where their mouth is...
Have a safe race and a good finish. You won't realise you've enjoyed it until afterwards...
So you promote marginal gains in one thread (20 additional riding would be more beneficial than 20 minutes of squatting) and yet disregard the marginal gains for pre-race nutrition?
Andy, I'd say eat 2 hours before the race, then a snack/ coffee 30 mins before you start. That is the regular practice/advice given, and it does work well.
Stay hydrated from the moment you get up (in fact, the day before is important). Energy drink in the hour leading up the race. For the race, I'd carry the smallest bidon you can about 1/4 full of water, just to quench thirst.
Dusty bin has a point though, just eat like you would regularly so as not to have any stomach issues before racing (e.g. cramming in twice the portion size at lunch for energy, only to feel bloated the next 3 hours).
Dusty Bin
Guest
yes I do
A good thorough warm up is worth 20 pre-race meals, IMO.....not that you'd want to eat 20 pre-race meals before a 1hr crit, obviously...
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I'd usually have breakfast at 8am so if the race is 5 hours later i should eat at about 11am or maybe split the porridge portions in half so one at 8 then the other at 11am
Dusty Bin
Guest
As long as your glycogen stores are full - and providing you do nothing strenuous in the hours after breakfast and before your race - they will be. You will have plenty of energy available for the race itself. By all means have a snack or something, but don't overthink it - the race will not be won by whoever has the best nutrition strategy.
Roadrider48
Voice of the people
- Location
- Londonistan
Good post!And very rude of me not to wish you best of luck for the race. Congrats on becoming one of the very small minority of cyclists in this country that really do put their money where their mouth is...
Have a safe race and a good finish. You won't realise you've enjoyed it until afterwards...
This is what I do:
Last solids 3 hours before race
300-500 ml best root juice 90 minutes before race
Caffeinated gel 45 minutes before race.
Sip energy drink during warm up.
For races up to 60 minutes I don't bother with a drinks bottle unless it's hot.
Unless your bike handling is up to snuff, you will struggle to drink safely in your first race anyway.
Good luck and enjoy!
Last solids 3 hours before race
300-500 ml best root juice 90 minutes before race
Caffeinated gel 45 minutes before race.
Sip energy drink during warm up.
For races up to 60 minutes I don't bother with a drinks bottle unless it's hot.
Unless your bike handling is up to snuff, you will struggle to drink safely in your first race anyway.
Good luck and enjoy!
Erm well race over on OMFG how hard was it, out of the 50 min race i lasted 25 minutes and bonked big time.
The annoying thing is my legs dont ache which makes me think i didnt try hard enough, it was just my cardio that i seemed to struggle with, my avg HR was around where my normal max HR is.
avg speed 24.5mph which i was told by a Cat 3 was quick for a 4.
The annoying thing is my legs dont ache which makes me think i didnt try hard enough, it was just my cardio that i seemed to struggle with, my avg HR was around where my normal max HR is.
avg speed 24.5mph which i was told by a Cat 3 was quick for a 4.
Dusty Bin
Guest
You definitely didn't bonk - sounds like you just blew up, that's all. At least you know what needs to be done - work on your threshold and anaerobic intervals - more 2x20s, more 10x1s, more tabatas.
Re your HR - sounds like your max is a lot higher than you currently have it set.
Re your HR - sounds like your max is a lot higher than you currently have it set.
As in 20's high cad 40 rest etc
Dusty Bin
Guest
2x20 - 2x 20 minute intervals, where you hold the maximum effort you can sustain for the duration of the 20 min interval - usually somewhere near to threshold. 10 mins rest then repeat.
10x1 - a series of 10 x 1 minute 'sprint' intervals, again where you hold the maximum effort you can sustain for 1 min (obviously likely to be a lot higher than the effort you can sustain for 20mins), 1 min rest in between. Might take a bit of trial and error at first, to peg the effort at the right level.
Tabata - A series of 10x 20 second 'flat out, no mercy' efforts, followed by 10 seconds rest in between.
Your HR max sounds wrong - especially if you were averaging today what you previously thought was your max. Presumably you recorded a higher figure today, use that as your new max. If by 'cad' you mean 'cadence' - then don't worry about it. Just use whatever cadence you need to use to maintain the effort - same as you probably did in the race today, without realising
All of the above not including warm up/down, obviously. Don't be put off by the race pace - there's nothing special about the fellas at the front - they've just trained harder, that's all. And that's all you need to do...
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