Food Timing

One of the most often misunderstood concepts in training for an endurance event or sport is Food Timing. Knowing when, what, and how much you should eat before training or racing is just as important as knowing what your workout for the day is. Eating too much, too little or the wrong things before training or racing can sabotage your performance dramatically. Furthermore overhydrating before training or racing can also hinder your performance. This is a complex concept to understand but I have created a few rules to follow that can help guide you through this.

The first and most obvious thing you need to know is what time are you will be performing, if it is early in the morning the amount of food and the type of food you eat will be different than if the event is mid-morning or later in the day. Most triathlons start at about 7am so it is not likely that you will wake up and eat a complex meal at 4am however some people may choose to do so. It is likely that you will be scrambling for time and eating at 5:30 on your way to the race. These differences will impact what you eat.

Pre Rule #1: The Night Before

Most of us train and race in the morning so fueling up properly the night before is a good idea. If you know what glycogen is, then you know that it is fuel for muscles, that it is stored mostly in the liver and that some glycogen is stored in muscle tissue. Having an adequate meal the night before will make sure that glycogen stores are topped off. Remember you have about 1800 calories worth of glycogen stored up to help get you through training or racing.  However going to an all you can eat pasta buffet will not help your race day performance. Aim for 800-1200 calories consisting of a moderate amount of protein 10-15g, a small amount of healthy fats but mostly carbohydrates.  

As a reminder there is no need gorge yourself and “Carbo-Load” eat and drink (not beer) a normal amount the night before.

Rule #1

The longer you have before the race the more you can eat, the more complete the meal can consist of and the higher amounts of Protein and Fats relative to Carbohydrates. The ideal way is to break it down into chunks of time before an event. Like this

3-4hrs before

2 hrs before

1 hrs before

If you have 3-4 hours before the event you can afford to eat a more natural meal. The closer the time to the event comes the more simple the meal needs to become. 45min before training or racing you should only be consuming something simple like ½ a bagel and some sports drink 100-150cal/22oz of water.

Rule #2

How much should I eat? This is a relative term that you need to decide but I will give you a few loose suggestions for the given time windows.

3-4hrs before and event you can eat 500-1000 calories that should consist of lean protein, 10-20g, health fats and low fiber carbohydrates 150-300g. With a good amount of water, 24oz. There is a lot of wiggle room in this so I suggest practicing this and making some notes on what worked well and what did not.

2-3hrs before an event, this is probably the most often time to eat. You are going to want to cut way back on the protein and fat and consume mostly carbohydrates 100-150g with a low amount of fiber. Oatmeal, Bagel with a light amount of peanut butter, and make sure you stay hydrated but don’t over drink just a normal rate of drinking water.

1hr to go is game time, you are going to want to cut solid foods to a minimum, sports gels, sports drinks, gel blocks, are good choices but be cautions that you are not consuming more than 200 calories per hour and be sure to drink 12-24oz of water.

Rule #3

There is no magic rule when thinking of food timing, it is very individualized that is why there is so much wiggle room use these rules as guideline and pay attention to what has worked for you in the past and don’t change anything drastically race day morning. If you eat oatmeal every day before a big ride, then eat oatmeal before a race.

Sum it all up

Like I said in the beginning of this post Food Timing can be complicated, use these rules as a general guide and make notes of what works for you now and has worked in the past. (Share them with me here if you want)

As for race day if you are like most of us, it is pure chaos so the simpler you can make your nutrition plan the better.

Stay tuned for future updates