While not every race day nutrition mistake is a limiter to performance, athletes are quick to place the blame on nutrition when a race day performance doesn't go as planned.
Here are some common race day nutrition mistakes that may compromise your race day performance (and health):
- Overfueling - With pressure to perform at your best, it's understandable that you want to optimize performance. With this comes a need to fuel - a lot - in an effort to offset a slow down. Overfueling before and during the race can leave the belly uncomfortably full and cause lethargy. It's understandable to fear running out of energy during the race but overfueling can cause massive GI distress and nausea. Far too many athletes underfuel in training and overfuel on race day. Remember that the gut needs to be trained to tolerate sport and daily nutrition in large amounts (ex. carbohydrates) and overconcentrated sport drinks will not give you more energy (they simply sit in the gut, undigested). Trust what worked in training. Practice your race day nutrition regularly in training. If your training nutrition consistently fails you on race day or you have no idea what to consume on race day, consult with a sport RD for help.
- Excessive sodium or fluid intake - Worried about the hot race day conditions? Worried about your high sweat rate affecting your race day performance? For preventative measures, you may find yourself loading up on fluids and/or sodium before the race, drinking copious amounts of water before and during the race and pound down the salt pills during the race. Although active muscles will generate more heat than at rest and your body has to produce more sweat in order to assist with the evaporative cooling processes, your body has to adapt to these demands to control core body temperature. Simply focusing on sodium and water will not keep your body "cool" and functioning well. While both are important, don't assume that just because you are taking salt pills that your body is receiving the additional sodium or fluid.\. You should have an effective plan for fueling and hydrating on race day (before and during all parts of the race) to ensure optimal gastric emptying and fluid/electrolyte delivery. Additionally, if you know your body doesn't do well in the heat, dial back the effort to prevent overheating.
- Understanding your body signals - It's great to have a concrete, well practiced race day nutrition plan. While a plan is great going into a race, any successful athlete knows that racing is dynamic and you need to be an active participant during the race. You can't turn into a robot just to match your detailed, excel spreadsheet pacing and nutrition plan. Racing is a process that requires a lot of decision making, troubleshooting and being proactive. As an example, just because you have a low moment on the bike, this doesn't mean that you are bonking. Or feeling low in energy in the first mile of a run doesn't means you need more calories. It's normal to have waves of emotions, moods and energy levels throughout an athletic event. Use your previous training sessions to remind yourself of similar feelings and how you navigated those symptoms. Because many conditions have similar symptoms (ex. dehydration, the onset of a cramp, low blood sugar or blood pressure), it's recommended to consult with a sport RD to analyze your race day nutrition plan before and after a race to help you perform to your abilities on race day.
- Anti-inflammatory usage - Racing hurts. Relying on anti-inflammatory pills to try to minimize the soreness, niggles, aches and pains that occur on race day is not healthy or performance enhancing. You don't need these pills for preventive measures. I strongly advise to break this habit immediately. NSAIDs (ex. ibuprofen) work to suppress inflammation but attempting to dull the pain/aches of endurance racing, there are serious side effects such as kidney injury (elevated creatinine), blood pressure changes, stomach damage and reduced ability to recover post race. Say no to anti-inflammatory pills and while you are at it, pass on the energy boosters (caffeine pills, energy drinks) as well before the race. Your body will thank you.
- Upper GI issues - GI issues are very common in athletes on race day. Upper GI issues include belching, vomiting, bloating and heartburn and cramping. Address the possible culprits to these uncomfortable race day issues to reduce the risk of upper GI problems on race day. It's very typical for athletes who experience upper GI issues to suffer from aerophagia (excessive air swallowing), which result when swimming from rapid/ineffective breathing, tense or short breaths (especially while running), eating too fast, drinking carbonated beverages (or chewing gum/sucking on candies), using a straw-based hydration system on the bike and gulping fluids.
- Lower GI issues - Most athletes have experienced lower GI issues on race day or during training. Passing gas, diarrhea, loose stools, abdominal cramping and side stitches are extremely common, especially during running due to all the jostling of organs. Although not necessarily lower GI related, nausea, dizziness and headache are also common as they can result from poor gastric emptying of sport nutrition, increasing the risk for dehydration and low blood sugar. Typically, athletes who consume overconcentrated sport nutrition products, lack a solid sport nutrition plan to consume well-formulated drinks to optimize gastric emptying, wait too long to fuel/hydrate (instead of fueling/drinking on a schedule) and don't train to drink while running (ex. utilizing a hydration belt/pack) are most likely to suffer from lower GI issues.
- Nutrition blame game - Real talk. So many variables can impact your race day performance. Nerves, stress, poor pacing, weather, terrain and so much more. Consider the training that you did and didn't do and assess your current level of fitness and how you can best perform given the race day environmental conditions, the course/terrain and where you are in your season of athletic development. As simple as it may be to blame your performance on nutrition, sometimes nutrition is not the reason why your performance didn't meet your expectations. Endurance racing is unpredictable and requires a lot of training, trial and error and a process-driven mindset. Accept that not every race is going to be great, a PR or a showcase of previous training. Remind yourself that racing is a test of your current fitness but it's also a day (or a few hours) of self-exploration, body appreciation and the ability to work through situations and overcome obstacles. Sadly, you can't blame everything on nutrition.