South Africa Race-Cation Day 6 (Xterra Pre race)

                                     

In the morning, I laid out my gear for the race. As usual, I prepare my race gear way early and Karel typically waits until later in the day. With this only being my third Xterra race, I wanted to see a visual of all my items to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything for the race. We went for a ~30 min shake out run in the direction of Strand. As we started the run, there were several markets getting set up for the weekend. On the way back, we ran/walked through some of the markets. It was interesting to see the diversity in items at the market tables. On one table was clothing and on another table, were scrapes from electronics and cars. We also passed by a fruit vendor with lots of different seasonal fruits.

After eating a meal, I finished packing up my gear and worked on the computer for a bit.

At 12:40pm, I walked down to the beach to meet up with the masters swim team for their Saturday morning open water swim. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to swim in the ocean one last time. I met up with my new friend Gordon who let me keep my stuff in his car. The beach was packed unlike the previous days when we swam. I opted to swim in my swimskin since it was hot outside but the water was still a little on the cool side. There were around 15 athletes for the swim. Everyone swam at their own pace and we regrouped at the wall. I felt a little cold in the water since I wasn’t swimming too hard. The water was very choppy which was also different from our previous swims when the water was really calm. There were also a lot more boats and kayakers in the water as well. While I was swimming, Karel prepared our bikes for the race. Our Airbnb had a hose which was great for cleaning the bikes each day. Karel brought some cleaning supplies as well as a variety of tools.

After the swim I walked back to the Airbnb, had a quick snack and then around 3:15pm we drove ~25 minutes to the Elgin Valley Railroad market. I heard great things about this market although by the time we arrived, the vendors were shutting down. However, I purchased two wire-art animals from a local maker and he told me how he makes them. We walked around and enjoyed the décor in the inside of the building. We also stopped across the street at another store to check it out.

When we got back to Gordon’s Bay, we parked by the beach and had a pizza dinner at Tally’s Tavern. The pizza was delicious  - thin crust. The beach was rather busy so it was nice to watch the locals play in the ocean. We arrived back to our Airbnb around 6:30pm, prepared our hydration packs and bottles for the race and got into bed around 8pm. Just in time for load shedding. Neither of us felt nervous for the race but really excited to race for the first time in South Africa. 

3 pre-race nutrition mistakes

Many athletes blame a poor race day performance on nutrition, which doesn't surprise me since most athletes underfuel in training and guess their way through race day sport nutrition.

As it relates to long-distance racing, nutrition is a critical component to race day success. While what, when and how you consume sport nutrition during the race can optimize your ability to perform with your body from start to finish, equally, if not more important, is your nutrition going into a race.

From my personal experience as a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, who specializes in working with endurance athletes, here are some of the common pre-race nutrition mistakes that I see often, that keep athletes from reaching athletic excellence.

1. Unhealthy relationship with carbs - A fear of carbohydrates can keep athletes from properly loading muscle and liver glycogen stores going into a race. On the other edge of the spectrum, eating every carbohydrate in sight can leave you feeling lethargic, heavy and tired. It's important to have a healthy relationship with low-fiber, easy-to-digest carbohydrates, that have been well-practiced in your training and to have a plan to keep you from under/overeating. To avoid feeling heavy going into a race, make your breakfast meal (post workout) your carb-rich meal, lunch can be satisfying and dinner should be light. While all three meals should include carbs, avoid loading yourself with carbs right before bed and instead, eat that carb rich meal in the morning (who doesn't love breakfast foods?) to give yourself plenty of time to digest the meal.
   
2. Overhydrating before the race - Every athlete knows that proper hydration can boost performance but drinking large amounts of water in the 24-48 hours before a race, as well as on race day morning, can cause excessive urination, resulting in an electrolyte imbalance. Additionally, overdrinking can cause unwanted fullness, which can keep you from eating every few hours in the 48 hours before a race. Similar to your pre-race carbohydrate eating plan, it is also important to stay up on your fluid intake so that you don't under or overdrink. And to help with restful sleeping, make sure to not overdo it on fluids in the evening hours (which can cause you to wake up frequently throughout the night to run to the bathroom), but instead, spread out your fluid intake throughout the day, tapering off in the 2 hours before bed.
   
3. A nervous belly on race morning - Although a nervous belly is to blame by athletes who struggle to eat on race day morning, I am shocked by how many athletes don't have confidence in their pre-race meal. While it can be tough to eat early in the morning, when nerves are high, you should have trust in your pre-race meal, knowing that it has worked for you as a pre-training meals, for most of your longer workout session. By practicing your pre-race meal (foods) in training, even if your belly is nervous, you will know that it's a non-negotiable to skip something that you have confidence in that will help you excel on race day.
   

While athletes are guilty of making a lot of mistakes going into a race, like resting too much and focusing too heavily on the outcome or things out of their control (ex. weather), nutrition appears to be a big limiter for athletes, simply because there's no well-practiced, thought-out plan going into a race.

Considering that most athletes spend several months training for an event, while bringing months if not years of experience into a race, it is important to recognize that every training session can prepare you for race day. Having confidence in your pre-race nutrition is a game changer. The athletes who have a nutrition plan going into a race typically experience less GI issues on race day, more energy during the race and more confidence, as it's one more thing within their control, assisting in performance excellence.