The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
Coach Adam Pulford delivers actionable training advice and answers your questions in short weekly episodes for time-crunched cyclists looking to improve their cycling performance. The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast (formerly The TrainRight Podcast) is brought to you by the team at CTS - the leading endurance coaching company since 2000. Coach Adam pulls from over a decade of coaching experience and the collective knowledge of over 50+ CTS Coaches to help you cut throught the noise of training information and implement proven training strategies that’ll take your performance to the next level.
The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
Best Race Day Foods, Drinks, and Fueling Strategies, with Stephanie Howe, PhD (#244)
OVERVIEW
Stephanie Howe, PhD is back for Part 2 of the sports nutrition podcasts she recorded with Coach Adam Pulford. An elite ultramarathon runner who won Western States, CTS Coach, and the provider for CTS Nutrition Coaching services, Stephanie works with cyclists, runners, triathletes, and more. In Episode 244 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Stephanie and Coach Adam Pulford lay out evidence-based, practical sports nutrition recommendations for race day, including a checklist for planning your raceday nutrition, how to adapt your plan when things go wrong, how to come back from a bad stomach, and more.
TOPICS COVERED
- Creating a race day eating and drinking plan
- Planning ahead with aid stations, feed zones, drop bags, etc.
- How 'palate fatigue' stops athletes from consuming more food.
- How to come back from an upset stomach during a race
- How much sodium do you really need?
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LINKS/RESOURCES
HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
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From the team at CTS. This is the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast, our show dedicated to answering your training questions and providing actionable advice to help you improve your performance even if you're strapped for time. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford, and I'm one of the over 50 professional coaches who make up the team at CTS. In each episode, I draw on our team's collective knowledge, other coaches and experts in the field to provide you with the practical ways to get the most out of your training and ultimately become the best cyclist that you can be. Now on to our show. Now onto our show. Welcome back, time Crunch fans. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford. I'm back today with CTS Pro Coach Stephanie Howe to discuss more about nutrition and hydration, and this time we'll focus on race day planning. So, steph, welcome back.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So a quick recap from a previous podcast is that a big part of the planning process for race day is figuring out what works in training before we actually get to our big day. So we start with science, we use proven guidelines and ranges of intakes to start with, and then we dial it in for individual needs, including being adaptable, which I want to talk about today. So let's pick it up from there and if there's anything else that you want to add on to that recap from last week, is there anything that you want to include?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. I mean we talked about starting with 60 grams of carbohydrate and when you're thinking through the application of that, like looking at what products have different grams of carbohydrates so you can come up with that amount, and that kind of like dovetails into today we're talking about how to actually plan that out. So that's something to consider too is like the different products and their different um, I guess sources of of uh carbohydrate and how much carbohydrates in it.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:And so what I tell my athletes is we want to keep what worked, we've changed what didn't work and now, as we enter in that race day, we want to start bring out the calculators, we'll bring out the race map, we look at where the aid stations are at and we'll we'll do some math and in good planning, and so in that way, I think you know, assuming we have the grams and calories per hour calculated, I start looking at what do I need, total on the day for the given duration, right, how many total grams of carbohydrate, how many total calories and how that works into my options, my maybe three or four options, like you said, don't choose 20 options but the things I've been using in training.
Speaker 1:And then I'm going to be like, well, how do I carry all this? Where are the aid stations at where I can pick it up? Will I have a crew out there if it is a long race, something like that? So where do you start? How do you start to frame this up for people who maybe they've never done like a six hour race before and they're like holy crap, I'm so confused.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you laid it out really well. The first thing I start with is how long is it going to take you and give yourself a range, because we can predict but we're really bad at forecasting outcomes sometimes in terms of, like, race times, race performance. So give yourself a little bit of a range, so if you are out there a little bit longer, you don't undercut your fuel because that's you're probably going to really want it. So if you think it's going to be like, let's say, a six hour race, I would give yourself a range from like five to seven hours perhaps, and that might be a little bit more for a cycling race, but for running, you know, generally an hour on either end is is realistic. So start there.
Speaker 1:It's realistic here too, because between GI issues, mechanicals and emotional breakdowns, anything can happen out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and it and it does. So we talked about last episode of figuring out your grams per carbohydrate. That feels best. So hopefully you kind of have an idea of that as well and I think again, plan for the maximum amount, knowing that you might have to adapt that a little bit along the way, which we'll talk about. But if I know I'm going to take like five to seven hours, I know that I feel good at 60 grams an hour you can figure out how many products you need overall. So that's kind of like the second step.
Speaker 2:The next step then is figuring out where are my aid stations, how far in between the aid stations, to determine how much you need to carry. So in ultra running there's usually we just like snack and run, so there's usually an aid station every like hour or two. In cycling I'm not sure if it's that frequent, but planning out for like when you can pick up your fuel I think is important and knowing like how much you need to take and again, give yourself a little buffer there, because you don't want to have like an hour where you run dry because that's going to do a few things One, you're going to bonk, likely, and two, that actually increases the risk for GI upset, because when you aren't getting like a steady stream of fuel, the blood flow tends to go to your muscles, away from your stomach, and then when you do try to refuel, usually it sloshes around in there a bit. So plan for a little bit more than you think you need.
Speaker 1:Yep, I think that's always good, because when things go sideways, having that extra gel or having a little bit extra in the bottle, it's always better than running dry or going into camel mode in between the aid stations. But in that way I think, most like ultra, you know, mountain bike, ultra, gravel events they're going to have aid stations anywhere between 90 minutes for the fastest sort of people and, you know, three hours or so for most people. What you can plan on mostly and I think in that way too, that's the applicability there is, you know how much fluid can the average person carry? It's usually a couple of bottles.
Speaker 1:Sure, they have the hydration pack option as well, but I also think that you know, whatever you want to carry and if you're just going to finish, do your thing. But Ruddy and I talked about our Leadville planning. We just scratched the surface on some of this. Fueling is when you're making your best race day plan. You want to carry stuff that's going to keep you well-fueled and safe, but you don't want to bring a kitchen sink because then you start to do way more work and become very inefficient because you're just working too hard, because you're carrying so much shit.
Speaker 2:Carrying so much shit and the decision fatigue of what shit to take in is a thing too.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes. So in that way, this planning is to help you get really efficient and dialed on this. So now we've got the totals, We've got where the aid stations are. Roughly, we know you can snack all day if you're an ultra runner, 90 minutes to three hours if you're a cyclist what about? So? Where do we go from there? Stephanie and I will say races like Breck Epic, for example. They'll give you the little drop bag options too. So if you don't have a crew, you don't know, maybe, exactly where that aid station is, but you want to carry a kitchen sink, you can put that in a Ziploc bag and throw it out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think this goes back to like you've practiced with, like, let's say, three to four different products, so you know what you're going to use. I like to keep it simple, though. Again, we don't want to have to make a lot of decisions, we don't want to do more than simple math, and so knowing what you need like in putting it in a Ziploc bag, making it easier for yourself, so you just pick up what you need and go I think that's a really great way to plan.
Speaker 2:The other consideration is that, although we're pretty good at like trying to plan ahead, sometimes we don't actually know how we're going to feel at hour five and the ultra running like at least for me. I'm like pretty bad at forecasting like, oh yeah, I'm going to want the like lemon lime gels at like hour six and like I don't want those at all. So when I, when I think about planning like that, I kind of pre-planned what I think I'm going to grab, but also give myself an option to grab like another thing, and I call them things because it just doesn't make it like that difficult. So I know I need five things between this aid station and this aid station, and I just make sure that I grab those, and the best way to do that, if you put them in charge of that, like, remind me to take five things here. That's their job. Hopefully they don't fail you.
Speaker 2:If you don't have a crew, just write it with, like a Sharpie on either the drop bag or you know, if you have something that you're keeping track of your pace or the mileage or whatever it is, just so that you don't have to like memorize everything ahead of time. So some way that you're keeping track. Ideally you're punting that off on, like your crew, so they have a job to do for you. But, yeah, making sure that you have enough packed, but giving yourself some flexibility to change that plan if you need to. If it's like suddenly like okay, I need to switch to all sports drink because I'm not able to get gels down, like have that be a viable option for yourself. So make sure to set it up so you have your sports drink as well.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, no, that's, that's super good and I think, to that end and that's part of being adaptable, which I think is crucial uh, to to figure out what's going to go good on race day and what's not, two things to that is, I think, adding in real food, like we talked about in part, one. That's extra kind of sustenance to weave in. It also makes you happy when you just get like a usually like a crunchy salty chocolate thing Every once in a while. Chips, salt and vinegar chips bring me back to life, yes, and like practice that and grab like a little bit of small things as you're heading out of the aid station. Just make yourself happy, right.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, huge fan of that, and for a couple reasons. One, you just get a little extra which is like just like a bonus. Think of it as like a little tailwind pushing you out of the aid station. Two, it helps prevent palate fatigue, or it makes you look forward to then taking in another gel, because you just had a bunch of like really good, like salty crunchy, whatever it is. And then, three, some of those have other things in them, like sodium, or you know, if you're taking in some Coca-Cola it'd have a little caffeine. So you're getting in maybe some other things that your body might be craving. But I like that. Get out of the aid station feeling a little bit happier. That's a great goal.
Speaker 1:For sure, and we didn't mention this in our training part one podcast. But how to do that in training? Is gas stations right For us cyclists? We basically roll up to our gas stations just like cracked with salt lines all over each other wearing spandex and we go in and just like raid the place. I love it Drink our Cokes and have our chips and then off we go. So like practice eating that kind of stuff in training, that's going to go real good on race day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can do that in ultra running too, like I mean, in France it's nice because there's the refuges where you can just like bring a little money and do that. But also we carry these nice little backpacks around all the time, so just like shoving some food in there. It's a great way to do it. No-transcript, get your fuel down, but just like really trying to force it, that's not going to end well. So when you're in that situation, thinking about what sounds good is a good way to start, because generally not much sounds good. So if there's something that sounds maybe it's not even good but it sounds like the least worst thing like, oh, I could crunch in some chips or some salty broth or like some pretzels, like, get that and nibble Again. You don't want to just like down. Uh, you know.
Speaker 1:Like what if I wanted a pizza? What if I was craving?
Speaker 2:pizza. Well, okay, this has been, this has been. You're like speaking to me right now, um, so, in my recent race, um, no, uh, I I do think, if you're craving pizza, like that's fine to have some pizza and like we talked about it, just maybe not the whole entire pizza and like we talked about it, just maybe not the whole entire pizza, but just like a couple bites. See how that sits, maybe even a whole slice of pizza, but just like thinking of that kind of food is something to nibble on, because obviously you don't want to take in too much. That's going to sit in your gut and cause the opposite problem, but taking in little bits of food is a really great strategy and maybe you take that with you out of the aid station.
Speaker 2:So, for example, I did this race a couple of weeks ago and cheese sandwiches were sounding real great and so every time I saw my career, I'm like I'll take another cheese sandwich please, and I couldn't eat the whole thing just sitting there, but I would take a few bites and then I would take it with me and just like shove it in my pack or, like you know, you could put it wherever you need, I don't know, in cycling shoving your shorts. Maybe that might be weird, but whatever, get extra salt on it. That's a great strategy. And then if it's sitting well, then you can, like you know, in like another half an hour, have a few more bites.
Speaker 1:But that's the way to do it, rather than to just like down something and then regret it in like 20 minutes later down something and then regret it in like 20 minutes later, yeah, yeah, and some of this goes with experiential knowledge, but some of it is just like being aware, being smart and using some common sense. If you do international, like stage racing for example, and you're blowing through aid stations and you know the stuff in South Africa is not going to be the same stuff in North America, is not the same stuff in Central America, right. But being able to like go through and scan and be and be like so potatoes with salt, for example, little potatoes with salt, amazing, right. Just don't eat all the potatoes but like take the potato, dunk it in salt and go. Also, there's like little little gummies with that are like woven with fruit, okay, they're super sweet, right, and it just like sometimes that can be really good.
Speaker 1:I would say try these things, be open and adaptable. But again, small portions as you go, even if you don't know what it is. But I think the small portions probably airing a little bit on the salty and crunchy side of things in the aid station, cause we normally don't carry a bag of pretzels with us when we're training Right, Try those and just like, be adaptable.
Speaker 1:be open to that. Don't be so structured and like I'm going to go liquid for 30 hours.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really great skill to hone in on is like the scan and like a great way to think about that is, before you come into the aid station, just kind of do like a little check-in with yourself, like, have I been drinking, have I been eating? What sounds good, what isn't working? That gives you an idea, when you go into the aid station, what you're going to look for. So like wow, I'm just like totally over the sweet stuff, okay, I'm going to look for. So like wow, I'm just like totally over the sweet stuff, okay, I'm going to look for something salty. Then when you go in there, that'll help you scan and just grab a couple of things, like Adam said. Just like, try a little bit, be open to it. Like maybe they don't have your exact thing, but maybe they have something that is like kind of similar and that'll probably do the trick.
Speaker 1:So we mentioned palate fatigue a couple of times. We know it's a thing, but like scientifically, what and how do we mitigate it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when you're taking in a lot of sugar over a long period of time, you do get some like it's basically just getting sick of the sweet flavor. So your taste buds are just getting tired and that's like the start of where digestion happens is in our mouth. And so if that's getting, if that's the first line and it's like done, tired of sweet, your taste buds are like overstimulated from all of the sweet, then it's like, ah, done, tired of sweet, your taste buds are like overstimulated from all of the sweet. Then it's going to be really hard to continue to fuel because that's like the first point of contact.
Speaker 2:And so, to avoid palate fatigue, we kind of mix it up. And that's a good thing to do in your planning is to think about where am I, where am I going to get something different, when can I get something savory or salty, or even just like a different form of sugar, so like a Stroopwafel versus a gel, versus a chew? That's going to be a little bit different, or flavors too. Sometimes that can help avoid palate fatigue. So you alternate like a more like sour, like lemon, lime, and then maybe you go to like a passion fruit or something like that, but it really does help. It sounds silly, but it can. It can extend your fueling um like uh desirability if you will uh over several hours, versus just like vanilla gel, vanilla gel, vanilla gel.
Speaker 1:And then it's like, wow, I can't do any vanilla gels anymore gel, vanilla gel, and then it's like, wow, I can't do any vanilla gels anymore. Yeah, I still can't have um, goo espresso gels. I did some race where it went right. That's all I had for four days in a row, didn't itting, and well, um, so we've been speaking about like a lot of ultra stuff and I want to mention that, like even in road, or or like the three to four hour sort of time period where we're where we're going real fast, some of this can still happen, and maybe more like the four or five hour sort of road race. But somewhere in there you still got to have to figure out probably where to get a feed If you're somewhere between that three and five hour race, and oftentimes that's, that's on the fly. So we're not going to stop, we're not going to have the luxury of doing the scan and having a potato chip or something like that. So when it comes to making a good plan on race day for like a one day road race or something like that, you probably have one or two feeds and, based on some of that experiential knowledge of like I know that my palate goes or I need this at three hours, you got to tell that to your feed person and you have to know how to grab it on the fly and sometimes we just tape it to a bottle. So we grab the bottle, we have that extra gel or whatever the thing is that we need, rip it off, put it in our pockets, put it in our cage and away we go, and that's as simple as it is on the road racing side of things.
Speaker 1:Now, if we're doing stage races, we can get a grab. We can get a feed with the Muse set and stick little paninis in there, or pickle juice Some people love that Anything that you need to feel comfy, put that in the Muse set. Now, if you're not going like full ham and you're like Adam, there's no way I can grab something on the fly. But it's still a stage race format and you still want to go your fastest. Sure, roll up, put a foot down, grab your bag, grab your thing, whatever and then efficiently move out of the feed zone. Don't waste a ton of time there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's. That's a good point of like being efficient, because time can add up real quickly in an age station. I also wouldn't overlook the importance of planning for a short let's three to four hours a shorter race. Who are we, because the intensity is so high, right? So actually thinking about that and knowing like I'm going to be going hard and that's where, in training, like hopefully you've tried different forms, different flavors, et cetera. When you're, when you're doing like high intensity workouts, because it is more polarizing, so when you're going a little bit slower, it's easier to take down something that maybe isn't like the perfect flavor or form, where you're going really hard, it really matters. So I think you know, in that three to four hour race, like yeah, you definitely want to plan that and like know what's going to work and think ahead so that you can like get that gel, like Adam said, and put it in your pocket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think you know we mentioned, uh, pre-race and the kind of the 36 or 24 to 36 hour beforehand, and then, uh, we scratched the surface on like one to two hour before race. That before part is so much more important on the three to four hour sort of high octane sort of thing, because, um, in the way of, because sometimes you might be going so hard, it might be so technical, that you're just going to rely upon energy stored on your body. That's why I say it's super important to top things off and roll into the shorter race ready to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But one thing I'm thinking about. We haven't touched much on this, and I would say there's a good reason for it. But sodium we haven't talked about intakes of sodium at all. So let's take just a couple of minutes and talk about sodium. Do we need it? How much do we need it? How do we know how much we need and when we need more?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we we, we do need sodium because it is part of like, like, I guess, the the absorption of glucose. So a lot of our glucose is being absorbed through an active transporter that's using energy and it's exchanging a glucose for a sodium, and so when we're sweating and we're losing a lot of sodium, that can disrupt that balance of intracellular and extracellular sodium concentrations. That said, it's really easy to overcomplicate it and overthink it, because we know that we do need some sodium. But most sports products have sodium in it, most foods have electrolytes in it Actually all foods do and so if you are just fueling and not taking in purely water, you are getting sodium and electrolytes. And so for most people, if they're not doing like a, let's say, plus 10 hour race it's not super hot out that's probably going to be a good starting place and you don't need to overthink it or like over contrive of like taking salt here or getting, you know, salt tabs or whatever it is. So that's generally the rule of thumb that I start with.
Speaker 2:Now, if somebody is a really salty sweater and how do you know that Well one you could do a sweat sodium test, but that's not realistic for everyone. The best way is like do you finish a ride and have salt lines all over your face? If so, then yes, you're probably a salty sweater. If you don't notice that, then you probably are just like within the normal range. Like I finish a run and my son is like what's on your legs? What are these white things? I'm like, yes, I am a salty sweater, but that said, you know that doesn't mean you need to replace one to one.
Speaker 2:Your sodium losses for performance. If you're a salty sweater, you want some sodium. But look at your products that you're taking in. They most likely have some sodium and we're looking for somewhere between like the 200 to 800 milligram range-ish. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect Someone who's a salty sweater. They're going to be at that higher end. So between 500 to a thousand, somebody who's in the lower or middle range, maybe 200 to 500. But again, I tend to not overthink that because sweat rates vary, sweat sodium rates vary, products you're taking in, vary environmental conditions change this. If you're trying to actually calculate it out, there's going to be so many errors involved. So I just go back to the products, making sure you're getting some and if you know you need a little bit more than yeah Plan to have like a gel that has a higher concentration than another product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a hundred percent, and I think too, you want to again suss this out in training ahead of time, but our messaging on sodium has kind of changed and evolved over time. I think the biggest thing is it's in a lot of these products. Roll the package over and just make sure it's there. Have some general idea of you know is it on the 300 or the 800 milligram side of things and be sure that you're just putting that in. I if you're a salty sweater, you don't need to put it all in that you're putting out. So don't think that it's a one-to-one replace.
Speaker 1:And I would say, based on the research and what I know, high sodium intake during exercise has no applicability to performance Meaning. If I jack myself on sodium during something, it's not Sodium bicarb beforehand has a little bit, but that's on the acidity and buffering side of things. Probably don't need to get there for today. But overall the message on sodium is you don't need to overdo it. If you're taking some of these known products that Stephanie mentioned in our first podcast, it's all good, it's baked into the equation.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, a hundred percent Yep.
Speaker 1:Okay, so a couple more, just like maybe quick questions, quick tips and advice. When things go sideways, when things go wrong, how do we? How do we fix it? So if, if somebody is thinking to this and they're like Hmm, maybe I need to get Stephanie to consult with me, but I've had GI issues in the past, when that happens four hours deep in an eight hour race, how do I fix that? How do I undo it?
Speaker 2:susceptible. Don't stick with your plan of trying to force gels in if they aren't working. So it's time to like pivot and the first thing you want to keep in mind is like don't stop fueling. That's like the RIP You're like, that's like a, just like this downward spiral of like you're, you're bonking, you've got GI upset. You stop fueling. Okay, so it's like pivoting. To like got GI upset, you stop fueling. Okay, so it's like pivoting to like smaller bits of, hopefully, something different.
Speaker 2:So if you're between aid stations and all you have is your sports product, I would just back off on the volume and try to get little bits in. So think of just like nibbling and that can be a gel. You know you could. You don't have to take a full gel, it's a little bit messy, but maybe you take like just a sip of the gel or half of it and that can really help to just not overwhelm your gut when you get into the aid station. Get something different. This is where you do the scan and maybe you spend a little extra time of getting some different products and different products that you're going to take with you. So, um, you know, trying to just like change it up on the fly and going back to what you said earlier, adam, of like, thinking about, like, the situation where like oh yeah, this worked well for me before. Like I had this chocolate pan of chocolate and it was delightful. Like, okay, it may not be delightful, but maybe you're able to get it down.
Speaker 2:So, I think, be adaptable. Don't stop eating. But also, just like, keep the quantity smaller, because that, on an upset stomach, a big bolus of sports drink or sports fuel is not going to feel good. The other thing, if it's, if that's still not helping, I would just back off the intensity just a hair. What that does is, just, it puts less stress in your gut. Some blood flow can return. That can really do magic. And if you're worried about, like you know, losing time, you'll probably make it up later on when you're able to start pushing again. So, just like, back it off just a hair, try to eat or drink a little bit, small sips, and then see if that can turn it around. And I've gone as far as like in aid stations putting Coke in bottles, you know. Like, be that adaptable of like, okay, I'm going to get something in and I might be have to be creative here, but it's much better to get let's say the wrong thing in than nothing in.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yep Agree with that. So how about when?
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, agree with that. So how about when uh eat and drink a little bit, and generally that will help the cramp you can take in sodium if that's like part of the problem of like overstressing the body? So you haven't had any sodium, which would be kind of weird if you were fueling, but maybe you were just taking in water and not enough fuel. So same thing applies of like slow it down, eat and drink a little bit, and that usually will help, at least maybe mitigate the cramping. It might not totally go away, but it should help to mitigate it.
Speaker 1:Okay, maybe final one, when it all changes is uh, I'm doing a long gravel race. Plan is 60 and cloudy, but all of a sudden the clouds go away, the sun comes out and just starts baking down and it's humid, so I'm just sweating a heck of a lot more. What do I do now?
Speaker 2:Okay, you're going to need a little bit more water, so think about that at the aid stations and maybe what you do is make sure you finish your bottles before you get into the aid station and maybe you get a little bit extra there. Also, changing up the type of fuel you're taking in sometimes is important when it's hot, so maybe you go to like more liquids or maybe like more liquid gels versus like things that you can eat or flavor wise, like more of the sweeter flavors tend to be better in the cool weather. Of the sweeter flavors tend to be better in the cool weather and the hotter flavors tend to be better, or, sorry, the salty, sour, less sweet flavors tend to be better in the hotter weather. So you can think about that. And then also just being aware, like if you're sweating a ton, you're losing more sodium, you're losing more just sweat in general, and so trying to replace that, I think if it's a really long race, like, let's say, over six to eight hours, maybe you think about your effort versus pace as well, because that's going to be a bigger stress in your body.
Speaker 2:And then the last thing is and this isn't really nutrition related, but keeping your body cool. And then the last thing is and this isn't really nutrition related, but keeping your body cool. So if you can get ice on your body, yeah, or just dump water, that's actually going to help your gut too, and it's going to help keep your core temperature down. And when your core temperature is happy, your body and brain and muscles are happy as well. So that's like probably the number one thing to do.
Speaker 1:Yep, and in that way of planning anytime that heat does happen, I mean, the number one thing is try to stay cool as much as possible Ice socks, ice dousing with water and just make sure that you're changing your plans so that you have enough water to where you can still stay hydrated and you're not dousing yourself with your potable drinking water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't want to dump your drinkable water on yourself.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly. Well, this has been awesome, stephanie. I think we'll leave it there for today, because that gives a lot of people the tools to develop their race day planning a lot more. But if they have any specific questions or if they're like man, um race day planning a lot more. But if they have any specific questions or if they're like man, stephanie seems to know everything. How do I, how do they get in touch with you to book a consult or or listen to you more or read more of your articles? How do people connect with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, my email is as how it train rightcom, and I'm actually taking on a few new nutrition athletes right now over the next month or two, so this is a great time to get in touch. Otherwise, I'm fairly active on Instagram Stephanie Marie how. My website is Stephanie Marie howcom. Been on some various podcasts, I think, just like kind of a splattering over, mostly in the ultra running space, but also just some for endurance athletes. Um, generally, my name is in the title, so if you look that up, um, you'll probably find some things. Uh, but, yeah, I, I'm really happy to talk through nutrition. I kind of geek out on this of like the science, but then the application part. I think it's really cool to blend the two, so I'd love to talk more.
Speaker 1:Couldn't agree more Well. Well, folks, if you're looking for a certified nutrition coach, uh, now's the time, and we will link to your email, stephanie, as well as websites and how to book a consult in our show notes, as well as any applicable podcasts to follow up with. So, stephanie, thank you so much again for joining us and sharing your knowledge with our audience. I think everyone's going to get a lot out of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having me. It's great to chat with you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us on the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. If you want even more actual training advice, head over to trainrightcom backslash newsletter and subscribe to our free weekly publication. Each week you'll get in-depth training content that goes beyond what we cover here on the podcast. That'll help you take your training to the next level. That's all for now. Until next time, train hard, train smart, train right.
