Race Day Nutrition for Endurance Athletes Ep 92

Join Coach Chris Newport, lead performance nutritionist at The Endurance Edge, who discusses how race day nutrition for endurance events lasting over two hours isn’t one-size-fits-all. It takes a personalized, well-rehearsed plan that accounts for your unique physiology, the demands of your race, and the realities of fueling on the go. When done right, it can be the difference between crushing your goals and crawling to the finish.

Tune in to learn:

• Why sticking to a single carbohydrate source might limit your performance—and how mixing the right types can unlock up to 90g/hour of energy.
• When your fueling strategy can fall apart if your gut isn’t ready—and how to “train your gut” like you train your legs.
• How hydration needs shift with heat, intensity, and even your outfit—and why copying someone else's strategy could backfire.
• What sweat testing reveals about your personal fluid and electrolyte losses—and how this data helps you fuel smarter, not harder.
• How to top off your energy stores before the race without risking gut issues—and which common mistakes to avoid.
• Why race-day nerves might sabotage digestion—and how to keep your gut in the game when stress levels rise.
• What to do when things don’t go as planned—because having a Plan B (and C) can save your race.

Want to perform your best at your next endurance event? Get on the priority list for our Fueling and Hydration Bootcamp starting in May, where we'll create personalized nutrition plans based on your unique needs. Head to theenduranceedge.com/fuelingbootcamp to get on the priority list and we hope to see you there!

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Transcript

Speaker 1 1:31

Hey y'all and welcome back to the find your edge podcast. I am your host, coach, chris Newport. I am so excited that you are here. Today's topic is all about race day nutrition for endurance sports lasting longer than two hours and maybe even we could say longer than three hours. And the reason why is, of course, all of the races are coming around and it's exciting that it is race season. So I want to make sure that you are confident and well-practiced going into race day so that you can feel good about your event, you can feel good about your training. And so here we are.

Speaker 1 2:13

So common things that happen to athletes, so endurance events longer than two or three hours. So we're talking marathon, half Ironman, maybe Olympic distance triathlon, depending on your ability, and certainly Ironman and beyond. Of course, there's the dreaded bunk. Check out our podcast from last week talking all about glycogen. But certainly there's GI issues. We've got upper and lower GI issues. Upper GI issues could be nausea, vomiting, burping. Lower GI issues, certainly things like diarrhea or like gut cramping, but common things that we don't necessarily think about. Overhydration is actually a big one. You definitely don't want to gain weight when you're exercising. Certainly, over or under fueling that can be an issue, but oftentimes these issues come from a lack of an actual tested plan. Some of it also comes from a lack of your specific personalized body, like your genetics, your, how much you sweat, et cetera. So we're going to get into some of those pieces, and certainly all of this is in our fueling and hydration bootcamp that starts in May. So if you want to get on the priority list, we'd love to have you in there so that you and I can work together to actually create this personalized plan. So head over to the endurancehedgecom forward slash fueling bootcamp.

Carbohydrate Absorption Basics

Speaker 1 3:42

So, first up, I want to emphasize that there are differences in what happens in the laboratory and what actually is your real world race day scenario. So in the lab, for example, there're oftentimes will study cyclists and they'll stick them on the bike for, say, two hours at 60% of their VO2 max and just cruise them along, and they'll have different groups. One might be a placebo, one might be a glucose only solution and one might be a glucose fructose solution. These aren't necessarily products that you can get on the market Some of them might be, but oftentimes they're not and then they'll do some sort of say like a 40K time trial of an all out effort and see who performed better based on what they were ingesting. That's one way that they can test things like osmolity or different carbohydrate sources or different transporters and seeing how is the body able to use the energy that you put into your body for exercise. But then we have actual race day scenarios. So you're likely not going to be fed something specifically by you know laboratory personnel in a room. You're having an actual race day scenario, right, you're out on the road or in the dirt or wherever your race scenario might be, and you might be leaning more on what products the race actually provides or carrying things that you know work best for you, and you're likely mixing things too.

Speaker 1 5:21

So, say, you have a gel and a bar and a sports drink. I'm not saying any of that is necessarily wrong. Just know that you are unique and that's why it's important to definitely get some practice, all right. So I wanna get into some carbohydrate absorption basics, if you haven't heard me talk already. Just want you to know that carbs are key. I mean, at the end of the day, that is what helps you go faster. It was what helps you be less fatigued and feel better in a race day scenario. It's also what helps that continual process of going from your consumption to actually deliver to working muscles. So what is some of the important things is that carbs are important for delivery to working muscles, but more carbs doesn't necessarily mean it's better.

Speaker 1 6:18

This is kind of an interesting, tricky one. So when we look at exercise, certainly in terms of, say, like a two-hour event so let's say we're doing a longer sprint, triathlon or say half marathon you can consume anywhere from, let's say, 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour. You got a lot of glycogen on board. You're likely not going to run out of energy unless you're on some sort of specific diet that limits your carbs, which would limit your glycogen storage. But then as we get into these longer events that are two, three plus hours now we're looking at potentially running out of glycogen. Now we need those carbohydrates. So now we're looking at can we do 60 grams of carbs per hour?

Speaker 1 7:06

The reason why that's kind of a magical number is because over and over in the lab we have found that that is the optimal, or your body's ability to oxidize carbohydrates. So in other words, when you consume a carbohydrate from a gel, from a banana, from a sports drink, then it has to make its way from your mouth to your stomach, gets all mixed up and then sends it to your small intestines. Now we have to rely on our gut, on our small intestines, to make that absorption or oxidation process actually happen so that it goes to the bloodstream and thereby to working. We have found that that limit is about 60 grams of carbs per hour. But when you use multiple type of carbohydrates so specifically adding in fructose, you will be able to take in more fuel. So in other words, you're sort of saturating the transporters that are letting glucose into the bloodstream and then be able to send them to working muscles. If you add fructose, you're using a different transporter so it can get across the gut a little bit better. So right now, where we're at in the literature is maybe it's a one-to-one glucose to fructose blend, and this can look a lot of different ways because glucose is also in a product called dextrose. That's what you'll also get in an IV.

Speaker 1 8:43

Fructose is isolated from fruit and it is what oftentimes makes things sweet. So you have to be prepared for that. And there are again slow and fast carbohydrates, similar. So fructose is slow, glucose is fast. So that's kind of one of those things. Okay, what is our strategy for being able to consume more carbohydrates and thereby consume more? What is our strategy for consuming more carbohydrates in order to be able to deliver more energy to working muscles and be less fatigued and perform better, right?

Gut Training and Adaptation

Speaker 1 9:21

So if you are doing anything less than two hours, you really don't have to push that number at all. It's kind of pointless, right? You got enough. You've got enough glycogen on board. If you want to, you certainly can. But if you're going to go over 60 grams which I definitely recommend starting to play with if you're doing anything three plus hours long, so this is where it gets you got to start planning. This is where you got to start getting into different products, making sure that it actually feels good for you. So, similarly, I know so many people complain about having GI distress. This one-to-one blend actually in the lab resulted in not only improved performance, but actually people complained less about GI stress. Kind of interesting how that works.

Speaker 1 10:08

Anyhow, if you may not want to go the sports drink route, that is okay. We actually in the lab have found and I've also found it in my practice some people find it easier to do some sort of fluid, say water, and then add something like a gel or a bar, so long as the bars and gels are low in fiber, fat and protein, which are things that slow gastric emptying, which means that your stomach cannot empty into your small intestines as quickly, which is where the magic happens. That's where you take all that nutrition and hydration to and send it to working muscles. All right, so both actually work. So if you have a particular gel that you have an affinity for, fantastic. Same thing with bars. You definitely need to try these things out. They don't necessarily have to be anything that's expensive or fancy, but certainly you can try various different things. Oh my gosh, there's so many different bars on the market.

Speaker 1 11:14

Here's the long and the short of it. Your gut is so adaptable and you really need to train it, just like you train your muscles. So if you're going out and doing these long three, four or five hour or whatever it is endurance events in training, make sure that you have your planned fueling and hydration with you so that you can practice and adapt your gut to your trained muscles and thereby race day nutrition is just going to be that much easier. I do want to mention something about drinking to thirst, because a lot of people are like, oh, if you're thirsty, go ahead and drink, or if you're hungry, go ahead and eat. Certainly, I want to make sure that you are listening to your body and honoring its needs, for sure. But if we go in as that being our only strategy, that's basically going in without a plan and you're likely going to fall behind and not perform your best. You're likely going to be the one who gets dehydrated faster or you're going to bonk faster.

Hydration and Sweat Rate Factors

Speaker 1 12:26

So it is ideal if you have a race plan and strategy that you have practiced, not that you've just written down on paper and are thinking, oh yeah, this looks like a really nice plan on paper, but then you don't actually execute it or try to execute on a race day. We need to switch that. So writing it all out and then actually practicing it multiple times if possible, I like for people to make sure that their race day nutrition strategy is dialed in no later than four to six weeks prior to your race. If you're still tweaking things two weeks, three weeks prior, we might be having a little bit of a tougher time. Certainly, your periodization of your nutrition should align with the periodization of your training plan. So if you're in the off season and you're training your race nutrition probably not the ideal time to do that, but certainly, as your intensity and as your volume of training is ramping up, that's where your race day nutrition needs to come into play.

Speaker 1 13:33

So if you're doing anything, if you're planning on doing a race over three hours and you have workouts that are over two or three hours, that's the time that you want to be doing them. So that's where you can start to take notes, see how things tasted. Maybe you didn't like a particular product. This is what we do in the fueling and hydration bootcamp is help you to track those things, determine your actual losses, lean into the things that feel good and taste good to you and then start working through logistics and actually writing out that plan, starting to practice it and then getting feedback through our live calls. So again, that's the enduranceuranceedgecom forward slash fueling bootcamp if you wanna get on the priority list so that you can dial this in.

Speaker 1 14:19

So, speaking of things that influence your plan, I kind of mentioned them a little bit. Hydration needs change, and this is one of the things that we do with our sweat testing. Hydration needs change with heat, with humidity, and we, we very clearly say, and we have it in a fueling calculator that we show you, that you are welcome to use and it belongs to you, so that as you log your history, both heat, humidity and we give you a tool to do that, it's super easy and your time and your intensity then you can determine your sweat losses because, remember, your sweat losses will change with increasing intensity and increasing dew point. Wind can also be a factor. We had one guy who was working out in his garage and again, this is very similar when you're looking at a laboratory setting he was sweating gobs on the bike and then we encouraged him to use a fan to stimulate race day conditions with wind and his sweat rate went down Easy peasy, right. So there are some things that we can certainly manipulate.

Speaker 1 15:32

Clothing is another one, right? So there are some things that we can certainly manipulate. Clothing is another one making sure that you have clothing that is going to deflect If you are going to be in the sun quite a bit, that is not going to absorb as much heat. So, like white things, things that are very breathable, certainly not doing anything. Cotton and genetics that's one of my favorites because I get people who come into sweat testing all the time and they just say, oh my gosh, I just sweat so much and I'm covered in these salty crystals and my friends that I run with are just, you know, barely breaking a sweat and I'm just like my shoes are squishy. I hear you. I hear you and guess what? You are unique. That is one of those things that not only your sweat content that you lose is unique to you, but how much you actually lose in fluid volume is unique. But again, that's easy to work with. We just have a really simple log that measures not only your, again, your time intensity, the mode of exercise that you're doing. So running versus cycling is going to be a little bit different. Even swim is an interesting one, especially depending on whether you have a wetsuit on and the temperature of the water. You would be surprised that you lose a little bit, maybe not quite as much as you would, certainly biking or running, but those are things that we get those answers for, which is kind of cool.

Speaker 1 16:59

So, also thinking about we just talked about hydration needs. Now thinking about carb needs. Carb needs certainly depend on, and I think of them separately. So with a sports drink, I totally get that. It's so super convenient to have fluid, electrolytes and carbs all in this one beautiful package and that may actually work really well for you. There may also need to be some level of manipulation so that you get everything in the right amounts into a bottle, say, for example, so you may start with the basis of a predetermined type of drink, like a scratch or a Gatorade Endurance or a Tailwind. We don't have any affiliations with those products.

Speaker 1 17:43

At the end of the day, we want you to make sure that you are getting the product that works best for you. I don't care what you use, as long as you are using it in a strategic way, determined by your event, by your intensity, by your goal, by your sweat losses and your carb needs, so that we can put all those pieces together so that you can perform your best. That's what I want to see out of you, and I know you can do it, which is why we did this bootcamp. It's so fun. So those carb needs depend on the duration of the exercise. Remember really anything less than two hours.

Building Your Race Day Plan

Speaker 1 18:20

You shouldn't need to have more than 60 grams of carbs and another little pro tip there, because you're not going over 60 grams of carbs. You can only. You can get that from one type of carb. You can get that just from. If you want to go the more natural route, say dates, for example, you can get that just from your favorite type of gel, which oftentimes gels do have two different types of carbs, not always just depends on the product. Or you can go with a specific sports drink if you like that. So if you are not saturating those glucose transporters, which happens at about the 60 grams of carbs per hour mark, then just one type of carb can work and whatever makes you happy in terms of your flavor of your gel, bar, sports drink, natural food, whatever that personal preference and tolerance is. And then also, knowing your history of gastrointestinal issues, if you have any history I have some people who come to me and they're like, ah, my gut is made of steel. And then I have other folks to come to us and say, oof, even thinking about a gel makes me want to go to the Port-au-Jean. So, everybody's different, it's totally fine, I get that.

Speaker 1 19:39

So we put all those pieces together of what are the things that are going to affect your hydration and electrolyte needs the heat, humidity, the wind, clothing, your genetics, your intensity, and then what's going to affect your carbohydrate needs, the duration of exercise, the intensity of exercise, your GI history, your personal preferences, your personal tolerance. So then we start to put those pieces together and actually write it out into a plan that is based on the timing of how often you should consume it. So what we try to work through is okay, here are the products that we need and some of those products. Just to be clear, right now we have over 140 different things in our fueling calculator and some of those are everything from natural products to engineered products. So everything from Gatorade to cola, to applesauce, to dates, to raisins, bananas, pretzels, tailwind precision hydration. We put it all in there and then you can pick, based again on your personal preferences and what your event is and what your intensity is going to be. You put in the total things by this little dropdown menu and it does all the calculations for be. You put in the total things by this little drop down menu and it does all the calculations for you it's super cool of what you're going to need for the total event. Then we make our way over to separating it out by when you're going to actually consume it. So, having this timing calculator, if you will, so that you know how often you need to consume something, the long and the short of that is what they'll do, at least in the literature.

Speaker 1 21:20

There was an interesting research study that I just saw relating to gastric emptying. So again, that's how quickly your stomach empties to deliver that energy to your small intestines and thereby to the blood and then to working muscles. They used ultrasound to determine okay, somebody drank something. And then they see how much is actually in the stomach. And then 15 minutes later they'll do it again and see, okay, how much actually did your stomach empty to start to deliver to working muscles. So kind of cool how they did that study. But you can very clearly see that when you are consistent with your fueling, you will consistently empty your stomach and then you will consistently give energy to your small intestines, thereby to your blood and then to working muscles. See how this process works. So where most people are going wrong with that strategy of digestion, certainly during exercise, is that they're not fueling frequently enough. You know they're like oh well, it's. You know it says to take my gel once every 45 minutes, and then they're not taking every anything else any other time. So things slow in your stomach to actually get to working muscles.

Pre-Race Strategy and Glycogen Loading

Speaker 1 22:36

So we want to make sure we've got that nice, consistent timing and then figuring out are you going to do something pre race and what's that strategy during? So just to dial in some of these key strategies that we're talking about right now, let's first make sure you know your sweat rate. That's really important. You're going to have some consistency, more than likely across different seasons, so you're going to have a pretty consistent sweat rate in the fall or winter and then a relatively consistent sweat rate in the summer. Right now in North Carolina it is starting to get hot, and this is right about the time when I start hearing athletes start to complain about oh my gosh, that was so much harder. Yes, now we need to heat, acclimatize, we need to start getting used to being a little hotter. That does take some time, but knowing your sweat rate is a really important part of this process so that you know, of course, how much hydration and electrolytes you need. To get the electrolytes part. We do that by sweat testing, because that is so vastly different person to person.

Speaker 1 23:44

The other tip we want to think about is topping off your glycogen before the race. I know I haven't talked a whole lot about this, but this is important, not just fueling and hydrating during your race, but actually a little bit beforehand. So some of the messaging and we have this in our runners uh fueling and hydration cheat sheet that you can get for free on our website there's actually quite a few. We've compiled them all in one place. You can go to the enduranceedgecom forward slash freebies it's under our resources if you're on our regular home page and then you'll see the freebies page. That's where we have all of our different freebies our hydration guide, our runner's fueling and hydration cheat sheets, a bunch of different stuff on there, some recipes and whatnot. So anyway, you can go there, check that out. But the typical messaging is three to four hours beforehand You're having more like a meal and then one to two hours beforehand you're having maybe more like a snack.

Speaker 1 24:39

All of that strategy is tied into topping off your glycogen stores. It doesn't mean that that's how you have to do it. As long as you have been well fueled with good quality carbohydrates, good protein, in the days leading up to your race, similar to what you would do leading up to a heavy training day, then you should be good. It's not just about like stuffing your face full of pasta the night before. As long as you have practiced that, if that's your strategy, that's fine. But certainly glycogen does take a little bit of time to restore. So even two days prior is a nice time to make sure. Am I getting these good quality carbs in my diet so that I don't have to wake up at two o'clock in the morning to have a meal? I have heard of people doing that and then they go back to bed Like just just stay asleep. It's just so much better for your metabolism and it's just better for you to get continuous sleep so that you can perform best on race day.

Speaker 1 25:36

But oftentimes, especially for folks who don't like to eat right before race day the mental training part is huge as it relates to this too, because your nervous system is very connected to your GI tract and if you are overly stressed which is oftentimes the case going into a race day, your gut is going to respond, and oftentimes it responds by needing to run to the port-a-john quite a few times or it responds by oftentimes being really constipated. So making sure that you're testing out your strategies, you're also doing mental performance training. That's really important to do that with the sports psychology, so that you can feel really good and actually take in that nutrition and not be over adrenaline. If you will I think I just made up a word You're welcome Prior to race day. So, anyway, my point of that is topping off your glycogen before race day.

Key Takeaways and Bootcamp Info

Speaker 1 26:29

If you don't have a large meal before your race, that's okay. If you just have something right before you start and then you have a really great strategy during your race for fueling and hydrating. Don't worry about it. So many athletes I find just will stuff themselves with a ton of stuff before race and then they're just feeling kind of, oh now. That being said, this should be tested in training, just like you test your feeling and hydration strategy. That's part of it is what you have beforehand and just as much part of it as you do during. Right, so practice, practice, practice. What you're going to have pre-race, practice what you're going to do during. Know that sweat rate, know your carb needs, know what products work or do not work for you, and then, if you can, have a little bit of a backup plan in case things go sideways, so you never know what's going to happen. Maybe you'll lose a water bottle. What are some backup things that you can have ready for you?

Speaker 1 27:32

So, quick takeaways more carbs are better up to a certain point up to about 60 grams of carbs and then you're going to have to have multiple sources of carbohydrates. Over 60 grams of carbs. What we're finding a nice happy place is somewhere, maybe around 90 grams of carbs. You can basically're finding a nice happy place is somewhere maybe around 90 grams of carbs. You can basically push that up to your personal tolerance. Carb blends again just kind of what I was telling you over 60 grams of carbs help with better absorption and hydration. Make sure you have a tested plan and make sure you are training your gut while you are training your muscles and body All right, so hopefully that is helpful for you as we head into race season for your running, cycling or triathlon event.

Speaker 1 28:18

I wish you all the best of luck and also would love to see you over in our fueling and hydration bootcamp to help you put all this together and actually pick out, based on your electrolyte losses, based on and actually pick out based on your electrolyte losses, based on your sweat needs, based on your carb needs and event and intensity that you're going to be going out, we together will put together a fueling and hydration plan for you.

Speaker 1 28:39

I have like due dates for all of this and making sure that you guys are actually submitting your stuff, so you're committing to actually practicing this, doing it. We do live calls, we've got modules, we've got worksheets, we've got all kinds of good stuff in addition to the sweat testing and you also get some bonuses. So if you head to the enduranceedgecom forward slash fueling bootcamp that is, the enduranceedgecom forward slash fueling bootcamp you can get on the priority list. The doors will only open for a few days in the end of May, so I do not want you guys to miss out on this so that you can have an amazing, solid race day nutrition for all of the different events. We've got worksheets for every different event so that you can rock and roll. I believe in you. You're amazing. Good luck and catch you next time.