{"id":165894,"date":"2018-07-10T06:06:30","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T06:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=165894"},"modified":"2018-07-10T06:06:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T06:06:30","slug":"race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s great! You will have a very solid foundation. But if you want to go fast while racing, you\u2019ll benefit from some external sugar too. Let\u2019s look at how to set up a good race day nutrition strategy.<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

The point of fuelling on the bike while racing is to maintain carbohydrate supply to the muscle and reduce reliance on stored liver and muscle glycogen. Carbs also have a direct effect on the central nervous system and reduce the perceived effort during exercise. Now the question is when and how many carbs you should take in.<\/p>\n

Eat on a schedule<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s one thing you should know about fuelling on the bike \u2013 once you get hungry, you can never eat enough to catch up, not even with the best energy gels on the market. That\u2019s why it\u2019s essential to start fuelling about 20-30 minutes after the race starts and then continue fuelling on a schedule. Never wait till you get hungry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Marcel Kittel of Quick-Step Floors eating a banana before the start of the sixteenth stage of the 104th edition of the Tour de France.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It helps to have a trigger that reminds you to eat. You can set an alarm on your phone every hour or think about eating at every town sign or landmark. Don\u2019t rely just on your memory, when the going gets tough and fatigue settles in, it\u2019s easy to forget. There\u2019s one exception, for races around 60 minutes and shorter, you won\u2019t need any external fuel.<\/p>\n

Aim for 60 g of carbs per hour<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When it comes to quantity, most people need something between 0,5-1 g of carbs per 1 kg of body weight per hour to perform at race pace. But keep in mind that the average athlete can safely digest only around 60 g of carbs per hour. Anything over that and digestive issues are almost certain. You might be able to get in up to 90 g per hour with a multi-source energy gel. There will be more info on how to buy gels in the following articles, but as a general rule, make sure to look at the labels of all your bars and gels and don\u2019t forget to calculate the carbs in your drinks to avoid digestive issues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hydrate correctly<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hydration is a huge part of a race day nutrition. You should drink between 500 to 1000 ml of fluid per hour of riding to stay at peak performance. Just like with eating, you should start drinking about 30 minutes into the race. Make sure that you also get some electrolytes and carbs in your water bottle as they can accelerate rehydration and keep your body working even when you sweat a lot. There are several types of drinks to choose from, and we will take a look at those in the following articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":165896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[332],"tags":[747,2087],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-165894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-training","tag-eat-to-ride","tag-race-day-nutrition"],"yoast_head":"\nRace Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-10T06:06:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jiri Kaloc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/\",\"name\":\"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-10T06:06:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right","og_description":"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2018-07-10T06:06:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jiri Kaloc","Est. reading time":"4"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/","name":"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp","datePublished":"2018-07-10T06:06:30+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"Did you start eating healthily to perform better on the bike? Did you go low-carb in the off-season to improve your ability to burn fat for energy? That\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0313162423-1.webp","width":900,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/10\/race-day-nutrition-how-to-do-it-right\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Race Day Nutrition \u2013 How to Do It Right"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165894"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165898,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165894\/revisions\/165898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165894"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=165894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}