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7 Race-Day Fuel Plans From Real-Life Healthy Athletes


How about that featured photo for the article – a throwback to racing with some of my athletes at the Desert Triathlon back in 2011!

Sports nutrition isn’t just the “fourth discipline” (as triathletes will put it), it is the top-priority discipline! I work closely with my endurance athletes on developing and individualizing their race nutrition plans based on their unique needs, and having them practice these fueling plans in training and during race simulation workouts, making tweaks as needed so there are zero questions come race day. All my athletes pride themselves on keeping their health in check, and while they love to perform well and go fast, they refuse to go down that rabbit hole into being an unhealthy athlete chronically fueled by crap.

Below are race fuel plans from four of my athletes that I coach, laid out in their own words. You can see for yourself just how custom each plan is to the athlete. I also dug up some of my old race nutrition plans for marathons and half-Ironman triathlons, and you can see how I evolved over the years, going from gels and Skratch to UCAN as I got healthier. Although, one product I’ve always stuck with and recommend for all my athletes is PerfectAmino.

Perhaps these templates can serve as inspiration for you to think about your own race-day fueling strategy, get ideas that are outside the box, experiment with different fuels, and find what works best for you. I am happy to answer questions in the comments or on our facebook group page.

Han, 39, Triathlete & Runner

Han is a dedicated father and husband who lives in Indonesia. He is a business owner with demanding hours and a farmer who’s passionate about providing fresh, clean produce to his community (he saw a need and did something about it; how cool is that?!). Despite his best efforts, Han first came to me with signs of metabolic syndrome and was having a hard time building his aerobic fitness and fat-burning. We’ve done immense work on his diet, even spending some time in ketosis, to get him to where he’s at now: faster and burning fat for fuel. He mostly enjoys 70.3 and marathon racing, and he loves to eat pate before and/or during workouts. The following is his 70.3 fuel plan:

Pre-Race Breakfast

Two hours before start:

  • Pâté
  • Purple sweet potato with 1/4 stick butter and heavy dash of salt
  • Coffee with 1/4 stick butter and 1 tbsp MCT

Pre-Race Snack

T1

  • Water

Bike

  • 1 hour into ride, 1 UCAN bar
  • 1 bottle water per hour
  • 2 hours into ride, 10 Perfect Amino tablets
  • Saltstick every 30 minutes

T2

Run, up to 10k

  • 1 small cup water every aid station

Run, after 10k

  • 1 small cup half-half water and sports drink

***

Sam, 24, Ironman & Runner

Short for Samantha, Sam is grad student and English instructor at UCLA, and she’s a spitting image of me in my 20s (well, that is, until she started working with me and we fixed the red flags). She came to me so that I could “save her” from the dangerous path she was going down with very high-intensity training, underfueling and being on the verge of an eating disorder, all resulting in hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA). We’re still working on regulating her periods and in the meantime she eats like a beast now (woot!), has food freedom, a healthier body image, and trains smarter (not harder) for 70.3s and Ironman. The following plan is for Ironman:

Pre-Race Breakfast 

Three hours before start; about 550 calories total:

Sam’s UCAN porridge recipe:

Pre-Race Snack

  • 30 min before start: Primal Kitchen Collagen Bar (180 calories)

T1

  • Epic Bison Cranberry Bar (140 calories)

“I know this one seems weird but I need something strong flavored to get the weird water taste out of my mouth and the sugar from the cranberries (7 grams) gives a little carb with this protein.”

During Bike

Every hour (approx. 400 calories an hour):

  • 1 UCAN bar cut into pieces
  • 1 homemade bar – equivalent of BonkBreaker almond honey bar
  • 20-28 (depending on heat/sun) oz of water w/ 1 tsp maple syrup and 1/8 tsp salt per bottle (20 fl oz bottle)

T2

  • Big spoonful of Nutiva Hazelnut spread (100 calories ish?)

“This is my reward for surviving the bike and gives me a kick of joy to start running.”

During Run

  • Coffee-covered banana bites, one every 15 minutes or so that I carry (about 120 calories/hour)
  • Water, Red Bull Coke and pretzels at aid stations. “We’re not talking sit down meal here, just sips and nibbles, buffet-style!”

***

Ryan, 41, Triathlete, Runner & Olympic Lifter

Ryan is a vegan athlete who’s found his “sweet spot” in sport. When we first started working together, he was a “junk food” vegan, and I quickly helped him change his eating habits. Now he’s more like paleo-vegan and eats very clean (ladies, he cooks too). Vegan works for him (we’ve tested and confirmed), and he’s increasingly competitive in 70.3s, short-distance triathlon, running (5ks to marathon) and cyclocross. If that’s not enough, he also competes in Olympic lifting and is ranked top in his state (folks, this is no easy feat to juggle elite endurance + strength competitions). Ryan was once horrible at remembering to fuel and hydrate well while training and racing, and we’ve improved that. In his most recent 70.3 he PR’d on the 13.1-mile run alone by 11 minutes.

Dinner The Night Before

  • 2 open-faced sandwiches using sourdough bread, avocado, spinach, tomatoes and also drinking lots of water. “I try to keep it simple.”

Pre-Race Breakfast 

  • A cup of pour-over coffee
  • Glass of water
  • Vegan “porridge”
  • 10 PerfectAmino

Ryans’ porridge recipe:

  • Vega sport protein powder
  • Quinoa flakes (cooked)
  • Hemp milk
  • Cinnamon

Pre-Race Snack

  • Just water

During Bike

  • 2 full ProBars
  • 1 Kind bar
  • 2 x 24 oz water + UCAN + electrolyte
  • 1 x 16 oz water (refill at water stops)

During Run

  • 3 Glukos tablets

“I kept a tablet in my cheek and just let it slowly dissolve. Probably don’t need 3 but they seemed to keep me mentally entertained and kept my mouth from feeling dry.”

***

Phil, 39, Marathoner & Triathlete

Phil is a sub-3 marathoner who lives in Bahrain, which makes training tough due to the extreme heat. He’s one of the most fat-adapted guys I know, which has helped him overcome some health issues like asthma flares. He dabbled in triathlon and 70.3s for a season with me, but his bread and butter is fast running. He’s also a new father and is on a break, planning a comeback once his little girl is a few months older.

Dinner The Night Before

  • Salmon with sweet potato

Pre-Race Breakfast

  • Banana with chia seeds

Pre-Race Snack

  • Energy drink 30 minutes before the race

During Race

  • 10 dates in total, 1 every 3 miles or so

“I live in Bahrain where dates are plentiful and a perfect natural food source! I didn’t use energy gels or bars as I had bad experiences with them in other races.”

Other regular meals while training and taper:

  • Breakfasts – 3 eggs with butter, macadamia and pecan nuts; or a spinach and kale smoothie with coconut milk, flax/chia seeds and berries
  • Lunch – Big salad with either beetroot or avocado
  • Dinner – Serving of meat or fish with green vegetable. Sweet potatoes on big days
  • Dessert – Berries with cream and small portion of dark chocolate
  • “I don’t snack much during training but when I did, I ate nuts or carrots.  I avoided grains and processed carbs completely. Despite running close to 100 miles a week on some weeks, my weight dropped off only gradually and I had to be careful not to either under or over-eat.”
  • “During the taper, I reduced calories a little to preserve weight but kept the same diet. Five days out I reduced carbs a little more and 3 days out I increased the carbs a lot (all clean).”

***

Tawnee’s Tri & Marathon Race Fuel Plans

It’s been a while since I thought about race fueling, but I thought I’d share some of my past race nutrition plans based on the race and what I was into at the time:

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My traditional go-to pre-race dinner.

 

Boston Marathon 2016

Dinner The Night Before

  • Sweet potato mash, chicken thighs and broccoli with olive oil, butter and coconut oil as cooking fats

Pre-Race Breakfast

During Race

  • 16oz handheld bottle with 2 Jr. Vespas and a couple scoops UCAN
  • Water at aid stations
  • Paleo lemon macaroons in a zip lock bag

“I was not racing this race, I was just participating, so I was not too concerned with fueling given my purely aerobic effort and high fat-burning rate. The UCAN/vespa mixture was a concentrate that I mostly sipped at aid stations so I could chase it with water. I’d be cautious with thick concentrates if you’re not used to them as they can disrupt the gut just as gels do for being too high osmolality. I’ve trained with this style of fueling and it works as long as I have adequate water to dilute. The macaroons were just delicious to munch on; yes it was that kind of day.”

 

M2B Marathon 2015 (BQ)

Pre-Race Breakfast

Pre-Race Snack

  • Bottle of UCAN to sip

During Race

  • 16 oz handheld with 2 scoops UCAN and 2 Tbs. honey
  • 2 Jr. Vespas
  • Emergency chia gel if needed (had in final 10k)
  • Water at stations and with UCAN/honey solution to dilute

 

70.3 Ironman (as of 2013)

Dinner The Night Before

  • Soaked and cooked quinoa
  • Sweet potato
  • Chicken thighs
  • Small veggie side or side salad
  • Optional: small glass of red wine

Pre-Race Breakfast

  • Oatmeal & sweet potato mash with chia seeds, salt, cinnamon and almond milk (no sweetener)
  • Optional: 2 eggs or protein powder mixed in (sometimes the protein was too much for my nerves)
  • 5 PerfectAmino

“This was a tried and trusted pre-race brekkie that certainly still worked for fat-adaptation when you’re talking about 5 hours of racing. I also sort of went by the ‘train low race’ high approach in my later years of triathlon and that worked well for racing but I probably trained too low too often, oops.”

Pre-Race Snack

  • 5 PerfectAmino
  • Sometimes I’d have a banana, sometimes nothing
  • Always lots of water with a light electrolyte like Skratch hydration (lower sugar)

T1

During Bike

  • 2 Bonk Breakers – cut into pieces in a baggie; Apple pie was always my jam
  • 2 bottles with Skratch labs (this was before my UCAN days) – 1 serving per bottle
  • 1 bottle plain water
  • 2-3 Emergency gels & 1 bar in case I lost fuel or needed more

T2

During Run

  • 1 throwaway bottle with 1 serving Skratch – I would buy sport-top bottles from the store and pre-mix the morning of the race. It’s be waiting in T2, and I’d carry it for about 6-7 miles or until it was empty then toss it.
  • 2 Powerbar gels – Yes, gels. I actually liked the strawberry banana flavor, and as I said with UCAN, I trained my gut to handle small sips of this concentrated solution and it worked as long as I took in lots of water via my bottle or at aid stations. I’m not saying it’s the best or healthiest choice, but when you’re trying to race fast and carry fuel on the run, these can work.
  • Optional: Occasionally I’d go to aid station fare if I needed more, usually orange slices or Coke.

Here’s an old, more-detailed blog post I wrote on my 70.3 fuel plan back in 2013, sharing what led me to a proud podium and course PR (5:07) at Oceanside 70.3.

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What About You?

What’s your fueling plan? Share with the LPC crew!