This is making shift happen, and I'm your
host Jen Katz.
Over the years, I've coached hundreds of clients.
Find their ideal self through the way they
nourish their bodies and minds. And now I'm
here to help pass on these same strategies
to you. To so let's stop the madness
and get your results once and for all.
Let's go.
Fan, welcome to another episode of making shifts
happen.
You know it's just gonna be a thing,
I think, these next few weeks with my
voice.
Being just a little bit more broadly.
Because what I've discovered is
in my training for Lead and associated races
and events and things like that.
The high elevation mixed with just breathing heavy
and my vocal cord dysfunction is just the
perfect cocktail for and my 1 900 voice.
So I appreciate all of you for
sticking with me here. Hopefully, my voice isn't
too bad
I have had to, like, extend it a
little bit in terms of, you know, timing
for recording.
So I also appreciate your time.
Be in in imp
with my release of every. Episode I'm debating
on starting to to drop these on Thursday
honestly with everything.
And and usually, by Thursday, my voice is
pretty good.
But then, of course, Thursday, I usually coach
in person. So I'm I'm talking a lot.
But we'll just see. We're just gonna see
what these next few weeks hold.
You know, you just have to kind of
be fluent and roll with it. Right? Friends.
Alright. So today's topic,
we're gonna be talking about how to fuel
effectively
on race or event day. So if it's
not really raised for you, that's fine. We'll
call it an event.
Now, I do wanna go ahead and say.
I apologize.
Okay.
Fueling is going to look different for everyone.
Fueling is going to be an individual thing
and fueling in and of itself is a
sport in and of itself in addition to
the act of actually raising or writing in
an event. Now there are going to be
some variables to consider such as age, gender,
the weather what were conditions that you're experiencing
as well as the conditions of the trail,
elevation,
training history, your personal training history and fitness
level at that time, as well as the
intensity of the race pace,
and or the course because, hey, let's be
honest, and not every course is the same.
I mean, hell, even looking at Lead.
The courses have changed
over the years. You know, in the 30
years that it has been happening. The every
course is different or slightly different. You know,
they've made some slight tweaks.
So really, you know, the fastest time
on Lead and for the Lt 100
is is technically not the fastest time overall.
Alright? Sure. It's the fastest time in the
past 30 years, but that course
record is not gonna be the same as
the course
that was set
30 years ago. Alright? So you have to
pay attention to that, and you have to
really be gentle with those considerations. But anyways,
you know, race course intensity does play a
part, and that does include elevation and and
nuances there,
the
of the course, things like that.
Now, it also varies,
depending on your health issues, your, own personal
health issues that you need to navigate, such
as diabetes, hypoglycemia,
hypoglycemia,
things like that.
Your stomach tolerance and allergies. So as well.
That is
really important to consider in all this because
some of these suggestions are not going to
be good for you. Not gonna really apply
for you. If you are a diabetic individual,
you know, mh, yeah. Let's pump you full
glucose,
real good idea.
But,
that please know those, Sarcasm.
But
these are incredibly important to really think about
and just and kind of, you know, bring
to the table when you're considering,
race or event fueling strategy.
Now a large part of figuring out your
race day fueling strategy is
experimentation. My favorite word other than depends.
Experimentation is key in all of this because
you're gotta have to figure out what works
wealth for you. But in that, please be
patient and use your training rights as a
guide. Don't figure it out on race day
for goodness sake Figure it out on your
training rights, figure it out on at least
1 to 2 rides a week. You don't
have to do sports nutrition quote unquote every
single ride of the week. You can have
more whole food sent items, you know, on
most of your rides. And then a couple
1 or 2 times a week, you know,
really search experiment with those training fields out.
Strategies or racing fuel strategies.
Now,
ideal race fuel...
The source for an ideal race fuel,
I apologize. Milo licking and it's kinda... He's
kinda distracting me. Hopefully, you can't hear him.
But ideal race fuel source is, of course,
carbs. It is the most efficient for your
body to break down and utilize period,
plus you are going to be using your
glycogen stores in both your muscles and eventually
your liver.
As the intensity
elevation, race,
you know, heat. All of that starts to
evolve,
that is going to really help draw you,
you know, and it's gonna help... It's it's
gonna push your body to draw those glycogen
glycogen stores period.
Now I will go ahead and say.
Not all carbs are equal. Sure. Yeah. They
are, but stomach and intestines, your stomach and
intestines.
Actually have carb absorption receptors that are variable.
Alright? So you have a couple of different,
I mean, variety of them, but
Ideally,
in order to favor these absorption receptors in
your intestines and in your digestive system,
you need a mix of malt,
or or glucose
and fructose.
Alright? And that's sometimes what, you know, the
jelly bell and the the candies that you
get on the shelf, are missing. Alright. They
don't always have the fructose. They don't always
have a combination of the fructose with the
other carbohydrate source. Now,
This is why you don't wanna depend on
straight glucose or straight sugar or straight fructose
like fruits and things like that. In order
to minimize gut issues because that's gonna be
a biggest thing is by combining
these things. So fructose with, of course, like
multi,
extra blah blah,
by combining the fructose with that,
you're improving your gut tolerance, you're improving the
absorption of the carbs.
And all of this. I mean, you're you're
improving so much. You're improving
just your ability to speed up the absorption
of the up glycogen and and all of
that. I mean, it helps with your performance
period. Like, this is not my opinion.
This is
science friends. It's science and And that is
1 reason why yes, sports nutrition is going
to be a little bit more expensive. Now,
you can, of course, make your own gels.
There are recipes out, you know, in the
Internet hemisphere where you can learn to make
your own drills and do that yourself, but
I know not all of us have the
time where the patients were the effort to
do that.
Now, that being said, the standard multi or
or glucose to fructose ratio for sports drinks
and gels and all that fun stuff. Is
ideally right around 2 to 1. So 2
parts melted or glucose to 1 part fructose.
Now this allows for carbohydrate intake of up
to
about 90 grams per hour. Now some athletes
may benefit from higher or lower intake. So
please know that.
Now I wanna dive into the varieties of
carbs. Just so, you know, wanna make this
quick and dirty so your eyes don't glaze
over too much. I don't wanna talk about
the science too much, even though I'm a
huge science nerd. It's not what I'm I'm
here to do. I'm here to make it
simple and simplified. So let's talk about multi
extra first. Now this comes from a starch.
Okay?
So it is a bit slower than I
digest. This is great. This is good news.
Good news parents.
It's not gonna be a sweet, you know,
as glucose and it's it's counterparts.
It's also not suitable for everyone. If you
have a core analogy, for example, then you're
probably going to wanna use a rice or
Tap.
Instead. So I know there are growing growing
numbers of folks who have corn allergies and
multi is, you know, sourced from corn,
a corn starch. So you're going to wanna
look for things that have rice or tap
starch, our dex rather in
a weed as well. If my memory serves
me right, I didn't put that on my
note here.
Now, glucose. It's way way sweeter, and could
definitely spike your blood sugar even more, for
some people, it's not also suitable for everyone.
Alright? But it is course mono. So, you
know, it's it's sweet. Now fructose, Another mono
of. It is, of course, as you can
imagine, a fruit sugar.
Hence the name fruit fructose.
It's a simple sugar, Again, mono, yes, it's
in fruit.
It's also in things like honey, so, you
know, all those sting,
sting gels and things like that.
Fructose is sweeter and more soluble than glucose,
so that's something to consider.
Fructose can also help speed up the absorption
of glycogen in the liver for your energy
needs. So it is actually... It is actually
needed
just to help with that absorption.
Now, let's talk about the steps that you
can take to put to together this whole
race feeling strategy, this is the bread and
butter of everything. Step number 1.
Determine how many hours you may need to
complete the grace course. So look at the
elevation. Look at conditions. Look at the
past, you know, finished times. If you have
a comparable athlete
that you know locally. Great. Look at their
times and then the what I or recommend
is
add another 30 to 60 minutes for mechanical
and things that go sideways just in case.
Perfect example is... Oh my god. I literally
added an hour to what time I thought
I was going to complete Silver rush. It
ended up being 2 hours additional just because
I... I didn't realize it got so narrow
during this 1 section of the race. I
had no idea. Even with all my research,
I really thought I would be able to
bike it up. Bike up it, but it
was just way too loose.
And there was just too many people walking
where he needed to ride while the pros
and stuff came down. So thank goodness, I
did buffer for at least that extra hour
because then that gave me, a, an hour
of just kinda, you know,
I squeezed over and and just trying to
freaking finish the race. Per but it is
incredibly important to buffer. Give yourself a little
bit of a safety nut, but try to
figure out how many hours approximately,
you may need to complete the race course.
Alright?
Then next, step 2, figure out how many
carbs you need to replenish every hour. It
is not. It is not. I repeat not.
A 1 to 1 ratio replenish. So don't
try to replace like, oh, I burn an
average of 400 calories an hour. I'm gonna
replace 400 calories an hour,
absolutely not. That might not go very well
for your Gi and just your happiness, you
know, level
during your race instead, what you're going to
wanna do is you're gonna wanna take an
average
caloric burn for you on a typical ride
that's very similar to this, race condition rate,
and then aim to replace about half of
that average caloric burn. That's gonna be a
good minimum goal. Generally speaking for most people,
this is gonna be anywhere between 30 to
40 grams of carbs, every hour on up
to about 90 grams of carbs, that's probably
the the strongest average. I'd say, like 60
to 90 grams of carbs per hour is
the... The strongest average for most people depending
on how intense you are and also depending
on how muscular you are. The more muscular
you are in the leaner you are, the
more you might actually depend on a higher
carbohydrate amount, So you might need to go
beyond 90 grams. Okay?
Next, You're gonna do the math. So step
number 3, do math. Figure out how many
hours are gonna be out there. Multiply by
however many carbs you need an hour, and
that's what you're gonna do. Alright? You're... That's
what... It's as easy as that. Figure out
how many hours estimate how long it's gonna
take you give yourself a buffer, have it
just in case. You know,
pocket of fuel on you or whatever.
And then figure out how many carbs you
need. Do the math,
you know, how many carbs you need times
how many hours you need. Right?
And then, number 4, most important experiment.
Step 4. This is when you're going to
experiment on those training rights? Figure out the
fuel, buy the fuel that you need and
then, you know, acquire the fuel and then
figure out how you're gonna pack it on
you like a squirrel, and then experiment, enjoy
it. That's the fun part.
Fifth tip here. The fifth step is that
on race day don't consume all of your
hourly carb needs at once for the love
of dog. Don't do that. You're just asking
for Gi issues. The poop. Alright? You're just
asking for a bad day on the bike.
So don't try to down like 90 grams
of carbs like right there.
Instead, what you're going to wanna do is
break it up every... Or about 15 to
30 minutes.
I personally find 30 minutes is ideal for
me. So I know I need
roughly,
depending on everything, 70...
I'd say 75 grams is good average, but
75 to 90 grams of carbs per hour
is good average for me.
So 70... You know, say I have 75
grams. I actually am able to fit 75
grams in
each.
Flask.
So I have half of my my flask
every 30 minutes, and it's so great. It's
it's easy You know, so I have a
little alert on my head unit on my
garmin head unit on my bike,
and it alerts me, you know, feed feed
and there you go. It's pretty simple. And
then, of course, I have water every 15...
Every 15 minutes or so, I almost had
15 seconds man. If I had a water
every 15 seconds, I'd be peeing like a
resource.
But, no. I have some water, I have
a few sips of water, about 2 to
4 draws from my
hydration bladder.
I have that every 15 minutes.
And, of course, the harder I'm breathing, the
more I'm going through my water.
You wouldn't know that because I I still
sound gravely, but that's another topic. Now,
Step number 6.
Prep your nutrition strategy the day or 2
before your race date. Home wait till race
morning, please don't do that.
We're talking bottles flask, hydration bladder, emergency snacks,
all that stuff. Please give yourself that that
buffer.
That way you can make sure you have
everything.
I usually set stuff up out like a
week in advance, and then I put it
in a bag, and then the night before,
that's when I'm putting my gels in my
flask and things like that.
So those are the top 6 6 tips
to really put together your race nutrition strategy.
I hope that's helpful for you. Next, I
wanted to talk about tools to consider. So
I personally,
this was a recommendation to me by a
friend of mine.
The reusable
flow formulas flask are hands down, the easiest
to use out there. Don't get the Cheap
Depot ones on Amazon or you know, whatever.
Get the reusable flow formulas flask. They're, I
think 5 to 7 dollars or something each
depending on what size you get, they're so
great. They can be a little bit of
a pain. Yeah, You have to clean them,
like, after you use them, but you know
what?
You're not leaving crap on the trail
which is what I inevitably see.
Friends. I cannot tell you because I'm real
big on, no leave no trace, you know,
grace or not. I don't care. I don't
care if there's gonna be reached marshall that's
gonna pick up my goo back that's on
the ground. Like, I don't care. I'm not
throwing anything on the ground. Keeping my trash.
I cannot tell you though, how many times
I've been a race and I see, like,
race s is what I call it. And
it's just like, to crap that's on the
trail. It's like goo packet it's Sis. I
see it's Sis like, freaking nobody's business and
morton and
stop it Stop it. Get these reusable flask.
It's make your life easier. Yeah. The only
downside is you have to do... You do
have to carry them around after you're done,
like, you know, you cash them.
Yeah. You have to carry them around. Put
them in a freaking empty Jersey pack It's
fine. You know? Honestly, it's it's great. It's
great way to keep track of how much
you're eating and and consuming. They weigh next
to nothing, like,
having some extra empty flash 1 on you
is not what's gonna prevent you from being
on first place. Okay? I'm just gonna go
ahead and say that. But we have got
to be better stewards of our trail. If
we want access to trails, and we want
access to reese's. Alright?
So I'm a big fan of reusable flow
formulas flask. Say that 3 times fast. I
find they're great.
I usually carry at least 4.
Smaller flask and then, like, 1 larger flask,
and I'm just gonna reuse them. I'll have
some more I'm gonna use them at Lead.
I'm gonna have more at,
you know, twin lakes about the halfway mark
before I go out C combine. That's when
I'll switch them out.
And there you go. I mean, they're so
easy. And you already know what's in there.
They have a bite vowel on them, so
they don't leak. So you have to bite
them just like a hydration bladder and then
squeeze. I mean, they're super easy to use.
And what's great is if you do happen
to fit or you do happen to get
into, like, a so a tight spot or
like, oh, crap. I need both hands, and
you do need to just keep the flask
in your mouth. It's a soft bite valve,
so you can just keep flask in your
mouth while you're navigating tech terrain or whatever
you're doing. It's... I can't recommend this enough.
Next, I do really recommend hydration bladder. I
don't care if you use use we. I'm
using
Oh, crap. Why am I forgetting sunny Evo.
Is Eva? Eva, I can't remember. I mean,
I did use Use. I do enjoy that
that hydration bladder. The only problem with it
is I don't have extra pockets on my
chest to keep my flask. So I did
end up getting, like an Or something like
that. It was Eva brand. The 1 and
a half, liter
Hydration bladder. It's super light. And what's really
cool is I'm gonna be getting back into
running. Some trail running. If you didn't know,
I I do enjoy trail running.
Especially now that I've been walking a little
bit more in Lead on some of these
really steep 18 percent grades. I've just been
walking on my bike. And I'm like, you
know what? I kinda of miss running when
I'm when I'm, you know, at 12000 feet
high and and hypo hypoxia.
But what's cool is my evo hydration bladder.
I can actually be doubled and used with
running when I get back in a trail
running, which is really cool. And it doesn't
really move. I don't notice it moving.
What's cool is hydrogen hydration bloggers make things
easy quick, efficient, and you can store your
flask and food as well as maybe a
little raincoat code like a light raincoat code
if you need it. And if it's a
hot day, you can pack it with ice.
So pack the pack the bladder itself with
a little bit of ice or puts ice
in it, and what's cool is want it
slowly melting, It's gonna melt on your back.
It's gonna keep your core temperature cooler.
Next, of course, water bottles. Pack them with
ice you 2 on hot days. I will
say the volume of ice can change how
much water is actually in it a little
bit. So do keep that in mind and,
you know, obviously just put our... Put it
however much ice you need in it for
the day. I mean, that's fine. You know,
and, of course, it will slowly out.
Some people have suggested freezing your water bottles.
That way you can,
you know,
like,
you can go ahead and and,
like, just let the water bottle melt as
the heat,
you know, increases throughout the day. I have
trust issues with that.
I know I know so many people have
done this, but I just really have trust
issues with that. Because I get so thirsty
at high elevation, and I'm because I'm breathing
hard.
Especially with my vocal cord dysfunction, I do
need to personally keep my throat, like,
moist. I hate to say that word.
But, yeah, I need to keep it hydrated
and I need to keep myself hydrated. So,
you know, if you don't have as much
trust issues great. Go for it. Freeze your
water bottles. Just make sure that you're able
to freeze them and they're not gonna bust.
You don't wanna test that on race day
the night before the race,
instead test that theory
on your training rides, please. Alright.
Alright, friends. That is all I have for
you today when it comes to your fueling
strategy and figuring out how the hell to
do it on your race day or event
day.
I hope this is helpful for you. Just
Fyi,
be sure you're on my mailing list. Alright?
I have a link in the show notes.
For my mailing list. And the reason for
that is because I'm going to... I'm actively
putting together a race nutrition or event nutrition
strategy
spreadsheet because I I fucking love spreadsheets. Okay,
Friends. And spreadsheets keep me sane. They keep
me just organize. They they make me feel
like I have a little bit of control
over some controllable in my life. So I'm
putting together a rest restate strategy
for,
feel just you. I I want you to
have this free tool. So I am going
to email it to all of my followers.
All my followers. That makes me sound like
I'm a cult leader.
I'm gonna... I'm gonna email it to you.
Alright. I'm gonna email to the people.
But, yes, make sure you're on my mailing
list. I don't email that. Much. I mean
maybe once a month, sometimes twice a month
if it's a good month, But like,
I'm not gonna spam your ass. Don't worry
about that that there is gonna be an
entry, you know, a few few email series
depending on what you sign up for, but
everything's useful, and it takes, like, all my
emails take, like, maybe 3 minutes or less.
To read.
I'm not very fur verbose. So I'm just
for bose in person.
On that,
sign up for my newsletter.
Make sure you get the toll here in
the next couple weeks, and I appreciate you
listening. I'm analyst endlessly grateful for you being
here and giving your time and listening ear
to this. If you found this helpful, I
would love for you to share,
like, and subscribe this.
Subscription subscribe to this. Friends, I'm having 1
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Subscribe to this podcast, I would be endlessly
endlessly appreciative.
On that note, I hope you have a
beautiful day, and I will catch you next
week. Bye friends.