Race Day Prep – Put more pep in your step
While many of us use Athlytic to help us stay motivated and active, making smart choices about how and when we train, some of us are working toward specific goals and events. This episode is for you. We all know the basics of race day prep, but let’s dive a bit deeper on what happens to our bodies during a race, and how we can optimally prepare ourselves.
Hydration and electrolytes
Hydration is key to making sure our bodies are ready to safely participate in an all-out effort and event. If you aren’t preparing your body by hydrating prior to an endurance event, you will not be able to catch up. In fact, in a study on marathon runners performed by Johns Hopkins and Yale, participants lost an average of 2.5 Liters of sweat during the race (1)! This can vary from person to person (and change based on humidity, temperature, etc.) with some participants in that study losing up to 6 liters. You’d have to jog with almost 2 gallons full of water just to keep up!
But it’s more than just water we need to account for. The same study showed an average loss of 2.3 grams of sodium. That’s over a day’s recommend intake of sodium in a single event. In fact, some estimates place sodium loss at roughly 1g per hour of running. In lab analyses, we see that there are sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, and calcium losses that we must account for when we sweat (2). Studies have shown that ingestion of electrolytes during exercise can prevent muscle cramping/twitching, and help restore optimal function (3). Because of this, it’s pivotal to keep up with the losses if you’re looking for a win.
The takeaway:
Start hydrating days before your event. Ensure that you have a mix of water and electrolytes sources during an event, either through gels, tablets, or fluid. Start hydrated to stay hydrated.
Carbs and energy storage
If you recall the previous episode on energy use in the body, one of our primary sources of fuel for energy comes from glycogen (the storage form of glucose or sugar in the body). By eating a higher carb diet, we can store more glycogen in our muscles to have available for race day. This allows us to perform at higher levels for longer without fatiguing.
Muscle biopsies have shown that a high carb diet over one day can almost double the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles. Participants fed 10g of carbs per kilogram of bodyweight increased glycogen storage from 95 mMol/kg to 180 (4)!
In studies dating back to the 1960s and 70s, researchers found that performance was improved following these high carb diets and with increased muscle glycogen stores (5). That said, much of these benefits will not be significant in events that are shorter than 1-1.5 hours (6).
The takeaway:
Carb loading 1-3 days prior to an event with ~8-10 g per kilogram of body weight can be an effective way to improve performance and delay fatigue. However, if you have blood sugar issues (such as diabetes or prediabetes), be sure to discuss with your health care provider about your specific scenario.
Rest and Recovery
Lastly, in order to ensure that you are ready for your event, it’s best to take it a bit easier about a week before the planned race. Luckily, Athlytic can help us track our recovery metrics to ensure we aren’t over-reaching and we are recovering before our event.
Simply reducing activity (but not stopping completely) has been associated with changes in creatine kinase (an indicator of muscle stress) and allows our muscles to store more glycogen for energy (because we aren’t using it up as much) (7). Along with this, studies have suggested increases in blood and red cell volume, which may help improve performance as this can help efficiently deliver oxygen to our muscle tissues. Lastly, athletes are less likely to report fatigue and other somatic symptoms (such as pain) when participating in a pre-event taper, which suggests better preparation for the race – because, well… who wants to race while in pain? (7)
All in all, by participating in a pre-event taper, studies suggest that athletes may boost their performance by ~1-5% (8). While that may not seem like much, that could make or break a PR!
The takeaway:
Make sure you aren’t overreaching in your race day prep. Be sure to take it a bit easier in the week leading up to your event, get plenty of rest, and be sure to listen to your body.
Conclusion:
It’s important to be intentional about our race day preparations. While most of us have no issues stacking progressively more difficult or longer workouts prior to a race, we can’t forget about the toll that takes on our bodies, and how we can ensure it is ready to go on race day. By reducing our exercise intensity about a week leading up to the race, focusing on nutrition and hydration in the days leading up to our event, we can ensure that we avoid ‘hitting a wall’ but instead break through to new personal records.
Sources and Further Readings:
1. Mansour SG, Martin TG, Obeid W, Pata RW, Myrick KM, Kukova L, et al. The Role of Volume Regulation and Thermoregulation in AKI during Marathon Running. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2019 Sep;14(9):1297.
2. Shirreffs SM, Maughan RJ. Whole body sweat collection in humans: an improved method with preliminary data on electrolyte content. J Appl Physiol Bethesda Md 1985. 1997 Jan;82(1):336–41.
3. Bergeron MF. Muscle Cramps during Exercise-Is It Fatigue or Electrolyte Deficit? Curr Sports Med Rep. 2008 Aug;7(4):S50.
4. Bussau VA, Fairchild TJ, Rao A, Steele P, Fournier PA. Carbohydrate loading in human muscle: an improved 1 day protocol. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2002 Jul 1;87(3):290–5.
5. Karlsson J, Saltin B. Diet, muscle glycogen, and endurance performance. J Appl Physiol. 1971 Aug;31(2):203–6.
6. Sedlock DA. The Latest on Carbohydrate Loading: A Practical Approach. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2008 Aug;7(4):209.
7. Mujika I, Padilla S, Pyne D, Busso T. Physiological Changes Associated with the Pre-Event Taper in Athletes. Sports Med. 2004 Nov 1;34(13):891–927.
8. Le Meur Y, Hausswirth C, Mujika I. Tapering for competition: A review. Sci Sports. 2012 Apr 1;27(2):77–87.
