You’ve made the decision to participate in a running or cycling event this summer, and you’ve even hit “submit” on your race registration. You’re really doing this! Now comes the training and race prep, which can be just as fun and satisfying as the event itself—so long as you follow a plan, listen to your body, make any necessary adjustments along the way, and enjoy the journey.
Whether you’re eyeing your first 5K or you’re seeking a PR (personal record) in an endurance event like the half marathon or triathlon, performing at your best comes down to preparing yourself both physically and mentally. We turned to Ben Watson, MS, ACE-CMES, EIM2, who serves as our Weight Management Coordinator at the Foster Family Community Health Center, to get his best tips for experiencing a great training cycle and having your best race. Here’s what he shared:
‘Fuel the Activity’
The goal of any exercise is to adapt the body to different stresses, Watson said. And with this in mind, fueling becomes super important. People have this fear of carbohydrates. As far as fueling for activity, we obviously want you to have the calories. From a sports performance standpoint, we want you to fuel the activity.
Understand Your Body’s Nutritional Needs
Putting in the miles is important throughout your training, of course. Also essential: figuring out the fueling that works best for you—pre-workout, during your run or ride, and afterward. You need to practice this before race day—you fine tune it and you find out, ‘What works for me?’ I can tell you to do one thing, but I can’t tell another person the same thing. Because their body is going to respond completely different. It’s really just what makes sense for you.
For some of us, eating right before a race is ideal. For others, however, only fluids work best. So it’s finding those small little details that really make the biggest difference, even for people doing a 5K, and for a marathon it plays a bigger role.
About that Carb-loading Thing …
Carb-loading is often described as the best way to prepare, nutritionally-speaking, for a race. But it’s not eating pasta the day before. It’s a whole week-long process for a lot of people. It’s a misconception that if it’s a high-carb meal, our bodies are just going to absorb it and we just have it readily available. Well, not necessarily. Our bodies can only store so many carbs or glucose molecules, so what we have to do is start carb-loading a week or two in advance—we have to slowly increase our total carb intake. That way our bodies will be able to hold more over that period of time. That’s carb-loading in a nutshell. It’s not one meal the night before.
Water + Real Food
It’s also important to stay hydrated throughout your training and particularly leading up to race day. We don’t want to over-hydrate, but we want to make sure we’re not dehydrated. If you are a heavy sweater, you definitely want to look at adding electrolytes. Eating minimally-processed, whole foods is always smart. We always want to be looking at the quality of food we are eating. It’s not just a free for all. You might be able to get away with it a little bit, but I think the quality of food is the number one thing we need to be looking at. What may work for one person, may not work for another person. We have to figure out what works best for us.
Race Day Fueling
You don’t want to eat anything new or out of your routine on race day. Figure this out during your training. It’s a lot of trial and error.
Get Outdoors for Your Workouts
Come race day, you don’t know what you may be facing weather-wise. Throughout your training, run and bike outdoors, in different weather conditions. Get outside the pool and swim in open water if you are doing a triathlon.
Importance of Strength Training
For distance athletes, you can’t dismiss strength training. Resistance training isn’t something you should overlook – and you can keep it very simple: squats, lower body work … and a lot of core work, which can be planks, Pilates, yoga.
Don’t Forget Rest & Recovery
It’s important to make sure you’re getting enough sleep throughout your training. And on rest days, rest isn’t necessarily doing nothing. It’s a 20-minute walk, meditation, foam rolling. It’s active recovery. It allows the body to repair itself. This will contribute to your progress – you want your performance to continue to improve.
Ben Watson, MS, ACE-CMES, EIM2, is the Weight Management Coordinator at the Foster Family Community Health Center (formerly the Munson Community Health Center) in Traverse City. Learn more about our Healthy Weight Center and the ways we can help you live your healthiest life by calling 231-935-8606.