Race Prepartion

mccutchie

Hey guys, i'm about about to step into the unknown and enter my first race next week. I see from various posts alot of you race already and I'm wondering how best to prepare in the week leading up to the race.

The areas I would be most interested in are:

• What should I eat and drink especially the day before and morning of the race.
• How much training should I do the week of the race.
• Should I change tyres, currently my tyres are winter tyres, Schwalbe Blizzard Sport Tyre, should I switch to something else for racing and if so what would be the recommendation ?

I know i'm going to get my a*s kicked but I want to start racing and hopefully enjoy the day. Thats the plan anyway. Cheers lads.

Lumen

Make sure your bike works, that nothing is rattly or likely to come off.

Go over the tyres, making sure there are no embedded bits that could cause a puncture. Don't do this on the morning of the race, as pulling out the crap may cause a slow puncture.

Don't eat too much beforehand, but take some light snacks with you - there can be lots of hanging around. Eating more won't make you go faster.

kennyb3

mccutchie wrote: »

Hey guys, i'm about about to step into the unknown and enter my first race next week. I see from various posts alot of you race already and I'm wondering how best to prepare in the week leading up to the race.

The areas I would be most interested in are:

• What should I eat and drink especially the day before and morning of the race.
• How much training should I do the week of the race.
• Should I change tyres, currently my tyres are winter tyres, Schwalbe Blizzard Sport Tyre, should I switch to something else for racing and if so what would be the recommendation ?

I know i'm going to get my a*s kicked but I want to start racing and hopefully enjoy the day. Thats the plan anyway. Cheers lads.

Please change those tyres, i had them on my bike when i was a bit green - absolute rubbish. Any of the usual suspects mentioned around here will see a big improvement in rolling - im liking my ultremo R1's now having previously been on GP4000s's.

DirkVoodoo

A decent breakfast is a great way to start any day, recently I have ditched the cheerios in favor of weetabix, it's a little nicer and if I get bored I can play weetabix jenga (buy the 48 pack, be prepared to make a mess).

Get a good night's sleep, I can eat pretty much anything and not notice a difference in performance, but a proper night's sleep makes a big difference for me.

chakattack

mccutchie wrote: »

Hey guys, i'm about about to step into the unknown and enter my first race next week. I see from various posts alot of you race already and I'm wondering how best to prepare in the week leading up to the race.

The areas I would be most interested in are:

• What should I eat and drink especially the day before and morning of the race.
• How much training should I do the week of the race.
• Should I change tyres, currently my tyres are winter tyres, Schwalbe Blizzard Sport Tyre, should I switch to something else for racing and if so what would be the recommendation ?

I know i'm going to get my a*s kicked but I want to start racing and hopefully enjoy the day. Thats the plan anyway. Cheers lads.

You won't enjoy it - the pleasure is all retrospective... the aim is to suffer like a dog while swearing that you'll never do it again!

Then wake up the next day planning your next race

Quigs Snr

For me the best preparation is a hearty breakfast of rEPO, CERA, Human Growth Hormone, Amphetamines, several speedballs, horse tranquiliser and 2 bowls of pedigree chum.

But seriously. Best advice. Do nothing new. Eat your regular stuff, you will be nervous so just stick to your routine that you would have any other Sunday morning. Don't do any messing with the bike the night before, have any changes made this week and have ridden it once or twice before race day. Don't get fancy energy foods etc... just use what you always do.

morana

use a track pump to pump your tyres to 120psi or whatever is recommended on the sidewall!!!

As far as nutrition goes just eat normal the day beforehand. a normal breakfast and bring some race food for on the bike.

cantalach

kennyb3 wrote: »

im liking my ultremo R1's now having previously been on GP4000s's.

Have you been using the Ultremo R1 long enough to know how it compares to the GP4000S as regards puncture resistance? For me, having the right balance between rolling resistance and puncture resistance is the best thing about the GP4000S. I've got almost 6,000km on my current set, and apart from a couple of pinch flats having ridden though tank traps, I think I've had just one proper puncture during that time. It's hard to argue with that.

SACH Central

Quigs Snr wrote: »

For me the best preparation is a hearty breakfast of rEPO, CERA, Human Growth Hormone, Amphetamines, several speedballs, horse tranquiliser and 2 bowls of pedigree chum.

Don't you use Contador's 'preparation' of choice: Clenbuterol

kennyb3

cantalach wrote: »

Have you been using the Ultremo R1 long enough to know how it compares to the GP4000S as regards puncture resistance? For me, having the right balance between rolling resistance and puncture resistance is the best thing about the GP4000S. I've got almost 6,000km on my current set, and apart from a couple of pinch flats having ridden though tank traps, I think I've had just one proper puncture during that time. It's hard to argue with that.

Agreed the GP4000s's are bomb proof puncture wise (of course execpt for the one time i was in a break and had a chance of winning a local club race), and i really like them. They do seem to have sidewall issues though, which i had myself. The ultremo's i see more as a race tyre as they are extremely slick. I think blorg reported only getting 1 puncture in few thousand km on them but i think someone posted on here that they ve had a few already. I ll see how they go anyway.

I can see myself putting the gp's on the training wheels and the ultremo's on the racing ones.

Anyway back on topic, sorry for the hijack.

mccutchie

Thanks for the advice lads, interesting to hear eat what you normally eat day before, normal breakfast etc. I had expected advice like load up with carbs, eat 3 hrs before etc. I guess sticking to a normal routine is the way forward.

Going to change my tyres based kennyb3's comments. A friend of mine has a spare pair of Michelin Pro 3 Race, said i can have them for a nominal fee. I have a spare set at home that I haven't bothered to switch to yet, Michelin Krylion Carbon. Taking into account the state of irish roads, i'm just wondering which would be the best option for a race. Maybe keep my own ones on altogether, surely i wont make that much difference.

niceonetom

mccutchie wrote: »

Thanks for the advice lads, interesting to hear eat what you normally eat day before, normal breakfast etc. I had expected advice like load up with carbs, eat 3 hrs before etc. I guess sticking to a normal routine is the way forward.

I'm not sure which race you're thinking of, but if it's the LCRC one on Saturday that's only 40km (for the A4s) so a ~60 minute effort. There's no need to do any kind of carboloading stuff for something so short. That's for long days. A good breakfast and a bit of snacking to get you to the startline. I wouldn't eat during a race that short - a bar during the warm-up and a bit of energy in the bottle would be fine for me.

I wouldn't particularly adjust the training during the week before a race that wasn't a priority either.

Change the tyres to those ProRace3 though the difference would make over the schwalbes (correctly inflated) in pretty small.

Good luck.

kennyb3

As niceonetom said the tyres wont make a huge difference but they will make a difference of some sort. The pro3's will give a much nicer feel and might be that little placebo you need.

GlennaMaddy

SACH Central wrote: »

Don't you use Contador's 'preparation' of choice: Clenbuterol

Steak, infused with clenbuterol.

blorg

Pro3s are very nice riding but puncture far more than Ultremos or GP4000s- both of which ride just as well. I prefer Ultremos but much of a muchness really. Good tyres probably make more of a difference than anything else for the money.

As others have said just follow your normal routine, and good luck with the race.

mloc123

blorg wrote: »

Pro3s are very nice riding but puncture far more than Ultremos or GP4000s

I have 3000km+ on pro3s at the moment and no punctures... jinxed now no doubt.

Most important thing before any race... Take a **** beforehand.

cantalach

niceonetom wrote: »

I'm not sure which race you're thinking of, but if it's the LCRC one on Saturday that's only 40km (for the A4s) so a ~60 minute effort. There's no need to do any kind of carboloading stuff for something so short. That's for long days. A good breakfast and a bit of snacking to get you to the startline. I wouldn't eat during a race that short - a bar during the warm-up and a bit of energy in the bottle would be fine for me.

I'm not sure I'd agree with your take on the value of carb-loading for a short event. When working at a high intensity (>80% HRmax), glycogen stores can be depleted in as little as 1 hour. It stands to reason therefore that maximising glycogen stores in advance of even a short race will pay a dividend.

Check for yourself but one of the first papers that popped up when I Googled was this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7670450

(I note the lead researcher's name is 'Pizza' so he/she might have a bias!)

michael196

cantalach wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd agree with your take on the value of carb-loading for a short event. When working at a high intensity (>80% HRmax), glycogen stores can be depleted in as little as 1 hour. It stands to reason therefore that maximising glycogen stores in advance of even a short race will pay a dividend.

Check for yourself but one of the first papers that popped up when I Googled was this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7670450

(I note the lead researcher's name is 'Pizza' so he/she might have a bias!)

I agree with Cantalach on this one. Yes you could run without any loading , however the the glycogen will deplete, for me that time line is 1 hour 40 minutes, ( you should feel the depletion in ur sugar levels, and at 1 hour 40 minutes, u will feel a drop in available energy).

how u manage tha energy drop for longer races, may require experimentation to find what works for u ! for longer dyration racing ....

niceonetom

Rein it in there a touch. It's a one hour race. Some of you may feel the need to eat a shed load of pasta for that but I think that's totally unnecessary. Maybe you should be recommending a taper strategy for before and arranging a deep tissue massage for afterwards? Again: one hour race.

Eat normally the day before. Good breakfast the morning of, and then snack your way to the startline. Energy drink in the bidon and you're fine.

Lumen

michael196 wrote: »

I agree with Cantalach on this one. Yes you could run without any loading , however the the glycogen will deplete, for me that time line is 1 hour 40 minutes, ( you should feel the depletion in ur sugar levels, and at 1 hour 40 minutes, u will feel a drop in available energy).

High intensity training ( whereby u are pushing to 80% + HR max ) requires loading. For a4 ur race would be over at this stage, but u would have been running on depleting energy, and therefore ur body could hold back.

If u run on empty, and actually run empty, what are u gonna do ? refuel afterwards ? whats the benefit ? reduced effort at the race and not pushing to max just to preserve energy, to restore it later. whats the better approach ? load with energy, provide ur body with the power to accelerate on demand, to last longer, to push limitlessly harder on hills. Whats the benefit ? a race whereby u pushed to the max and discovered ur next levels of limitations.

feel hungry afterwards ? probably not, but u should feel well energised and well worked out.

this energy loading will then prepare you for when u progress to a3 racing whereby the length and duration of the a3 race will exceed ur energy duration from glycogen.


unless of course u want to sit in for the whole race whereby , probably no energy laoding is required, at all.

depends on how u want to race, agressive, pace setting, donkeying, pressurising the field or not, at the head or in the bunch, bunch fodder or an eye on the podium....

With respect, I don't think any of what you've posted makes any sense at all.

Cycling requires a balanced diet, week in week out, with lots of quality nutrients. Carbs are only one part of this, and obsessing about carbs to the exclusion of others is at best pointless and at worst counter-productive.

Most cyclists would be racing twice a week. Would you seriously be planning some sort of bi-weekly carb loading strategy?

Whilst that one paper does seem to state some benefits, I've read a few opinions from respectable sources that carb loading makes no difference at all.

Racing at amateur level should not require fancy nutrition strategies. We just need to eat well enough and ride our bikes more.

levitronix

Get there two hours early and do a few warm up laps

michael196

Lumen wrote: »

With respect, I don't think any of what you've posted makes any sense at all.

Cycling requires a balanced diet, week in week out, with lots of quality nutrients. Carbs are only one part of this, and obsessing about carbs to the exclusion of others is at best pointless and at worst counter-productive.

Most cyclists would be racing twice a week. Would you seriously be planning some sort of bi-weekly carb loading strategy?

Whilst that one paper does seem to state some benefits, I've read a few opinions from respectable sources that carb loading makes no difference at all.

Racing at amateur level should not require fancy nutrition strategies. We just need to eat well enough and ride our bikes more.

agree......do not obsess on carbs.... lifes too short...... but dont attempt a race ( that should be a high intensity effort, albeit a short duration) without more than adequate energy.

No carb loading strategy required. All I am saying is, for me , i know when my glycogen depletes, i can feel it as an energy drop, how u manage that drop , in order to race longer, stronger etc , may require a strategy.

u might race , as stated above , and not consume ur glycogen store, or u might race, and consume it very fast, depends on what and how u want to race.

so all i am saying is, know ur limits, and know how to extend ur energy duration in a race.

u can have the same energy output levels 2.5 hours into a race as u have in the first hour, u wont be as fresh. ur output can even grow during a race ...

u need to know how does ur body react when energy supply is zero, what are the capabilities at that stage.....can u recover ? , can u ride on zero energy ?

DirkVoodoo

All this science mumbo-jumbo is hurting my head, but I think I follow you:

Have enough energy to finish the race, as too little energy will result in you "bonking"?

Still, I don't see the correlation between having enough energy and "carbo loading". I find I have plenty of energy during a race after a good breakfast and maybe some energy drinks or gels, but eating a whole lot more food doesn't seem to make me produce more power, or raise my lactate threshold.

At the end of the day, stuffing my face before a race won't make me any better, but proper training will.