Breakfast the morning of a race can be a challenge. Nerves are going. Stomach is queasy. You are checking all of your gear for what seems like (and may be) the millionth time. And, I’m saying you need to eat some breakfast, too. Yup, breakfast. Breakfast the morning of the race is important to top off your tank, give you energy for your race, and keep you from getting hungry.

What you have for breakfast and when you have breakfast depends on your race. The shorter the race, the closer to the event you can have the meal and the meal can be smaller. The longer the event the more time between the meal and the event and the more fuel you need to put in the tank. The more food, the more transit time you need to allow.

If you are racing a 5K, 10K or a sprint triathlon for example, you could have a small bagel or toast with peanut butter a couple of hours before the event. You don’t need a lot of extra energy for these events because they are short.

If you are racing a marathon or half Ironman, you may need or want more – a larger bagel with peanut butter and an egg or two or a big bowl of oatmeal about two to three hours prior to the event.

If you are racing a full Ironman, most racers get up at 2AM, eat, then go back to bed and try to sleep. I have heard “breakfast” ranging from a full American breakfast to a couple of Slim Fasts. Then, once you get up an start getting ready, sip on some sports drink while you get ready and get to the race site.

When you start training, you also want to start practice your breakfast routine. You want to find out what your stomach does and does not like. You also want to start working on the timing. How long does it take for that meal to clear your stomach? Are you having to stop and find a bathroom? Do you want that to happen race day? You want to find something you know your stomach will be happy with when you add the nerves of race morning on top of it.

If you have a favorite pre-race meal, I’d like to hear about it!

The triathlon and running season is heating up here in Houston and around the country. If you are competing or doing races of any significant length this year, you need to plan how you will fuel your body during the event. What you do depends on the length of the event. For a 5K you may carry nothing or just a bottle of water. For a longer race, however, you may need to think about what your body needs and how you are going to get it.

Different athletes have different likes and dislikes when it comes to sports foods. Some like to go all liquid, some like to make their own fruit leather with chia seeds to use. Whatever you decide to do, I would encourage you to Keep It Simple!

When I ran the Paris marathon last year, one of my client’s friends showed up with probably a dozen baggies pinned to her waist. Each baggie had different things in them (gummy bears, gum drops, jelly beans, etc.) and was used at different parts of the race. I kjnow of triathletes who have two drinks, a couple of types of gels, and blocks they use during their race. That is WAY to much for my brain to think about during a race. 

In longer distance races, keeping it simple makes your race day much simpler. You have less things to pack and locate on race morning. And, you have less things to think about during the race.

For most of us, there seems to be a point in the race where we cannot think very well. Keeping it simple means fewer things that you have to think about executing during the race. If you have one sports drink and one other type of fuel (blocks or gels), and you know that every 10 minutes you take a drink of sports drink and every hour you take a gel, that is a lot easier to think about while racing than having to remember every 10 minutes drink from bottle one, every 20 minutes take a gel, every 30 minutes take a drink from bottle 2, etc. Which fueling strategy would you want to follow?

Remember when planning your race nutrition to find a couple of fuels you like and plan to keep it simple!

I had knee surgery last June and my rehab has been slower than expected. I have an entry for the New York Marathon in November and have been thinking about starting my training. Last week the UPS man delivered a package of motivation – he delivered my New York Marathon “In Training” shirt. Time to train!

I found myself back on the treadmill this week. I started running at an easy pace for a few minutes then bumped the pace upa bit. After a few minutes I realized “this is uncomfortable.” Then I thought, “why am I doing this?” Followed quickly by “you could just stop you know. You’re uncomfortable. You’re breathing hard. You could just stop.”

Wow! Where did that come from? I had not had those thoughts in a L-O-N-G time. Honestly, those thoughts really surprised me because I had been looking forward to running. Rather than stopping, I took a mental step back and started analyzing the situation. I thought “yes, I’m uncomfortable, but it doesn’t really hurt. It feels different. I know I’ve worked harder than this before. And, since I’m just starting back it is not unreasonable for me to feel this way.” And, I kept going and finished the workout.

When we are in a new situation or getting back into something we have not done recently, we feel uncomfortable. When we feel uncomfortable it is really easy to just stop and avoid the situation. However, it is when we get into new situations - it is when we feel uncomfortable – that we have the greatest opportunity to grow. Often, the discomfort is really fear. Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of (fill in the blank).  You have probably heard that FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. When we lok at why we are fearful, we find there is no real reason for the feeling of fear.

When you feel uncomfortable or feel fear, take a step back and talk yourself through what is going on. Why are you feeling this way? Is it valid? Then, decide how you are going to move forward. Do you really need to stop? Or, is that just fear talking? Are you afraid of trying something new because you might fail? John Wooden said “failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” Don’t be afraid to fail. You can learn a lot when you fail.

Finishing a marathon (New York will be my fourth) is, in my opinion, 90% mental. Finishing, heck even starting, many things is 90% mental. So the next time your head starts telling you that you cannot do something. Stop and ask it why. Then, talk it through and think about why you CAN do it. As Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” I think I’ll be a marathoner again come November.

It is heating up out there – both the weather and racing!  When planning your race nutrition and hydration, it is important to keep these two items separate.

The first item is fuel. When you plan your race nutrition, there is a certain number of calories or grams of carbohydrates per hour that you aim for. This is usually 60 grams of carbohydrates (or 240 calories) or .45 grams of carbohydrate for every pound of body weight. You have to try this out and see what works for you and your GI tract.

The second item is hydration. To get an idea of how much fluid you need per hour, you can conduct a sweat trial. This gives you an idea of the fluid ounces of water you need per hour to stay hydrated.

When you train and race, these items are often combined in the form of liquid nutrition or sports drinks. However, it is important to remember that these are really two separate things. Although you do get liquid calories in sports drinks and you also get water, you may not want to consume all of your water with calories. Here is an example:

Joe needs 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour for his race nutrition and 40 oz of water. He plans on racing for an hour and has three water bottles each of which holds 24 oz (a total of 72 oz). In order to make both his nutrition and hydration work, he could mix 30 grams of carbohydrates from a powdered sports drink in each of two sports bottles. After adding the powdered sports drink, he adds 18 oz of water (what the bottle will hold in water after putting in the powdered sports drink). He fills the third bottle with water.  This gives him his 60 grams of carbohydrates (3o grams of carbohydrates per bottle) and a total of 60 oz of water (18+18+24).

The other reason for thinking of nutrition and fluid separately is to be able to scale your hyrdation based on the condiditons. If you are racing on a cooler day, you may need less water. On a hotter day, you may need more water. Joe knows that no matter what he needs to drink those two bottles of sports drink to get his nutrition, and he can drink more or less water based on the temperature and humidity.

As you plan your training and race nutrition and  hydration, remember that although they often seem to be the same, they really are separate things that you have to think about executing based on what you need for carbohydrates and fluid.

One of the only TV shows I keep up with is “The Biggest Loser.” I do not agree with everything, but am also inspired by how the contestants transform not only physically, but mentally. In an episode a couple of weeks ago, the contestants went home for two weeks. When they returned to the ranch, one of the contestants said that she learned that saying “no”  to food and other things that would not move her towards her goal was really saying “yes” to herself and her success.

That statement struck me as profound. What a mind shift! That attitude can enable all of us to stay on track towards our goals. When you come across something or someone who will not move you forward, you can say “no.” And, that “no” will help you move forward and reach your goal. That “no” is really a “yes” to yourself and your goals.

Are there things that you can say “no” to that really are a “yes?” I encourage you to look for those things that do not move your forward – food, eating opportunities, and people. Practice saying “yes” to yourself and “no” to those things that do not help you. 

What kinds of things can you say “no” to that really are saying “yes” to yourself?