Pre race fuelling

... that you have *nothing* inside of 3 hrs before a race (of 90 mins + duration). Except maybe a gel or similar just before the start.

It also suggests that it's better to sleep than to wake yourself up stupid-early to get some food in 3 hours before an early morning race time.

Might give it a try at the CP.....

My advice would be to practice any new pre race strategy first. Everybody is different, and to know how your body copes (or doesn't) with a change or modified pre race routine involves one or more trial runs.

I would hate to see an entry fee wasted, or a dissapointing result from following this advice or that, without your first testing how it works for you as an individual.

We all spend so much time training for these events, so treat this as part of your lead up training routine and se how it goes befpre the event.

Personally my prerace routine for marathon distance definitely involves the consumption of a high energy, but lightish meal at least 2 hrs before the race. for 50km or less sure you may be able to get away with minimal intake, but it definitely is not optimal (for me) anyway.

D

Whilst this is a well written article it's also pushed by a nutrition company doing a sales pitch. Nothing wrong with that all companies have to survive and it's good to see them educating the general sports person. However, I did find it interesting that the literature cited is from 1988. There have been many studies since this time that have tested the effects of science based sports additives that will challenge the theories and science in this article.

The article contradicts itself as we'll starting off with no food 3 hrs prior to activity then to conceed that for activity <90 mins duration is ok to have a light meal. As Dicko quite rightly points out try these strategies as part of your training and see what works for you.