Race day is around the corner. It may be your first Ironman Triathlon or your 6th Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. You are STOKED. You have done the training. You have put time and effort into the pool, on the road, and in running shoes. #BAM, you got this!

It’s RACE DAY!

The Gun goes off.

You ROCK the swim.

You get on the bike. Your nutrition is like the “buffet” line, and you grab what is on the course. The bike is finished.

The run is your thang, or so you thought. My body isn’t feeling good. You want to throw up, but you opt to walk instead.

You crossed that finish line but were super disappointed.

What happened? Where did things go wrong?

I have one word for you, and maybe you have already figured it out:

Race Day NUTRITION

Race Day nutrition is very challenging for an Ironman Triathlon and an Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. Still, with some trial and error, planning, and getting information from the right people, I can guarantee that you will NOT have an issue with the race course.

Let’s talk a little bit about science, and then let me give you a real-life example.

There are a couple of ways athletes will consume their calories for long-distance triathlon.

**Utilize your carbohydrates storages to get your energy. From many studies, muscle glycogen depletion is a significant cause of fatigue in moderate-intensity exercise lasting longer than an hour.**

**Utilize your fat storage to get your energy, another term that you may have heard is “Keto.”**

Side Note: Remember, EVERY athlete is different for nutrition, so you have to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for you. First Endurance was the peeps that I worked with, and they helped me a TON, along with The Core Diet!

My example is my journey with Ironman Triathlons and 70.3 IM Triathlon.

I was trying to figure out what worked for me, and it was getting to the point that the nutrition piece was getting complicated, and I was not getting in what I needed to take in. I did everything you can imagine:

First 4 Ironman Triathlon Nutrition: Power Bars, Gels, Hammer Products, CarboPro, Foods such as PB&J, and finally, Infinite

Two Ironman Triathlons: Generation UCAN (#epicfail)

Last Ironman Triathlons: First Endurance and nutrition in the course

Initially, nutrition was all about trial and error, and if I didn’t have any GI issues. I started reading about what other athletes were doing. Then I would try things EVEN if the original stuff was working. About six weeks before IMFL 2013, I started using Generation UCAN. Not the brightest idea but something needed to change. In 2015 for IMMT, I was using Generation UCAN, but I needed more since I did NOT train my body to utilize my fats properly. At IMMT, I was in the bathroom, 5x’s on the run, taking in Generation UCAN and other nutrition. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to make a change.

I read about First Endurance EFS Pro on Slowtwitch and how Jordon Rapp used it for IMMT in 2015. I researched it, chatted with my coach, and a light bulb turned on. I need to go back to the basics of science…CHO is a primary food source for most athletes.

Once I started using First Endurance EFS Pro, my race day was SOLID. I didn’t have ANY GI issues at IMFL 15, IMFL 16, and numerous other races. IMTX was a different race. Just don’t swallow the water in the lake.

Around August 2016, I started chatting with a friend who works with QT2 and The Core Diet. I looked at The Core Diet website, and another light bulb turned on. I realized that I needed to get a complete “Race Fueling Plan.” It was the best thing I have ever done, as this has helped me head into IMFL 16 and just two weeks ago at 70.3 IMTX.

Ready for this? Here is what I consumed before the Ironman 70.3 TX:

Friday Night – March 31st

Pho Soup with very few vegetables

Saturday Morning – April 1st 

Scrambled Eggs

Bacon

Two pieces of GF Bread

Two pancakes with syrup

Cantaloupe and coffee

Lunch – April 1st 

HUGE sandwich with GF bread and chips

Dinner – April 1st

Chicken, Rice, and Gatorade

Morning (4:00 am)

1.75 cups of Applesauce with protein

EnviroKids Rice Bar

Gatorade

Coffee – No Butter 😃

Pre Race (6:50 am)

Huma Gel and  water

Here is my Race Info: 

Bike: I knocked out 230 calories of EFS Pro for the first and second hours, along with another bottle worth 170 calories. Grabbed some Gatorade Endurance, about 100 calories of that. No water. (It probably needed some gels but not there yet)

Run First Endurance Vanilla Shot every 15 minutes until mile 8. Base salt every other mile. I took in Coke from mile 8 to mile 12 and pushed it to finish!

I took WAY more in than I ever thought possible with NO GI issues AND eating gluten beforehand, and jumping on that podium at 70.3 IM TX!

So, what is the takeaway from this? Hire a nutritionist who will help you figure out your nutrition, especially if you are getting ready for an Ironman Triathlon or an Ironman 70.3 Triathlon!

I did. Maybe, just maybe, it will take you to the podium…just saying.

Interested in what The Core Diet can do for you? You won’t be disappointed!