17/08/2026
📌 THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Don't leave your race nutrition to one enormous bowl of pasta the night before!!
Start fuelling 48 hours out, keep topping up on race day, fuel while you're racing, then give your body what it needs to recover afterwards.
Read on for the details:
🍚48 HOURS OUT
Start increasing your carbs two days before race day, aiming for around 5–7g of carbs per kg of bodyweight each day.
For example:
60kg = 300–420g carbs/day
70kg = 350–490g carbs/day
80kg = 400–560g carbs/day
Yep more carbs than you think!
Keep it simple and stick to foods you already eat and know your stomach handles well. This isn't the weekend to completely change your diet or experiment with something new and choose plenty of high carb, lowe fibre foods to keep your energy stores topped up without leaving your gut feeling too full
Think rice, pasta, bread, bagels, crumpets, cereal, pancakes, bananas, juice, sports drinks, honey and jam.
🏁 RACE DAY
What you eat will depend a little on what time you're racing.
Early race?
Don't stress about waking up at 3am to force down a huge breakfast. Have a familiar, easy to digest, carb heavy breakfast or snack when you wake up, then top up again closer to your race.
Afternoon race?
You've got more time to fuel. Eat your normal meals throughout the morning, keeping them carb focused and relatively low in fibre and fat. Have your main pre race meal around 3–4 hours before you race, then top up again closer to your start time.
⚡️ THE FINAL HOUR
Aim for around 1g of carbs per kg of bodyweight in the hour leading into your race.
60kg = ~60g carbs
70kg = ~70g carbs
80kg = ~80g carbs
That doesn't have to be one giant snack. It can come from food, sports drink, gels, or a combination of whatever you've practised and know sits well.
⛽️ DURING THE RACE....(continued in comments!)
