Race nutrition report: Carb loading for Masters State Championships
Recording what you eat in the days leading up to a race, during and after a race and reflecting upon your performance by writing a race nutrition report is a fantastic habit I encourage all my clients to get into.
At Tour Down Under last month I had the pleasure of riding with one of my previous clients - Glen Leechburch Auwers. He joined me on the podcast and wrote a race report to share his experience working with a sports dietitian as a master cyclist, learning how to carb load and the impact it had on his cycling performance.
This one [photo] of Dave and I this year on Australia Day. Then one of me at nationals with a silver medal.
The one with the medal shows my physique, which might help readers/listeners appreciate the fact that I used to be 132kg and don’t have a ‘perfect’ body. But also just how much you were able to help me loose an additional 8kg to get to my goal weight for nationals.
With regards to the carb loading data, I only tracked my carbs going into the State Masters championships. I had a 20km (30min) ITT on the 1st day then an 85km (2:15) Road Race on the second day.
So, I knew the ITT didn’t need carb loading in its own right, only a 30min all out effort. But as it was the day before the 2+ hour Road Race, I knew I didn’t want to be in a glycogen depleted state going into the second day (road race). So I carb loaded a day before my first race (694g carbs) then also carb loaded on the day of the ITT in preparation for the road race (605g carbs).
I didn’t fuel during the ITT, but definitely fuelled the Road race, taking two bottles of SIS Beta fuel (80g each bottle, 160g carbs for the race).
Whilst I did ‘ok’ in the Time Trial, I had a fantastic race in the Road Race (I forgot to mention this in the podcast meeting). It was 4 laps of a circuit with one moderate climb in the middle. As a heavier rider, that climb was always going to be my weak point. So my race goal was to not get dropped on the first lap. Goal achieved, I made it over the climb with the main bunch on the first lap. But boy did it hurt. Then, second lap the big hitters really put on the pressure. The whole peloton crumbled and I fell off the back like a sack of potatoes. But, I didn’t give up and persevered in time trial mode. Shortly after the climb I could see most of the peloton (about 7 riders) had regrouped, but I was a fair distance back. It took me over half a lap to get back on.
Again, they hit the climb hard on the third lap, this really hurt and again I was dropped. Now I was so far back the follow car overtook me to stay with the bunch. Again I persevered and got back on. But this was taking its toll. However, to my surprise, the riders around me started to struggle as well. Missing turns and falling behind on small hills and rises. To my surprise, we popped a few riders on smallish climbs. There aren’t many 80+ km races on the race calendar so perhaps not just the intensity, but the duration was taking its toll on the other riders. But I still felt strong. The group had now dwindled to 4 of is, with 2 up the road in a breakaway. We were racing for 3rd.
Final time into the climb and another attack, but this time I managed to crest the hill in second place. But as much as I tried, I couldn’t hold the wheel of the guy in front and he rode away. So now it’s just 3 of us racing for fourth.
Final 2km and I was feeling good. No one made a move and so I lead the sprint from the front and held the other two off. No doubt my carb loading had paid off in spades. The others just didn’t have anything left in the tank.
So, I achieved 4th place at the State Masters Championships due to determination and perseverance, with a dose of carb loading and good bike nutrition. My expectation was to be dropped on the first lap. There were so many ‘better’ and ‘stronger’ riders there that day. I think the carb loading gave me that extra edge to finish strong.
I’ve attached screen shots of my power data and carb loading for those two races.
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Thanks for sharing your experience Glen!
Gemma
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