Food, food and food - What to eat during a race

Thinking about what you are going to eat is essential. Food is so important. Our bodies are like cars, if you stop putting fuel in you will come to a grinding halt. If you put poor quality fuel in you’ll get poor performance. Make sure you have trained on the food you are going to race with.
More often than not if your teammate is lagging behind or having a meltdown - they NEED food. 

In shorter races try and eat every 30mins to an hour and have a sip of drink every 15 mins. Don’t wait until you feel hungry or thirsty to eat or drink as by then it is too late. A general rule is 1 gram of carbohydrate per body weight per hour. For shorter races I use a combination of Gels, bars, cookies, cake, nuts and sandwiches– peanut butter and jam or marmite and cheese sandwiches cut in quarters on white bread. DO NOT try anything new on race day. Having something solid in longer races is essential - your body cant handle 6 hours of gels. Also have some kind of electrolyte supplement to add to your water bottle or bladder. I use NUUN tablets as they are easy to carry and drop into your bottle.

Once again plan and prepare your food the day before and pack it into bags for each stage of the race. Always take a little extra in case it takes you longer than you expect. I usually have two spare GU gels tucked away in my pack for emergencies. Lollies are always a great team pick me up. Jet planes are my favourite.