Resident nutritionist? 8 hour Team race feeding questions
 

I am entering an eight hour team race on the 18th with at least one other member, and am looking for nutrition advice to keep us alive. Not worried about "competitively healthy" as we just want to have fun and survive. So, here are my questions-

What meals to eat in advance, and how many days before?

What to eat the morning of, knowing that the race starts at 8AM?

What to eat during the rider exchange/breaks? (Assuming one hour stints with equal rest, repeat as necessary.)

Plain water or electrolyte in the hydration bladder?

What to eat at the end of the race? (Recovery type food, not just the beer.)

Here are my qualifiers- I'm not in perfect shape, but I do okay. I know that exceptional performance requires exceptional training (including diet), but I'm built for comfort, not for speed, and I train appropriately (cardio for endurance). I just want to make sure that our fun is not eclipsed by the discomfort of a poor diet leading up to and including the day of event. It's a ten mile loop, not exactly the place to easily pull off and answer nature's call, if you catch my drift.

The morning of the race, something easily digestable. I do oatmeal with nanners and a light drizzle of honey and a bit of milk. I wouldn't do an egg burrito with bacon as that tends to sit in my stomach for quite a while.

Some like to add protein, but eat only what goes through you without a fight. You don't want to be jouncing all over the prarie with hunks of McRiblet sandwich in your gullet.

Carb-out about a day previous, unless you are actively training every day, otherwise you'll be nice and fat by the end of the race season.

I like to drink enough water over the previous days such that my urine come out clear, without even a hint of yellow. I find that if I really load up with water the night before, I just get headaches (osmotic imbalance).

Depending on the race, I like to have 1/3rd of my Camelback with some sort of carbo-drink (even lowly Gatorade). I have a particular need to keep my blood sugar up during races longer than 90-minutes or so. Other folks won't need to.

I have no stomach problems when drinking coffee or taking a couple of pre-race ibuprofens. Both seem to help (me).

Just me and K
 

This has worked for wife and I for Enduros and long rides

Race morning-omelette with lots of veggies. Not a ton of cheese (too bulky) and no bacon-bacon is crazy salty. Little bit of starch-potatoes, toast, whatever.

Water/Gatorade mixture in camelback. 3:1 water. Frequent small sips, frequently.

We would begin hydrating a couple days before.

Fruit and almonds during the race. We used to eat a big nasty sandwich mid ride but over the years learned that just slowed us down. Surprisingly fruit does us well. Occasionally part of a power bar but noticed they tend to make us peak and then trough-fruit seems to be more consistent energy

check out scratch labs,, they have some great advice for home made carb/energy bars for during a race.. they make food for bicycle racers but its kinda close..

My TRX trainer made some awesome bannana bread and brownies with protein powder and other stuff. Excellent!

Are those pre, during, or post ride? Can you share a recipe?

During a long ride(especially in hot weather), I shy way, away from meats, or anything salty. These take a tremendous amount of water to digest. I'm no nutritionist, but I seriously carb-load prior to the ride. I can't drink enough water during a ride, so I try to guess how long I'll be in motion and stretch a 100oz bladder that distance. I've adopted REVERUP's pouch on my chest protecter, so I have easy access to snacks on the fly. If I think I'll need "on the fly" energy, I'll eat energy gels(these can be purchased easily at a bicycle shop). My biggest concern for myself is to ride a pace that I can maintain from start to finish.

All good responses.
I would add to the suggestions, Coconut water. Higher in potassium than banana's and more electrolytes than the "ade" drinks without the "crash" from their high sugar levels.
Before during and after the race as it is also an excellent recovery drink.

I prefer the ZICO brand [mango or passion fruit flavors], they are not the best tasting and definitely drink them cold.

The swedish enduro champ Mats Nilsson (who has won the 18h race Novemberkasan several times) once said in an interview: Regarding food -bring what you like. When you are utterly exhausted wet and cold, there is no point in bringing special food, if you cannot eat it.

And that, my friends, is the difference between a winner and a loser. When Mats Nilsson is "utterly exhausted wet and cold" he kicks her into life a heads off into the rain for the next 40km section of gruelling track. When I am "feeling a bit weary, think it might start raining soon, and have to zip up my jacket" I head for the carpark, hot coffee and a pie:)