As racing calls us back to the start line, it's important to remember your fueling strategies for race day.  It's important to give yourself time throughout your training to test your planned strategies because you never want to sabotage your race with a new fueling idea the morning of the event.  Following are five reminders that are key to your race day fueling success.

1. Learn what your sweat rate is by doing a sweat test (ideally in a similar climate as your race). I've written two previous articles that you can find in our D3 U. library that explain how to do a sweat test.  Reference One and Reference Two.
2. Understand how much fluid you'll need based on your sweat rate.
3. Replenish your electrolytes lost in sweat - ensure the nutrition you choose covers your needs to replace what you lose through sweat.
4. Choose an efficient fuel source - ~60g of carbohydrate an hour should be a target with a mix of glucose and fructose at a 2:1 ratio.
5. Recover - don't forget to consume protein after a hard workout or race to ensure proper recovery as well as maintain proper hydration levels.

An effective fueling strategy can be as easy as recording your experience during training with the different variations you try and basic math calculations.  We know you've got this!  

Nick Suffredin is an expert in fueling strategies for athletes, and we are proud he is a resource for D3 athletes. Nick is a former scientist at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) where his primary responsibility was to support the GSSI physiology research program. As part of the innovation team, Nick supported research to help improve athlete recovery and performance.

The goal of working with our race day fueling expert is to help you go the distance without bonking during a training session or on race day.  Every athlete is unique and has different fueling requirements, and as such, you can expect to have an initial consultation with our race day fueling expert, complete a detailed intake and evaluation form that will explore sweat rate, caloric needs, current products, opportunities in training for trials with correct amounts of fluids, electrolytes, and other fueling strategies.  Learn more here.