Staged Endurance Racing: The Training Diet

Hardcore stage events require intense training, with specialised nutrition. Here’s what to eat while training for the epic race.

Fluid

The Pronutro AfricanX Trail-Run diet should include additional fluid to cover sweat losses and additional energy to fuel activity.

Energy and Carbohydrates

Much of the additional energy should be consumed in the form of carbohydrates, as protein needs are most often met in an athletes’ diet. Insufficient dietary carbohydrate intake will lead to fatigue and an inability to maintain your training volume and pace.

Required intakes are based on your body weight and training volume, and can be easily calculated using 50 g carbohydrate options:

If you are training 120 min/day: ingest 8-10 g/kg/d

Practical Example:

60 kg female training 90 min per day

60 kg x 6 g carbs (from guidelines above) equals 360g of carbs per day.

Divide amount (360g) by 50 (grams per carbohydrate portion)

Total: ~7

Choose about 7 options from the list: Examples of 50g CHO options

• 3 slices bread
• 3 potatoes
• 1 cup pasta
• 1 cup sweet potato
• 1 cup baked beans
• 3 medium pieces fruit
• 2 hot-cross buns
• 1 cup fruit yoghurt
• 1.5 cups rice
• 1 bowl cereal and milk
• 1 jam/banana roll
• 10 marshmallows
• 9 jelly babies
• 3.5 Tbs raisins
• 1.5 pkts pretzels
• 250 ml Megaload
• 800-1000 ml sports drink
• 500 ml cold drink
• 1 sports bar
• 2 cups fruit juice

Basic example:
Breakfast: 1 bowl cereal + milk + 1 glass fruit juice
Snack: 1 fruit + 1 hot-cross bun
Lunch: 2 slices bread or 1 roll + protein filling + 1 fruit
Snack: 1 packet low fat pretzels
Post-training: 1 sports drink
Dinner: 1 cup pasta with low fat high protein topping
Snack: 1 fruit and yoghurt

Make it a habit to read food labels so you know what you are eating!!

Done with the training and it’s now race time? Here’s what to eat during the race.

Training tips for a staged endurace race.

For more information on the Pronutro AfricanX, visit Stillwater Sports.