We all get hungry and have our favorite foods. Comfort food has different meaning to everyone who hears it. As someone who competes in a multitude of different arenas, eating, and more precisely fueling, is very important but difficult. What do people eat during an off road race? I can answer what we do, other teams may have better ideas, or different ideas, but this isn’t their blog so…
I compete, a lot. I show horses, have done body building, have run races, done fitness based competitions, and now I drive a 4800 race car. Food and fueling my body has become a very big key to successes and sometimes it is the very thing that can destroy all of your efforts in one swoop. A few weeks ago we talked about the importance and impact of physical fitness on performance in the vehicles. Today I want to talk a little bit about what we eat while we race. The immense amount of scientific data, studies, food preferences, diet tolerances and personal beliefs can literally take years to understand. The nuances of macros and kcal literally take a masters degree to really understand. I am not talking about that today(though it is fascinating and a field worth spending time learning about). Today I wanted to discuss more about the actual foods we eat and why.
King of The Hammers is the longest race we do, both distance and time wise. My last two finishes came after almost 10+ hours in the car, I literally never left my drivers seat. As someone who has a hard time eating when nervous, breakfast is almost always out of the question on days of competition. Unfortunately this can lead to a really hard day. What we have found to solve this problem specifically at Hammers is finding comfort foods that are easy to eat, snacks that can be handed into the car at pits, or supplements. One of my favorite, most disgusting, pieces of advice is to only eat things that you wouldn’t mind throwing up. Peanut butter on bread is a huge saving grace for me to eat before the line up on race day. Smaller races are often a little less stressful so its not as hard to get a balanced breakfast. Something with good fats, protein, and carbs such as a homemade breakfast burrito are perfect. You have to be careful and make sure that the options you chose won’t upset your stomach or cause issues.
Most races are less then 3 hours so snacks aren’t necessary. Water and electrolytes are the biggest concern for the hot summer races we participate in, and we usually focus on getting hydrated before we race and rehydrating after. King of The Hammers is the main race involving being in a car for more then 3-4 hours. Part of our pit strategy includes having someone hand the drivers a snack of choice. For myself things like a piece of lunch meat and cheese works perfectly. Since we usually only have to stop once in the Everyman Challenge for fuel I prefer a fast acting carb like Gu, its easy to eat(it’s literally goo) with a helmet on, it has some electrolytes, it provides a big burst of energy and combines well with the lunch meat. If there is time, or a second stop we will do more substantial options like granola bars. Because Hunter’s race is much longer he has a few more stops in pits. Gu has a very high concentration of sugars so we only offer those once or twice. We plan on giving him different snacks at each pit including granola bars, to make sure they stay focused and have energy if they have to get out of the car.
Keeping your blood sugar up helps with focus, helps you make better decisions, and can prevent hanger situations. It’s surprising how much better you feel as soon as you eat, maintaining that in the cars can be hard so it is important to have a plan and know what works for you. As boring as it sounds trying your snacks weeks before hand can help in your preparations and pit strategy. After years of racing we know what won’t work for us, and are constantly working to improve on what does work for us. It may seem small but having the right snacks before during and after a race can make the difference between a great day, a bad day, and a shitty day!
See you out there
Kimberly