"A race is actually way easier because I've not got to plan the route." - Tom Evans
Speaking on his podcast, The Ultra Sound, ultra-endurance runner Tom Evans has been sharing expert insights that runners of all abilities can follow.
In this latest instalment, Tom talks about how his race fuel compares to his training fuel, and how to 'disaster plan' for when races don't go according to plan.
Tom, how does your hour-to-hour fuel translate into the race itself?
It's exactly the same. I guess that old adage of 'don't do anything on race day that you haven't done in training' is really important. Don't try anything new on race day. For me, a race is just an extension of training because it's exactly the same.
A race is actually way easier because I've not got to plan the route. Yes, I've got to plan how long it's going to take me to get from point A to point B, for example from the start to the first checkpoint and then to the second checkpoint, so I need to know how much I need to carry. That's where the crew is so important because they are the ones who need to know that 'OK it's Tom and he's taken an extra 20 minutes here, well we need to now give him another 20 grams of carbohydrate'.
So understanding how that race is going time-wise and taking everything to into consideration.
So in that example - you've taken 20 minutes later than expected - what would be your go-to in terms of carbs?
I guess it's super-different depending on where you're racing. If you're racing in the US, in my opinion, there's some weird things at stations - it's all pretty sweet stuff. They'll have sweets, and you see some people drinking pickle juice - some people swear by it and, you know, don't knock it until you've tried it, but are there carbs in pickle juice?! There's no carb, but it's for hydration and to supposedly stop you from cramping. Some people love it and that's brilliant, but it's not my cup of tea.
If you're racing in Europe then it's super-European, there will be cheese, there will be salami, there will be bread.
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