"We should train how we race." - Tom Evans
In ultra-running, race preparation starts long before the gun goes off.
For elite runners like Tom Evans, every detail matters - from when he finishes his final meal to how he manages caffeine, nerves and fuelling in the hours before a race.
Speaking on his podcast, The Ultra Sound, Tom breaks down exactly how he prepares for Western States, one of the most demanding ultra-marathons in the world.
Before Western States what was your build-up? What was your pre-race preparation?
I think Western States is a difficult one. It's an early morning race start - around 5am - so you're getting up super early.
For me, I like to have finished my last meal three hours before the race starts and that for me is always a super-basic meal. It's either a little bit of rice with some yogurt, or it's as simple as just a bowl of Cornflakes, or some white bread with some jam - with no seeds. I don't know why 'no seeds' but that was what a nutritionist once told me and it's worked - so if it's not broken don't fix it!
Then 90 minutes before the race starts I then have my sodium bicarbonate, which has 40 grams of carbohydrate, and that works as a lactic acid buffer. So what it helps to do is when you're running hard, you're building up lactic acid in your muscles, and what this then does is it helps to get that lactic acid out of your muscles and into your blood so you can break it down.
As a result it's not of clogging up in your muscles and you're feeling really slow and sluggish and you run the risk of getting cramp.
Is that your prep for every race?
Yeah, this is for every race but it's also before some key training sessions because we should train how we race.
But obviously an early morning start has got some problems to it, so after the bicarb I'll get back into bed, relax a little bit, and then I'll have a Red Bull somewhere in between.
I'll probably open it 60 minutes before the race and finish it 30 minutes before the race.
When you say you get back into bed, are you going back to sleep or just dozing?
Well normally I'm pretty nervous so I can't actually fall asleep. But for a lot of people who eat and then lie down, their food doesn't digest.
How are you feeling before the race?
For a morning race it's always tricky and maybe my system isn't firing on all cylinders at that time, so it's something that you need to take into account.
If you've not been to the bathroom in the morning, for example, it might need to be something that you do at the beginning of a race, it's absolutely something to consider.
I guess it's all like a trade-off: I probably could get my body moving better if I did everything an hour earlier, but I would prioritise an extra hour of sleep rather than stopping for 30 seconds in a race.
Then as soon as the race starts, I'm fuelling throughout. For Western States I was completely on liquid and gels, which is pretty different to other races.
