Best Race Day Foods, Drinks, and Fueling Strategies, with Stephanie Howe, PhD (#244)

04/16/25 • 34 min

The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS

OVERVIEW

Stephanie Howe, PhD is back for Part 2 of the sports nutrition podcasts she recorded with Coach Adam Pulford. An elite ultramarathon runner who won Western States, CTS Coach, and the provider for CTS Nutrition Coaching services, Stephanie works with cyclists, runners, triathletes, and more. In Episode 244 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Stephanie and Coach Adam Pulford lay out evidence-based, practical sports nutrition recommendations for race day, including a checklist for planning your raceday nutrition, how to adapt your plan when things go wrong, how to come back from a bad stomach, and more.

TOPICS COVERED

Creating a race day eating and drinking plan
Planning ahead with aid stations, feed zones, drop bags, etc.
How 'palate fatigue' stops athletes from consuming more food.
How to come back from an upset stomach during a race
How much sodium do you really need?

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LINKS/RESOURCES

HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
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OVERVIEW

TOPICS COVERED

Creating a race day eating and drinking plan
Planning ahead with aid stations, feed zones, drop bags, etc.
How 'palate fatigue' stops athletes from consuming more food.
How to come back from an upset stomach during a race
How much sodium do you really need?

ASK A QUESTION FOR A FUTURE PODCAST

LINKS/RESOURCES

Previous Episode

What To Eat and Drink To Fuel Your Best Training Days, with Stephanie Howe, PhD (#243)

OVERVIEW

Stephanie Howe, PhD is our go-to source for no-nonsense, evidence-based nutrition guidance. She doesn't abide fads or pseudoscience and has no allegiances to sports nutrition or supplement companies. An elite ultramarathon runner who won Western States, CTS Coach, and the provider for CTS Nutrition Coaching services, Stephanie works with cyclists, runners, triathletes, and more. In Episode 243 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Stephanie and Coach Adam Pulford discuss the fundamentals of sports nutrition for training, misconceptions about eating sugar, how the recent "max carbohydrate" trends apply to Time-Crunched Athletes, and more.

TOPICS COVERED

Why athletes shouldn't be afraid of consuming sugar during exercise
Ingredients to look for in sports nutrition products
Adjusting calorie/carbohydrate intake by exercise intensity
Nutrition for endurance days vs. interval/competition days
Gut training: what it is, why it's good, how to do it
What to eat in the 24 hours before important training/competition
Hydration recommendations for training/competition
Why you should carry both water and sport drink

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LINKS/RESOURCES

Next Episode

Beyond Intervals: How to Get Fast Without Interval Training

OVERVIEW
Interval training works, but there are ways to get stronger, ride faster, and win races without interval training. There are even aspects of performance that are better suited to no-interval training blocks. In some cases, the structured intensity with planned recovery breaks hinders an athlete's flexibility to use power and fitness spontaneously. Coach Adam Pulford breaks away from the dogma of interval training to show you how to improve your fitness and performance with a period of reduced structure.

TOPICS COVERED

The 5 reasons we do intervals in training
3 Ways to train without intervals
- Sample workout 1: Hard Climbing Day
- Sample workout 2: Kilojoules per hour
- Sample workout 3: Normalized Power Game
3 Ways to use Group Rides for productive training
Monitoring your fitness when you're not doing intervals
Subjective feedback: "real feel" vs. "should feel"

ASK A QUESTION FOR A FUTURE PODCAST

LINKS/RESOURCES

The Evolution of Endurance

The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS - Best Race Day Foods, Drinks, and Fueling Strategies, with Stephanie Howe, PhD (#244)

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:07.150

From the team at CTS . This is the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast , our show dedicated to answering your training questions and providing actionable advice to help you improve your performance even if you're strapped for time . I'm your host , coach Adam Pulford , and I'm one of the over 50 professional coaches who make up the team at CTS . In each episode , I draw on our team's colle