Being well into the season now, I have a routine locked in which I do the day before an Italian national race. This differs when competing at a different catorgory/type of race (for example at a stage race or when I might be staying at a hotel) but when driving up on
the same day as the race itself, the day prior is normally very similar.
Make no mistake this may not be these most be the most common things to do but I’ve found this has worked well for me.
1)Ride:
My day kicks off with a “pre race ride”. This is usually 2hrs with some intervals included. I’d like to think I’ve got a good gage of my body now and what it needs to be feeling good the following day, so this can vary slightly. (For example if I am particularly tired I may reduce the time and take the riding outside of the intervals very easy.) Other things to note on this ride is consuming more carbohydrates than typical to start a mini carb load for the race.
2) Clean Bike:
After returning back from the ride I get straight into cleaning my bike; yes - still in my chamois ;). The team normally pack the truck the day before the race so to not cause inconvenience I get it done ASAP. This way they can put on the race wheels, get the truck packed up and return to their homes without waiting round all afternoon for me.
Squeeky clean bike
3) Lunch:
Following on from this I get showered and tuck into some lunch. I make sure to have more than usual here to help recovery and continue to fuel for the race.
Prepare Nutrition:
Next on my agenda is preparing my nutrition for the following day. This can be split into 3 sections: pre race, during race and general snacks.
I’m notorious for my pre race meal/ breakfast. This is because where most riders tend to pasta (especially being in an Italian team!), I make up a big container filled with oats and cereal. If you are looking for specifics it’s; oats, protein yoghurt, banana, berries and a selection of cereals. I could give you the argument that it sits well with me but there is also the added factor of I find it a lot more tasty! I get some strange looks but I’m used to this now; the looks are not only because of the different choice of food but also because of the sheer amount, often getting chuckles for it being an “endless container of cereal”.
A selection of cereals for to be added to my breakfast in the morning
For during the race, I pack a banana, make up 2 jam brioches and a carb drink. Possibly over doing it here and often I won’t eat both brioches, however our team is hit and miss with our race nutrition so I prefer to pack more than less. ** The banana and brioches are to fill in the gap between my breakfast and the start of the race but easier to include in this section. My carb drink for the race is 90g sugar mixed with water and a 75mg caffeine/electrolyte tab. It may surprise to see that I use regular table sugar but it’s been shown to have almost exactly the same make up as using an expensive brand. It’s worked well for me and I’ve never experienced any problems so if you haven’t tried I would highly recommend.
**The final thing to note is during the race our team only hands out water, so I know at least if I start with this on my bike I have an easy access to carbs.
The final section on this is general snacks. Often having a long drive back to the team house after the race means we get very hungry! To combat this I pack some goodies to fill this time, nothing specific, simply whatever I fancy at that time.
Some snacks and 90g Sugar + caffeine/electrolyte tablet in the bottle ready for the race
Pack bag:
Luckily this is a fairly fast affair. We’re well into the swing of the season now so my bag pretty much stay packed through all the races. The only thing that needs adding is my gels/bars/chews for the individual race. Saying that, I’ve got this dialled in as well now with only needing slight adjustments depending on the length of the race. Now that it’s Summer, my bag has become substantially lighter. Being in Italy you can almost guarantee it’s going to be hot, in that sense I only need to bring my skinsuit (+ a gilet just in case).
Some non standard things that I pack that might pike your interest:
Chain Lube
Tyre pressure gage
Sponge (for washing dishes/ containers)
Sellotape
Toilet roll :)
Multi Tool
Race bag
Analyse Race:
After these small tasks I feel I have earned some rest and a lie down. I whack on my compression socks and spend some time on my IPad. During this time I take the opportunity to have a mini-analysis of the race. It starts with a searching through previous year’s results. I find this useful as you can get a gage of what type of rider the course suits and a look for trends in how the race has previously finished i.e a breakaway win or big peloton sprint.
Next up is building a route on Strava, this allows me to look at the course in more detail with segments showing expected speeds etc. Further on from this I can log onto veloviewer and look at the road widths and surface, feeling like an MI5 spy in the process!
Dinner:
Rounding off the evening is dinner. Unfortunately I have to sacrifice my love of vegetables here as it’s important to focus on carbs and get the liver full of glycogen for the following day. This is capped off with another infamous “Zac Walker endless bowl of cereal”. For a small guy I can definitely stomach a lot of food!
Bed:
I’ll get into bed a little earlier than normal but don’t necessarily go to sleep especially early. This is because I find if I try to do this I end up lying with my eyes closed but still awake. Personally I’ve found it works a lot better if I stay in my routine and go to sleep at a normal time for myself - around 11:30. Usually hit with an early start the following day whilst we drive to the race, I continue to catch up on the zzz’s in the car journey.
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