Raceday prep

For nutrition, it will depend on the race. For sprints, I'll try to get 500-600 calories between the time I wake up and the start. Most often that means a big whole grain bagel and then some Gatorade as I'm driving to the race site and getting ready. I don't worry about nutrition during the race at all. The longer the distance, the more calories I try to get in before hand. For IM's a lot of people, including me, will get up early, eat several hundred calories, and then try to go back to sleep for an hour or so before doing it again.

Beer? Drink as much as you want as long as you're not driving.

For warm up, that will also depend on the event. The shorter the event, the more warm up I tend to do, simply because my effort level is going to be that much higher. For sprints and Olys, I'll run for about 10 minutes with some strides to get warm. For sprints, I sometimes throw in a few intervals as well. After that, I'll stretch for a bit and try to stay loose. I always try to get in the water and swim, regardless of the distance. For me, the first several hundred meters always feel tough, so it's very important for me to swim 5 minutes or so before the race starts. I usually try to time that so I'm forced to get out of the water because of the athlete's meeting or the race is about to start. I don't want to stand around in the cool morning air while I'm wet any longer than I have to.