need help/ diet- week of event

[mikecap]

i am a firefighter competing in a stair climbing event on saturday. with full gear on including the air pack (weighs about 50-60 lbs) we will race up a 29 story bldg or approx. 600 stairs. the winner last year did it in just over 5 minutes and i hope to be competitive. although it will be a 5-7 minute event for most on my team it is a pretty grueling event.

anyway im wondering about proper carb intake this week. although it is a short event and not really something that would require lots of stored carbs as a long running race would, im thinking that the difficulty of it will require some extra energy. but i dont want to go overboard on the carbs. any suggestions on diet? there are 3 full days left before the event saturday morning.

thanks for your help mike

 

[danzik17]

One idea I have is to do a tension workout Thursday and do a mini-carbup on Friday. I don't know how well that will work since you're not in a glycogen depleted state though.

Other than that, keep it pretty normal I'd say. 3 days isn't much time to play with anything.

Maybe take 20g of creatine per day to creatine load until the event. Usual load time is 5 days, but it has to be better than nothing.

 

[justinholland007]

Hey good luck this weekend.

I've read a lot of research on carb loading in the past and it's now been proven that you need at least 5 days to see and effectiveness. ( Don't shoot the messenger lol)

Anyways, the most important thing you can do is to start drinking a lot of water if you aren't already. Even if you are, you can increase your uptake some more. Being dehydrated in that much of a grueling event is what will kill you the most. I like the suggestion (above) of taking some creatine as well, although I don't know how beneficial it is.

Overall tho, I'd stay away from all simple sugars and even breads especially white. Vegies, whole grains and high quality protein are you best friends in this situation. You'll go into the event without any groginess and thats exactly what you want.

Good luck

 

[Built]

Glycerine can be helpful for these things since it helps your muscles stay hydrated. Sodium Bicarb can help prevent lactate buildup. Neither should be used before you test ahead of time.