How To Race

Nutrition

Season Opener at Oro Valley Tri. I was pleasantly surprised to finish first overall. I thought those days were behind me.

I want to build on last week’s article on Using Sports Nutrition and share tactics I’ve been experimenting with in my racing.

This year I was faster on every segment of the race. Not sure I’ll be able to put that off next year.

Last year, I heard Kristian Blummenfelt mention bicarb and long distance racing. Those of you in the ultrarunning community will have heard David Roche discuss his usage.

20+ years ago, we didn’t use sodium bicarbonate (bicarb), instead we used sodium citrate. The idea was to boost blood plasma volume. Back then, we’d drink a high-sodium beverage the night before our races. Basically, we were drinking very salty Gatorade.¹

Roll forward to 2026, and we have the option of the Maurten Bicarb System.

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5,200 mg of sodium per serving. That’s a lot and something you’ll want to discuss with your doctor. I will see next-day weight gain of up to 2kg from water retention. The weight gain was why I stopped using bicarb in training.

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With bicarb, I was wondering if it might be possible to receive both buffering and blood plasma volume benefits. Doc Hellemans explained buffering agents in his Top Ten Supplements for Endurance Athletes article.

First I tried bicarb in training, then with 5K running races, then a half marathon race, and most recently, an intermediate-distance triathlon.

• I take the bicarb 30-40 minutes before the race, or hard session.

• After being OK with the bicarb, I took with a Maurten 100 caffeinated gel (100Caf gel).

• Finally, I had the bicarb, a 100Caf gel, and a Maurten 320 drink pack. It is a total intake of 1 liter of fluid and 580 kcal.

• I’m guessing I can boost the fluid intake another 500ml. For those of us racing hot, or long, events the benefit is clear. We will have more on board, earlier. We will also be processing food and fluids during the swim.

Big Picture: I have been gradually boosting my intake volume, and energy content, to see how I tolerate. Training my tolerance is expected to give me a performance benefit.

The bicarb contains a lot of sodium which boosts my thirst significantly, making me want to drink more fluids during my event. During the half marathons, I wasn’t able to drink much fluids but, during a triathlon, the bike leg enables me to easily drink water (and eat additional carbs).

When racing, I find it gets increasing difficult to consume fluids or calories as the race progresses. That said, when I’m motivated, I can eat with my heart rate in excess of 90% of max. If I can eat then I know I can drink. I simply need to figure out a system. I’m guessing the solution will be to carry a wide-mouth soft flask (or slow down and get more aid from the stations).

For calories, I like the Maurten hydrogels, they seem to do better in my gut than the alternatives when I’m not drinking much fluids.

Hope this helps you perform better.

See you at the races.

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1. An article that might interest, The Hyperhydration Potential of Sodium Bicarbonate and Sodium Citrate.