- Nutrition is obviously a key part of racing.
So we've had the opportunity to go around the pros
and find out what they have for breakfast
on the morning of a race.
What do you have on the morning of a race for breakfast?
- Ah-- - Um--
- Um-- - Ahh--
- It's all these fun questions.
- Ah, good question.
It's normally pretty simple.
Just a bowl of porridge, so nothing too exciting,
but it works for me.
- Ah, I just have eggs and cheese, that's it.
- Ah, rice.
- Normally in long distance stuff, you've got eat
pretty close to the start, so simple stuff.
A bit of cereal, a bit of toast, a banana,
something like that.
- Okay, what would do you have for breakfast Bucko?
- Ah, porridge, maybe two slices of toast
and a bit of coffee just to get the ol' system working.
- Oh, that's pretty interesting.
I have some beetroot juice and then I have a porridge
enriched with some rice and oats and blueberry jam,
and some nonfat plain yoghourt and some coconut oil.
So it's an interesting twist, but I like it.
- So I used to have porridge and eggs
and now I go for jam and toast.
- Interesting, why do you choose that now?
Why have you swapped?
- Because now working with my BMC team,
we kind of worked out calories a little bit more
and I have been known to have gut issues and it helps.
- What do you have for breakfast on the morning of a race?
- Muffins.
- [Interviewer] Just muffins?
- Muffins are just this, just a bomb of calories.
Not necessarily the best calories, but they transport well,
and you can stick 'em in bags and stuff
and who cares if they get squished
because they just turn into this goo-ball
and they taste good and plus, I like chocolate
so I give myself a little treat before the day begins.
Yeah, I'm a muffin man, for sure.
- What sort of breakfast do you have in the morning?
- Some cereal and toast and jam.
- Always oatmeal and that's every single day,
not just race day.
Always oatmeal, yoghourt, blueberries, maple syrup.
- I like to have scrambled eggs and toast.
I try and eat as much as I can, but I tend to feel
a bit nervous before a race so I can't get that much in,
but if I'm not too nervous, it goes down quite well.
- Of course, I'm German, so I have bread
with banana and peanut butter on it.
- [Interviewer] What do you have for breakfast on race day?
- Usually I like to have like a chocolate muffin
or something (laughs).
- Yeah, you wake up and it's a 4:00 a.m.
or whatever it is, you're not that excited to eat,
but you're never not excited to eat a chocolate muffin.
It's a good way to get some calories
and yeah, some energy.
I've tried eating eggs or something,
but it doesn't really sit well sometimes at 4:00 a.m.
so a chocolate muffin is always pretty good.
- I have rice bread, like four slices, with some jam
and an energy bar and a double espresso.
- What do you have for breakfast on race day?
- It always depends a little bit.
I try to, of course, have a bit of energy,
but not too much heavy stuff, so I normally have
some white bread and maybe tahini, like tahini spread,
or butter with some jam.
Maybe some chicken breasts, but I've also experienced
that kid's breakfast stuff, how do you call it?
Like some bray?
So like morning breakfast stuff for the babies.
Yeah, the baby food.
That's also actually quite high energy
and if you don't feel like eating,
that goes down quite easy.
- You said chicken?
- Yeah, like chicken breast slices.
Sometimes I really don't feel like it.
I find it good to have some protein if I can
and I don't really like protein shakes too much
so that's why I have chicken.
- I have cold steel cut oatmeal.
I make it the night before because hot oatmeal,
for whatever reason, makes me want to gag in the morning,
but the cold stuff I can handle
usually with blueberries on top.
- Normally a bagel or a bar of some type.
It sort of changes.
A muffin, anything small.
By race morning you're not that hungry.
- [Interviewer] I'm really surprised.
That's a really small amount.
You literally just a bagel or a bar?
- Pretty much.
I don't have that much.
I mean I have a gel right before the swim.
A gel as soon as I get out of the swim.
Another four on the bike, bottle, like I'm eating all day.
- [Interviewer] What do you have for breakfast on race day?
- I just sort of play it by feel a little bit.
If I'm particularly nervous and I'm not hungry,
I sometimes don't eat anything.
If I'm hungry, I'll typically have some sweet potato,
a little bit of eggs.
That's about the extent of it, pretty simple.
- I can't believe that sometimes you would eat nothing
before your race.
- Well, I figure if your adrenaline's pumping,
you're nervous and your gut is shut down,
there's no point in putting food in there
if it's just gonna sit there and you burp it up
for the first hour of the race.
Most of the glycogen storage is done in the days
leading up and anything you eat that morning,
it's really just a little top up
so it's not going to drastically change the race.
- Wow, some interesting food choices there.
A lot of variation.
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