UCI E-MTB World Championships

For short events like this one, the nutrition in the immediate build up is far more impactful on performance than what you consume during the race itself. Tracy made sure she would start the race with full energy stores by executing a textbook carb load, culminating with fresh tortellini and ravioli pasta for dinner the night before and a large bowl of porridge and some toast on race-day. She then used a PF 30 Gel 15 minutes before the starters' gun fired in order to boost the available glucose in her bloodstream and save some of her stored carbohydrate for later in the race.

Just like with fueling, Tracy's approach to the race from a hydration perspective really centred around what she would drink beforehand rather than during the event. She pre-loaded her electrolyte intake by drinking a serving of PH 1500 (Tablets). The result of this is a boost in blood plasma volume via water retention, which means she arrived at the race venue as optimally hydrated as she could. During the ride, both the intensity and techincality of the course meant she didn't drink much (~250ml), however this is completely appropriate for a short race where dehydration isn't likely to be an issue as she wouldn't lose enough fluid as sweat to negatively impact her performance.

As someone who doesn't typically consume caffeine day to day, Tracy used her years of experience and avoided it on race-day too. While there are well researched ergogenic benefits of caffeine, there's also a lot of variance from person to person and so rigorously testing in training is recommended.