Heather Jackson Triathlon Tip: How to Maintain Energy Throughout a Race
Maintaining energy throughout an Ironman race isn’t easy. The high intensity and long duration of an Ironman event creates a lot of room for racers to become exhausted. However, there are ways to ensure that your body is fueled and ready for your best race yet. Ironman champion Heather Jackson shares her tips for how to maintain energy and sustain performance throughout a race.
Heather Jackson’s Race Tips for Sustained Performance
1. Build Endurance
Heather Jackson’s biggest tip for racing at a strong, steady pace is to practice what you’re going to do on race day. Heather allots one day a week to run through everything that will happen on race day to a “T”. On practice day, wake up and eat the breakfast you plan on having race day. Next, do your swim workout of the day. Go into your bike training and then continue on with a run workout. Fuel your workouts along the way as you plan to do on race day. The distances for each workout don’t necessarily need to be equal to the full race distance.
2. Nutrition
Fueling your body properly is an important part of being able to maintain energy throughout a race. What you consume the night before race day will affect your performance. Heather Jackson adds an extra sweet potato or another healthy carb to her meal the night before for an extra energy kick the following day. When running through your practice day, take note of how you feel throughout the race. Do you feel energized enough? If not, you may need to tweak your nutrition and consume more throughout the race. Once race day comes around, you will know exactly what your body needs to be properly fueled for a strong race.
Being prepared for a big event is the key to success. Beyond training for the physical exertion your body will encounter, taking things like nutrition, transition practice, and mental preparation into consideration will make you a better racer. Race day is stressful, but if you are physically and mentally prepared, it will take a lot of stress off so you can perform at your best.