Are you doing the Argus - it seems like half of the town is! Well, Michael and I are giving 3 workshops next week on the final preparations of it: Cape Town on Tues 23rd, Somerset West on Wed 24th & Stellenbosch on Thur 25th. As usual, Michael will be covering training and I will be seeing to the nutrition.

Just to whet your appetite (pardon the pun), here's a few dietary things to consider in the weeks before:

In the weeks before, you need to get the basics right - eat for optimal health to support your immune system, your energy, muscle strength etc - yes, in a way you are what you eat, so if you prepare for a race with hotdogs, don't be surprised if you perform like a bun, I mean bum!

Eat to support the amount of training that you're doing - I often find cyclists that eat nowhere near what the training should determine - are they going to have bundles of energy if the body is downregulating?

Get enough protein - the average cyclist will need 100g+ of good quality protein per day to make hormones, turn over muscle tissue, balance the immune system, make neurotransmitters to keep you focused and relaxed ....... So my previous posts that focus more on protein.

Eat your veggies - 5 portions per day where 1 portion = size of your fist. Its easy to fit these in if you start at Breakfast with a tomato or some salad with your eggs on toast.

During the Argus ride, about 50% of our energy is likely to come from fat and most of the rest from carbs (small amount from protein). In preparation for your event, fat burning will be important and if you don't stint on the fat in your diet (as many cyclist do in the false hope that it will keep them trim), you can become more proficient at burning fat. Take some meat, dairy, fish, eggs, olive oil, nut, seeds, avocado etc in the diet - they are good for you!!

You will also need a carb load and this starts about 3 days before the race (so Thurs, Frid, Sat). If you take a look at my DC prep blog, it will give you a couple of good examples of a really high proportion carb diet that you can use for this period. 

I would love to go on and talk about race day nutrition but oh dear, I'm run out of time. You will just have to come along and see us talk in person to hear the rest! On a serious note, even if you think you know all there is to know, I'll bet you lots of money that you can gain some fresh knowledge. Also, I find in SA that many cyclists tend to do their own thing (compared to Europe where the club scene is bigger). I'm always a fan of collective knowledge that you can get from great discussions, like the Bike Max workshops always create. 

I've put some blurb on my website about the talks www.craigcoaching.com or talk to Michael or I if you have any questions. See you next week! Ian