Adventurey is proud to have Hammer Nutrition back as the leading nutritional sponsor for 2019’s North American OCR Championships (NORAM).
Whether you are headed to OCR World Championships (OCRWC) or NORAM your fuelling for each event will look pretty similar.
What to purchase to be OCRWC race day ready:
Peaking Essentials
Before you toe the start line, Hammer Nutrition has full line of options so you show up at your peak potential.
REM Caps: REM Caps are a natural sleep aide that allow you to sleep deeply and thus recover better leading up to your race. While I think they are great year round, especially during heavy training, you are absolutely going to want them for your final taper.
This is especially true if you are traveling across time zones for OCRWC. Don’t spend all that money and travel and try to save a couple of dollars by skimping on a sleep aid. Sleep deeper and recover faster.
Energy Surge: Energy Surge is made of consumable Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), a complex chemical that is used to power things like muscle contractions. The logic is that by consuming some immediately before exercise you will have more available to be used while expending energy…like you will during the short and fast 3k.
Try energy surge in the final thirty minutes before the start to make sure you are topped off and ready to go on race morning.
(You can save money by picking up both Race Day Boost and Energy Surge (along with Anti-Fatigue Caps) as part of the Race PR Kit. The entire line-up can help you peak for the 3k, but for brevity purposes I will focus on the one that is most applicable to this distance.)
Pre-Race Essentials
The 3k is so short that you will not need to fuel mid-race. Instead we will focus on what you may want to take in the final hour before the race:
Fully Charged: Fully charged is truly a pre-workout product that is good for aerobic, strength, or obstacle training. Unlike other “pre-workouts” , the product is focused on active ingredients to help you perform better aerobically and doesn’t just load your body up with caffeine.
At only 15mg of caffeine the product gives you just a little bit to get you race ready and focuses the rest of their ingredients on products that enhance blood flow and buffers lactic acid.
If you want your pre-workout to be convenient for racing and traveling, order the “stick packs”. Instead of lugging around the whole container you can just throw a couple of stick packs in your bag and be good to go.
Frequency: One stick pack mixed with 5 oz. of water in the final 30 minutes before the race.
Heed: A final small influx of carbs can help your body access more energy when racing something as short as a 3k OCR.
While some like to have a gel in the last 15 minutes before the race starts, I like Heed. It is made of high glycemic complex carbohydrates providing you quick access to energy. I’ve used gels in the past but you are going to want to wash it down with some carbohydrates last minute.
Frequency: Sip on a bottle of Heed to desired thirst in the final 15 minutes before the start of the race.
With every athlete being different, be sure to test out any of these fueling plans prior to race day to ensure they work for your individualized needs.
The longer the race, the more important fueling starts to become. With the majority of the athletes coming to NORAM or OCRWC to run the main event, the 15k, we will explore fueling for that distance next week. Keep training and make sure you fuel right, so you feel great.
Evan Perperis, NSCA-CPT, is an athlete on the Conquer The Gauntlet Pro Team and author of three books on Obstacle Course Racing. Included in his 39 podium finishes is a 2nd place Pro Coed Team at the 2018 North American OCR Championships and 1st Place Team at 2018 World’s Toughest Mudder. Find more of his content at www.teamstrengthspeed.com.
