--- title: The Search for an Edge description: Explore the diverse pre-race strategies of athletes; revealing that the key to performance lies in personal experience and understanding what truly works for you. image: https://hub.ontheside.com/hubfs/Inside%20Track%20-%20Article%20Heroes%20-%20Images%20(10).png --- [![ontheside-logo-horizontal-white](https://hub.ontheside.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brand/ontheside-logo-horizontal-white.png?width=200&height=54&name=ontheside-logo-horizontal-white.png "ontheside-logo-horizontal-white")](https://hello.ontheside.com) [the Inside Track](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/home) - [Insights & Influence](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/home#insights) - [Athlete-Creator Resources](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/home#creator-resources) - [Ontheside 101](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/home#ontheside-101) - [Why We're Here](https://hello.ontheside.com/why-we-are-here) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ###### [Insights](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/tag/insights) # The Search for an Edge ![Katie Edson](https://hub.ontheside.com/hs-fs/hubfs/KatieEdson.png?width=48&height=48&name=KatieEdson.png) [By Katie Edson](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/author/katie-edson) 5 min read Oct 14, 2026 ##### Share - - - [mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/the-search-for-an-edge&body=Check%20out%20https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/the-search-for-an-edge&media=https://47413808.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/47413808/Inside%20Track%20-%20Article%20Heroes%20-%20Images%20%2810%29.png](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/the-search-for-an-edge&body=Check%20out%20https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track/the-search-for-an-edge&media=https://47413808.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/47413808/Inside%20Track%20-%20Article%20Heroes%20-%20Images%20%2810%29.png) ## **From pricey supplements to pre-race rituals, athletes share what works, what doesn't, and what they've learned along the way** Recently, I was on a brutally difficult mountain bike ride with a group of women. You know the kind, everyone is working hard enough that conversation only comes in short bursts. Somehow, we still managed to chat and the conversation turned, unsurprisingly, to what we all do to get that little extra boost before a big race or ride. Someone mentioned sodium bicarbonate. Another woman admitted she would try just about anything if she thought it might help, including, jokingly, “snake oil.” That got us talking about the increasingly expensive world of performance supplements. Then came the list: beetroot juice, cherry juice with melatonin, magnesium, electrolytes. Powders and pills with impressive ingredients and even more impressive price tags. Standing on the side of that mountain bike trail, sweaty and wondering whether we really needed yet another pricey supplement, I started thinking about the athletes on Ontheside. What were they doing to give themselves an edge, and more importantly, what were they doing in those critical 24 to 48 hours before a big race or effort? After years of training and competing, they’ve had time to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what seemed like a great idea but turned out to be a terrible one. I wanted to know what they had learned along the way, and what advice they would give another athlete trying to get to the starting line feeling ready. So I asked. ### **There’s No Single Formula** Ask athletes about their pre-competition routines and you quickly discover that there is no universal formula. There are some familiar themes: eat foods you know, hydrate, get good quality sleep and resist the temptation to suddenly change everything because race day is approaching. [**Crystal, gravel racer**](https://www.ontheside.com/crystalkovacs). She keeps things simple. The day before a race, she likes pasta, plenty of hydration and as much time off her feet as possible. > “I try to keep the day before as low key as possible,” she says. “Most of the time, that never works but I try.” She also aims for eight hours of sleep before an important event. After a new supplement backfired on race day at the [Maah Daah Hey](https://www.experienceland.org/races), she learned an important lesson: race day is not the time to experiment. Her most important pre-race habit isn't a food or supplement at all: > “I spend time with friends, and get out of my own head.” [**Reesa, runner, triathlete, and aerialist**](https://www.ontheside.com/reesaz). Her approach is more structured. Before a goal race, she increases carbohydrates, cuts back on fiber and fatty foods, and sticks with familiar meals like plain chicken and rice. If the race will be hot, she increases her hydration in advance. Her training changes, too. She tapers her mileage, takes a full rest day two days before the race and does a short shakeout run the day before. And then there’s the ritual: > “I always pray before a race,” she says, “thanking God for the opportunity and for this body and asking for protection and wings for my feet! And fun. Always fun.” Her biggest lesson came during a hot trail 50K race, when she made her bottles too concentrated. A missed aid station compounded the problem, resulting in severe gastrointestinal distress. The takeaway? Even something as simple as hydration can go very wrong when the formula or the timing is off. ### **Sometimes the Edge Is Knowing What *Not* to Do** [**Bart, collegiate swimmer**](https://www.ontheside.com/Bart)**.** He focuses on carbohydrates before big meets and makes time to stretch. When his training schedule allows, his coach reduces the cardio load before competition. His pre-race ritual is less about nutrition and more about nerves. > “I constantly mess with my goggles before the race,” he says. Once he’s on the block, though, his focus narrows. > “All I do is focus on my breathing.” He’s also learned that caffeine doesn't necessarily work for him, even though it may be useful for other athletes. [**Justus, long-time outrigger canoer**](https://www.ontheside.com/justus). Years of trial and error have taught him a few things. He used to carb-load before races, only to discover that eating a huge amount at once left him feeling sluggish and overly full. Now he increases carbohydrates and hydration several days beforehand. Tapering took experimenting too. Too much rest left him antsy and disconnected. Adding extra miles because he felt underprepared left him depleted. Now he keeps his normal rhythm but goes lighter. His food strategy has evolved in much the same way. After several races where his stomach rebelled, he eventually traced the problem to the amount of fiber he was eating before competition. > “That's when I started being very conscious of fuel during and before a race, and not being too risky with what I eat.” And if there is one thing he refuses to compromise on, it's sleep: > “The entire day is affected by the quality of the night before,” he says. ### **Miela: Hydration, Sleep and the Banana Rule** [**Miela, outrigger canoer**](https://www.ontheside.com/mielapreuett). She keeps race prep simple. Forty-eight hours before a race, the focus is protein, carbohydrates and hydration. A typical dinner might be pasta and chicken. For hydration, she reaches for Nuun hydration tablets, specifically pink lemonade. She also changes her training. She doesn't typically lift during race week and tries to get her best sleep two nights before the race, knowing that nerves may make the night immediately before competition less restful. There are no elaborate pre-race rituals. But there is one important rule. In the boating world, bananas on the boat are considered bad luck. So if she wants a banana before a race, she eats it before leaving the house. Her biggest lesson has come from the feeling every athlete knows: the crash. By the time you realize you're crashing, she says, it's often too late. That's why she makes a point of drinking something at every [change](https://grahamsisland.com/2021/08/29/the-ins-and-outs-of-outrigger-canoe-racing/). She isn't always sure whether everything she's taking is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. But when she has a race where she feels good from beginning to end, she knows she must have gotten something right. If she could keep only one pre-race habit? The Nuun hydration tablets. > “I wouldn’t want to switch them out for anything else.” ### **The Real Performance Edge: Knowing What Works for You** Listening to these athletes, it's tempting to look for a common denominator. Maybe it's carbohydrates. Maybe it's hydration. Maybe it's sleep. Maybe it's sodium bicarbonate - or beetroot juice, cherry juice, magnesium or the next promising supplement to hit the market. But the more interesting answer may be that there isn't one. What these athletes have in common is *experience*. They've tried things. Some worked. Some didn't. Some caused stomach problems. Some made them feel sluggish. Some became rituals simply because they helped them feel ready. And that's an important distinction. A supplement with research behind it isn't automatically useful for every athlete. A ritual doesn't have to improve your physiology to help you feel calm and prepared. And the most expensive product in your cabinet isn't necessarily more valuable than a familiar meal, a good night's sleep or a hydration strategy you've already tested in training. Which brings me back to that mountain bike ride. Standing there with a group of women debating whether we needed sodium bicarbonate, beetroot juice, cherry juice or something that might as well have been snake oil, I realized that the search for an edge is probably as old as competition itself. We're always looking for the thing that might make us a little faster, stronger or more capable. And sometimes that's useful. But maybe the real edge is less glamorous: knowing your body, paying attention to what you've learned and resisting the urge to overhaul everything when the starting line is getting close. ### **Quick takeaways** 1. Eat what you know you can tolerate. 2. Hydrate before you're desperate. 3. Get the sleep you can. Two nights out counts, too. 4. Taper without panicking. 5. Don't make race morning your laboratory. And if you really want a banana? Maybe just eat it before you get on the boat. [Back to List](https://hub.ontheside.com/the-inside-track) ## Related Posts [![logo white](https://hub.ontheside.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brand/ontheside-logo-horizontal-white.png?width=200&height=54&name=ontheside-logo-horizontal-white.png "logo white")](https://hello.ontheside.com) Empower Sports Excellence. 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