City to Surf nutrition tips

The 2015 Chevron City to Surf for Activ regional series will return to Busselton in a couple of weeks, so to help you get ready for the big day we've got a few nutrition tips to help your training along.

Performance anxiety, the jitters, nervous energy - whatever you call it, the pangs of nervousness and anticipation before any sporting event can have a negative impact on performance.

Elite athletes develop habits and behaviour that follow an unerring sequence of repetition so that the days leading up to race day become a series of unconscious habits.

Here's how you should eat:

Comfortable carbs

The benefits of carbohydrates for building maximal glycogen stores in muscles have long been established.

Before your big weekend training session, prepare the night before by eating your favourite carbohydrate-rich meal.

Practise your eating like you practise your training; eating big and small to know what and how much gives you the perfect bounce.

Blissful breakfast

Train like you're racing, so stick to the familiar breakfast that tops up your vital energy stores, but doesn't leave you either famished or uncomfortably full at the start.

Drink up

Having navigated the crowds, it's now time to get into the event.

Keep in mind that in the first critical phase of any endurance activity, remaining adequately hydrated can help you in those last few kilometres of struggle and pain.

Dehydration starts well before you feel thirsty so keep an eye out for early drink stations.

Busselton City to Surf free training sessions started this week, with Medibank running 45-minute sessions at Signal Park at 5.30pm on August 5 and 12.

All participants are welcome.