(Editor's Note: An article, "Fueling Winter Workouts and Races," will appear in the next issue of the NENSA Nordic News. For those that can't wait, however, NENSA Sports Medicine Committee Chairman Dr. Don Christie offers the following advice about race day nutrition.)

Keep in mind several points about nutrition for race day as you prepare for the opening events of this NENSA season, the Grafton Sprints. Come that morning, don't let worries about proper fueling and refueling divert you from focusing on what you have studied and accomplished in training.

• Be well nourished, to begin with! Make sure you have been eating "right" -- the right amount of the right kind of "Mother's groceries" at the right times -- during the days leading up to race day: mostly carbohydrates (starches, sugars, sweets, fruit), some protein (lean meat, fish, low fat dairy products, beans, nuts), and some fat (oils). Muscle glycogen, the form of sugar stored in muscle to supply much of the energy for the intense effort required in the sprints, should be at its maximum, which means eating lots of carbohydrates during the days before the sprints. (Those spaghetti dinners aid Nordic skiers as much as they help runners!)
  
• Your last full meal (your "training breakfast") should be eaten about 3 1/2 - 4 hours before the qualifying race, a light snack no less than 1 1/2 hours before that first race. Drink water or a sports drink (commercial brand or your own, homemade version: half-strength orange juice, with a pinch of salt added per 8 oz. of drink) in between meals and during warm-up. (Solid food or full-strength juice will not empty well from the stomach once you are actively warming up and racing!)
  
• Immediately following a heat, and in the time before the next heat, drink 8 oz. of sports drink every 15 minutes, as time allows, both to replace lost fluid and minerals (sodium, potassium), and to replace at least a bit of the blood sugar and muscle glycogen you will have just used up in your mad dash.
  
• Once your last race is over, even as you "warm down," eat a light snack within 20-30 minutes, to begin timely replenishment of muscle glycogen. Quaffing a sports drink or water, alone, won't suffice to restore the spent fuel as fast as possible. You also need real food (for example, half a peanut butter sandwich, an orange and a good glassful of low fat milk, or a substitute convenience snack such as JogMate, a Balance Bar, a Clif Bar, or Endurox R4). Eat a regular meal about 1 1/2 hours later -- go heavy on the bread, potato, and pasta, along with lean meat, low fat dairy products, and fruit -- and get a good night's sleep, to give the exhausted body the fuel and rest it needs to rebuild and grow after such a demanding day!

PLAN AHEAD for all this fueling and refueling. Don't count on local stores to stock the drink and snack you'll need. You (or your camp followers) want to prepare what you'll need and bring it with you in a small cooler and Rubbermaid-type containers. Always try out any "refueling" routine in the days before a race. Race day is not the time to discover a given food or drink doesn't agree with your digestive system. Now, off to the races!