The pros have it so easy don’t they?! They have all day to fit their training in at times that suit them, and have plenty of time to prepare and eat great tasting, healthy foods at the optimal times to fuel their rides.

For the rest of us mere mortals it can be a difficult to fit in and plan the right nutrition in and around the working day, and this is a particular challenge when you have a hard training session or race planned after office hours.

Often lunch is taken around midday, and then it can be a longer period of time than your overnight fast from then until you finally sit down for dinner after your evening session, mid-week crit or local ten-mile time trial.

This can leave you feeling awful, with really low energy levels. Those feelings of fatigue and lethargy can affect your motivation for the event, and result in you performing at less than your best. The alternative often means last-minute panic eating, which can you leave feeling really bloated and full.

When you’ve got a busy evening of riding ahead you need to plan how you are going to spread your food intake throughout the day to maintain good energy levels and save you trying to cram food in just before training.

In this article we’ll look at how you can planning your breakfast, lunch, snacks, hydration, race food and recovery to ensure you perform at your best.