It’s also important to keep on top of your hydration throughout the day.

Even a slight amount of dehydration can not only affect your concentration at work during the day, but also impact on your performance for your evening training or racing. You should drink regularly throughout the day, always aiming for your urine to be straw coloured.

Your body regulates the concentration of sodium in the body to a narrow window, so drinking an electrolyte drink can help to maintain this balance. If you just drink pure water in large volumes, you can end up diluting your salt level. Drinks containing sodium help to avoid this.

During race/training

Also think about whether you need any nutrition for during your event or training and plan ahead accordingly.

If you are just doing up to an hour then you really only need to worry about fluids. If your training session is more than 60-90 minutes long then you will need to take in additional energy as you go along. The most convenient options for this are energy drinks, bars and gels.

If you are racing then you might want to have some fast release energy potentially with some caffeine before the start. A caffeine energy gel or espresso with sugar 30-60 minutes before could be a useful addition. Caffeine helps to lower the perception of effort, so this could be of real benefit as you push yourself towards the end of a crit or TT.

Finally, while it’s important to plan your pre-event nutrition to perform at your best, it’s also vital to think about your recovery in order to allow your body to make the necessary adaptations.