A fueling plan that changes when the forecast does
Tired of building a fueling plan in February and running a race that is twenty degrees warmer than the day you planned for?
From ten days out, CarbRate reads your race-day forecast and shows you exactly how a warmer or cooler morning changes your sweat rate, your fluid, your sodium and your finish time.
One tap updates the plan, and nothing changes until you approve it.
Why a warm race ruins the fueling plan you built for a cool one
You build your plan weeks out, using a typical temperature for that date and a humidity number you guessed.
Then race morning is 72°F and humid.
Warm, humid air makes you sweat much more. How much you sweat depends first on how hard you are working and the conditions you are in.
More sweat means you need more fluid, and more fluid changes how much sodium that fluid needs.
Heat also slows you down, and a slower race is a longer race, so the total fuel you need goes up even though the rate per hour stays the same.
Every one of those numbers changed, and you mixed your bottle the night before.
Luckily, the forecast is available ten days out, and CarbRate reads it for you.
Heat changes your fluid. It does not change your carbs
Many hot-weather fueling articles tell you to take in fewer carbs when it is hot.
Your carbohydrate target is set by , not by how hot it is.
Heat changes how much you sweat, how much you need to drink, how much sodium that fluid needs, and how long the race takes you.
Because heat makes the race longer, you take in more total grams at the same rate per hour.
As your fluid goes up, more of your carbohydrate can come from your bottle instead of from gels, so you take in fluid and fuel together and your stomach stays settled.
To do all of that yourself you would need a heat-balance calculation, a sodium concentration, and new timing for every gel against a finish time that just changed.
That is why CarbRate recalculates your entire plan against the forecast, and then shows you only the numbers that changed.
CarbRate replaces your estimated weather with the real forecast ten days out
Until then your plan uses the temperature and humidity you entered, or a mild default if you skipped the question. Both are labelled as estimates.
Inside ten days, CarbRate pulls the actual forecast for your race location and uses race morning specifically.
It uses the hottest hour of your race window instead of the daily average, so your plan is ready for the warmest conditions you will face.
You do not have to remember to check anything. CarbRate tells you when the forecast has changed enough to matter.
CarbRate shows you every number the weather changed, before you accept it
The forecast card changes nothing until you tap it, and it shows you exactly what would change.
Expected sweat loss goes from 1.1 to 1.3 litres an hour. Drink sodium goes from 800 to 850 milligrams a litre. Your projected finish changes, and the number of gels changes with it.
Your carbs per hour stay the same, because carbs are set by how long you run, not by how hot it is.
Accepting it saves a new version of your plan instead of editing the old one, so you can always see what changed and when.
CarbRate tells you when drinking more cannot keep up with the heat
On the hottest days you lose fluid faster than you can replace it by drinking.
CarbRate tells you plainly: you cannot replace these losses by drinking.
And it gives you the fix, which is to run the early miles slower than your goal pace.
You know that ten days out, with time to change your race plan.
CarbRate keeps your plan current with the forecast through race week
In the last week the forecast gets more reliable, and CarbRate updates your plan with it.
CarbRate gives you a final version to review, then turns it into a list of what is left to do.
How much to eat on each loading day, what to buy, and the morning-of plan with wake-up time, breakfast and the pre-race gel already on it.
By race morning, every number in your plan is built on the weather you will actually run in.
Cold race? Checking it yourself?
Be ready for whatever weather race day brings
You are going to check that forecast a dozen times in race week anyway.
CarbRate turns the forecast into an updated fueling plan.
- Fueling plan built on your exact course
- Personalized to your sweat rate, weight, and goal
- Adjusts when the race-day forecast changes
- Week-by-week gut-training practice schedule
- One prescribed change after every rough run
- The dress-rehearsal run, scheduled early
- Live guidance through every gel and drink
- All 163 gels, chews, and mixes built in
Julie Beaudoin“This app helped me test products throughout my training for Grandmas and put together a plan with more drinking. It was the first time I’ve finished with no stomach issues.”
See how CarbRate handles the rest of your race
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