Mimi Boyle Chats with Rising Star, Jordan Rapp

Mimi Boyle Chats with Rising Star, Jordan Rapp
By Mimi Boyle
5/20/2008


True-Motion’s director of marketing, Mimi Boyle, was able to catch up with rising star professional triathlete Jordan Rapp after his recent 3rd place finish in Ironman Arizona.

MB: Seeing is believing, and you made us, and the rest of the triathlon community believers with a nail-biting 3rd place finish on a diabolically hot/windy/dusty day in Tempe. I’ll start with the basics….what did you eat the night before the race? What about on race morning?

Jordan: I actually really like racing in Tempe for a couple of reasons, but one of the major ones is that there is a Whole Foods market about 5miles from where I stayed. That particular Whole Foods has also fueled a 2nd overall at the Desert Du (2007) and a 1st overall at the SOMA half (2007), so I think it has good karma. I'm a huge believer in the importance of nutrition, and every time I race and can eat at a Whole Foods, I seem to have good races. The night before Ironman, I just ate a variety of things from the prepared foods bar there. I don't really remember exactly what I ate except for a turkey cutlet. I know it was a mixture of things. Not too much with wheat, since I've found that things with too much gluten tend to be what gives me (and others) stomach issues during intense exercise. I try to take in a reasonable amount of calories in a variety of healthy forms throughout the day. I've found I perform best on a pretty balanced mixture of calories, so I roughly try to go 33% carbs, 33% fat, 33% protein. So none of that traditional "carbo load" for me.

Race morning, I had a couple bowls of EnviroKids Organic Koala Krisp, which is a puffed brown rice cereal (again, avoiding the gluten and also fiber, which hopefully means no need for trips to the port-o-johns during the race). Basically, it is the healthy version of cocoa crispies. Digests easily. Lots of calories. Tasty. Brown rice cereals have really worked well for me, and that's what I take in some form before my races these days. I have it with Almond Breeze almond milk, since I think staying away from lactose is also a good idea before racing, though I actually don't ever drink regular milk anymore. Before heading over to the race, I ate a banana and a couple dates for some easy sugar. And then the last thing I "ate" before the start was a RedBull about an hour before. So that was my "carbo load," on race morning. Too much before then, and I just feel bloated and slow. But on the morning of the race, I want easy fuel.

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