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Any point in it?
Usually for a cross, xc or crit I eat way beforehand, and never during. Would a gel taken minutes before give a little extra oomph?
How long is a short race? Presumably you're having plenty of carbs the previous day and for breakfast? If the race is under an hour, then there'd be no real benefit unless your glycogen stores are already depleted at the start. You might even be reducing performance by causing increased bloodflow to your digestive system rather than your muscles.
I raced 3 lap category over here last year and would always try to get a decent warm up of at least 30-40 minutes which would have a couple of very short but intense bursts, for peace of mind I always tried to have a gel on the start line.
Races were generally around the 1hr - 1hr20 kind of time.
40 minutes of warm up isnt going to deplete my energy reserves, but doing it just before the race and then a race over an hour means I may burn out before the end.
Plus it has a super placebo effect 🙂
I take one about 10minutes before a cx race,they have guarna/caffeinr/bat poo in them or summit.Feel a little buzzy for the first couple of laps....which may or may not help.
if i was you, i'd have a tin of red bull or something. Caffeine helps performance.
One of those caffeine gels? - dunno really
I do lots of crits (1hr + 5 laps). Eat well all day and drink plenty. Dont eat within 2 hours of race and Always have a gel on the start line. Use SIS ones as they agree with me. Dont have Caffieine gels unless last lap of 2.5/3hr road race. However , I know lads for whom it doesnt work and they dont bother.
Once had a red bull shot before a race (promoter handing them out) and had the worst crit ever. Heart rate was through the roof then felt empty/flat after 25/30 mins then got dropped.
Red bull's more likely to just ruin your guts, I'd stick with 'proper' energy products. As has been said though, if you've eaten properly before it's potentially of little benefit in the seconds before a race. I'd sooner drink something like high 5 extreme, which is full of caffeine.
I find caffeine ones are better for later on in endurance stuff when you're kind of flagging and you're past the crazy high early heart rate phase.