The perfect pre-race nutrition starts well before the day of the race. Ideally, you would be consuming healthy balanced nutrient dense meals from the moment you decided to train. Your nutrition, especially the days leading up to the race, have a major impact on your overall performance and recovery.
1-2 days before the race:
Carbohydrates:
Consume a dinner that is higher in carbohydrates. Often coined as “carb loading”, consuming a higher intake of carbohydrates 1-2 days before a race event lasting over 90+ minutes, helps to saturate the liver and muscle glycogen1. When you start your race, stored glycogen will start to be broken down into glucose for fuel2. Reduction of glycogen stores can occur as early as 60 minutes into an intense aerobic workout. This can be a major cause of fatigue, effecting your overall performance. The recommended amount of carbohydrate intake for a race is dependent on duration of the event3. For exercise events lasting under 90 minutes, increasing carbohydrates is likely not necessary. For exercise events lasting over 90 minutes of sustained or intermittent exercise you should consume around 10-12 g/kg per 24 hours in a 36-48 hour period3.
The type of carbohydrate you consume is important. Skip the pizza, alcohol, and questionable buffet food. Experiencing gastrointestinal discomfort before or during a race is not fun and will likely effect performance. Focus on whole food carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, squash, dried fruit, bananas, and rice.
Protein:
Although carbohydrates fulfil an important role, don’t forget about protein. Dietary protein is important with muscle recovery, repair, remodeling, and protein turnover. Don’t forget about the importance of protein for non-muscle tissues like tendons and bones4. Focus on high quality protein sources. Go for grass-fed, grass-finished, organic, and pasture raised. You can also consume protein though a protein shake.
Fiber:
Most people do not consume an adequate amount of dietary fiber in their diet. Although fiber has a vital role on cardiovascular, hormonal, and gastrointestinal health, the days leading up to the race are not the time step up your fiber intake. Too much fiber before race day can cause gastrointestinal issues like gas and bloating.
Hydration:
Hopefully you have been staying hydrated daily, but now is the time to make sure you are adequately hydrated. Take a good look at the color of your urine. Aim for a lighter yellow color. If yours is a darker color, drink more water. If you take supplements, especially B vitamins, your urine may be an orangey color, making this method harder to use.
Day of race:
Simplicity is key when it comes to nutrition the day of the race. Depending on the your start time, keep your meal light and focus on easily digestible carbohydrates to refill your liver glycogen stores. Race day is not the time to start mixing things up or trying something new. Do I sound like a broken record yet? Stick to meals that you have thoroughly tested and consumed before. This is a good way to ensure that you won’t have gastrointestinal upset while running your race.
Timing:
Timing is everything when it comes to your pre-race meal. For your body to be able to break down and utilize the energy from a large breakfast, you would ideally need to consume the meal at least 3-4 hours before the race. Since start times are usually early and quality sleep is vital, this is not usually realistic, but if your race doesn’t start until the afternoon, then you have time to digest a larger breakfast.
Carbohydrates and Protein:
If you have time for a larger meal (3-4 hours before race), focus on consuming carbohydrates and some protein. Your carbohydrate intake should be around 1-4 g/kg. Examples of pre-race meals include oatmeal with nut/oat/low fat milk fresh fruit, topped with walnuts or almonds, Greek yogurt with nuts, fruit, and a piece of toast, or a piece of toast with natural almond or peanut butter and a banana. As you get closer to the race, smoothies can be an easier way to get in easily digestible energy. Now is also time to take your pre-workout (if it has passed the tolerance test during your training).
Hydration:
Continue hydrating once as soon as you wake up. Focus on drinking a cup or two and taking sips throughout the morning. Drinking larger amounts of water at one time will lead to more bathroom trips. Remember to pack along your favorite electrolytes to help regulate the balance of fluids in the body and facilitate muscle contractions.
1. Jeukendrup, Asker E. “Nutrition for Endurance Sports: Marathon, Triathlon, and Road Cycling.” Taylor & Francis, Journal of Sports Sciences, 15 Sept. 2011, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.610348.
2. Burke, Louise M. “Carbohydrates for Training and Competition.” Taylor & Francis, Journal of Sports Sciences, 9 June 2011, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.585473.
3. Thomas, Travis, et al. “Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance”. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Mar. 2016, 4. jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(15)01802-X/fulltext.
Babraj, J, et al. “Sequential Extracts of Human Bone Show Differing Collagen Synthetic Rates.” Biochemical Society Transactions, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2002, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12023825?dopt=Abstract
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