Interestingly, the story does not start in the week before the race, like training it starts many weeks before the event! After a race it also seems to be one of the main topics, especially for runners who did not achieve their goals or had problems along the way.
Training and nutrition are the two of the most important factors determining performance on race day. Most runners spend many hours per week training, planning, and preparing their training sessions… but how much time is spent on nutrition? Often, nutrition is taken for granted and this could jeopardize all the hours and days of hard training.
The Early Preparation
Preparation starts many weeks before the event. You need to know some of the basics of the race like: what nutrition will be provided on course, where are the feed stations, and what are the weather conditions likely to be. You may not be able to influence the weather, but you can prepare for the conditions. Finding out what nutrition is going to be handed out is important too because it would be a good idea to practice with this nutrition and make sure you can tolerate it and you can adapt to it. If you can’t tolerate it, it is better to find out weeks in advance than on race day.
Train Your Race Plan
The first step is to figure out what nutrition works best for you. This includes not only products, but timing as well. Start doing this 10 weeks before the event, pick your long run training to practice and follow your plan, or build up to it. As mentioned above, first try using the products that will be available on the course. If those do not agree with you, start experimenting with other products.
Carbo-loading
In the the days before the race you should make sure your fuel stores (muscle glycogen) are full. In the old days, extreme carbo-loading regimes were followed with days of no carbohydrate, days of extreme carbohydrate, a depletion run a week before, etc. This practice is not necessary. Very high muscle glycogen levels can be achieved by just eating more carbohydrates.
Eating more carbohydrate does not mean overeating or eating as much as possible! It just means making sure more of your daily calories are coming from carbohydrate at the cost of some fat. It is a good idea to have the last large meal at lunch time the day before and to have a lighter meal in the evening. This is also something you should practice in the weeks before or when you have a smaller race coming up. If you frequently suffer from gastro-intestinal problems, reduce your fiber intake to a minimum the day before the race.
From a purely practical point of view, you also need to plan in advance, especially if you are travelling. Make a reservation at a place where you know the food is good. Don’t wait and make it up on the go and end up at fast food place or lining up for hours. Your legs need to work hard enough the next day.
Pre-Race Breakfast
The breakfast is important because it replenishes your liver glycogen.
Carbohydrate is stored in the liver but during the night the brain uses this carbohydrate so when you wake up there is not much left. Since this will delay the point at which you bonk, it is important to eat a carbohydrate rich breakfast. Again if you suffer from gastro-intestinal problems, reduce your fiber intake
Exactly what the breakfast should consist of depends on personal preferences. Some people run really well on a couple of bagels and a coffee, other prefer oatmeal, waffles with syrup, a couple of energy bars or a small bowl or rice. Whatever you select, I would recommend that it has at least 100 grams of carbohydrate and that you use this breakfast with exactly the same timing before hard training and smaller races.
The best timing is probably 3 to 4 hours before the start.
If you don’t suffer from gastrointestinal distress 2 to 3 hours before might still work. Check your urine color. If it is pretty light you are ok, if it is dark, keep drinking a little more. No need to go crazy on the fluids but you don’t want to start with dark colored urine.
The Hour Before the Start
The hour before is usually spent anxiously waiting. Make sure you bring a water bottle to sip and a gel to take in the 15 minutes before the race starts. Practice this several times in training. Whatever you consume in the minutes before the start will become available during the run because it takes a little time to absorb. I therefore usually calculate anything you take in this time frame as part of your carbohydrate intake during the race.
View Source to Continue Reading: A Complete Guide to Proper Marathon Nutrition
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