Eating on day of race

razorhead

What is the usual/recommended food intake on the day of a race. I would be talking 100,200,400's here.

shels4ever

i'd say carbs the night be for , maybe not as much as for a longer event , but you would still need them for your warmup etc.
then some high energy food would be my guess,but maybe check with an expert.

thirtyfoot

My pre-race diets for the shorter stuff include:

If its an earliesh start say 12 or 1:

Around 3 hours before race:
Porridge
Toast
Scrambled Egg

Drinking a sport drink, lots of water and a couple of bananas in the hours in the run-up to the race.

If its later, I'll have the normal breakfast above and then either a regular sandwich like chicken, tuna or whatever but fairly plain. Or if I'm prepared I'll have some pasta with homemade tomato sauce and chicken fillets maybe 3-4 hours before. Topped up in the run up with bananas and sports drink.

If I am racing throughout a day I'll try fit in feeds after each race and not too big but enough to keep some energy in the tank.

While you may not think you need the carbs or energy of a distance runner, you will still be warming up for a quite a while and if racing more that once in a day, say heats of 100 and 200, you could be on the go for 2-3 hours and while warming up is crucial you don't want to be energyless by the time the race comes or the final at the end of the meet.

Just my preferences through years of experimenting, work for me but its all about trying things out (in training) to see what foods suit you. I know some people who can't eat the day of a meet.

razorhead

Thanks for that Tingle. What type of carbs would you take and also what would you eat between races?

thirtyfoot

If chicken and beans was the staple of Alan Shearer, chicken and pasta would be mine. I'll cook night before and bring in a lunch box and eat cold if needs be. That would be my carbs in the pasta.

Also, those nut bars, the high brow posh tracker type things that you can get in those health shops and I'll usually get a bag of dried mango or something like that as its good for a lift in a long day of racing. Plus plums, I find them great too but be carefull to try these things out in training or moderation on a race day.

razorhead

Thanks again Tingle

Jay P

We got a nutritionalist in a few weeks ago and she said wine gums are very good before a race because they give an instant boost of carbs