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Nutrition Tips for Race Day
Eating a balanced, nutritious diet every day will be more beneficial than a pre-race meal. Making proper, wise food choices leading up to your competition should be given considerable thought. The pre-race meal cannot compensate for a poor training diet. By making food choices from the food pyramid you will be able to make healthy, wise and balanced selections that will benefit your racing.
But, let’s get back to tips for race day.
First of all, don’t try anything new. Experiment during training as to what foods work best for you. Race day is not the day to try a new meal, a new bar or eat what your friends eat. It’s about you on race day.
The day before your race make sure to eat normal, well- balanced meals. In addition, drink plenty of liquids.
The night before (or 12 hours before your race) don’t overeat. Stick with light, digestible foods like small sandwiches, energy bars, bread, portions of pasta, veggies, proteins, etc. - all of which you should have experimented with during training. Keep on drinking as well.
4 hours or less before a race a small to medium sized light meal is good. Recent research has shown that consuming a snack that is 80% carbohydrate and 20% protein helps deliver energy to the muscle during exercise and restocks the energy stores afterwards.
- Race-proven Examples
- Energy Bars
- Fruits: Bananas, oranges, melons, watermelons, grapes, pineapple, dried fruits, raisins.
- Potatoes: Baked, boiled, mashed,
- Bread and Bagels
- Sandwiches, Burritos and Roll-ups: Peanut butter and jelly, bananas and fruit jam, fruit jams, turkey, ham, cheese, egg.
- Pancakes
- Pasta, Noodles and Rice: Plain and in soups.
- Pretzels, Chips, and Crackers
- Cookies and Pop-Tarts: Fig Newtons, Vanilla Wafers, Graham crackers.
- Cereals and Granola