Race Day Nutrition

There are many guides out there that tell you what you should be eating in order to build muscle mass or have a high level of energy during your workouts, but when it comes to the day of the race, should you really be eating the same things? Not really. Once race day is here, your body is prepared, trained, and fueled up just about as much as it's going to be. Nutrition on the day of your race is primarily about not screwing up what you've worked so long to achieve. Some nutrition "experts" say that you need to carbo-load the day before the race, but since the storage of energy reserves in your muscles is done days ahead of time by your body, carbo loading really only should be done the week before your race. Stuffing your body with too much complex carbohydrates and proteins is a sure way to make you sluggish for your event-day races. So carbo load early. About a week before the race, increase your intake of complex carbohydrates like pastas, baked potatoes, rice, and beans. Don't worry too much about the fat and oil content of the food this early out. Your body will know what to do with them before race day and any deleterious effects the food will have on your body will be over by the day of your race. On the day of the race, though, you have to be more careful.

One of the mistakes many athletes make is over-hydration. Nutritionists, and coaches the world over have been telling athletes to keep drinking until you need to urinate during your events to avoid dehydration. While dehydration has a terrible effect on an athlete's effectiveness, over-hydration can be just as bad. Water, by its nature is great at carrying other substances into our bodies, but when you over-hydrate, all those wonderful vitamins, proteins, and minerals that you worked so hard to put in your body are carried away by all that water you're passing through your body and into the toilet. A simple rule of thumb is, if you have to urinate more than once every two hours, you're over hydrated and losing effectiveness. Just cut back a little on the water and you'll be fine.

Another mistake many athletes make is to fill up on food before the race, assuming that they'll need the fuel to perform at their peak. The fact is, that while a pancake and egg breakfast is enjoyable, it's hardly the kind of food you need to be carrying around with you while you try to beat your best time. Complex carbohydrates and proteins take a long time to digest and the energy your body is using to digest that food can better be used in making you go faster. Smaller breakfasts are usually preferable since they provide the body with less to work on during your event. One bowl of oatmeal and a piece of fruit is probably the best choice you can make for race day fodder. If you really need to pound the carbs, though, do it at dinner, at night between race days that way your body will have time to digest all those carbs and put them to good use.

Energy drinks are another commonly misused nutritional item in the athlete's arsenal. Many commercials selling these drinks show athletes chugging these elixirs with reckless abandon as they jump around in their sport. In reality you really don't want to have more than a sip of this stuff at a time. These drinks are filled with salts, minerals, sugars, and other carbs that may make you have a sugar crash minutes after drinking them. Furthermore, as your body metabolizes these salts and sugars, it uses more water to put them to use which may end up dehydrating you. If you feel you must drink these things, water them down a lot. Then you can be sure you're not using up more liquid than you're ingesting in the process of drinking.

I can hear some of you saying, "you've told us what not to do, what can we eat and drink on race day?" Well every body's different and every athlete needs to learn to listen to what their body is telling them on race day. What worked for me may not work for you so listen to your body. If you have a sudden craving for something, listen to it. That's your body telling you something is needed. Now I'm not saying that you should give in as soon as you have the munchies for a candy bar, but if you have a hankering for something sweet, get a banana, apple, or some other piece of fruit. On the other hand, if you feel you need something salty, don't to straight for the chips, take a sip of an energy drink (there's more salt in those things than you know).

When I was racing at my peak ability, my morning meal consisted of a banana and a small bowl of oatmeal. During the day of the race, if I got hungry again, I'd sneak a bagel (though by the vagueries of the race day, I rarely was hungry until after the day's races were done). Once I got back to the hotel from the day of races, I'd hit the local Italian restaurant for a bowl of pasta (a good fettuccini alfredo was my favorite). Though, if I had finals that night, I'd eat something smaller like a bowl of soup and carbo load after finals.

I said it earlier, and I'll say it again, though. Every athlete is different. Your body knows what it needs at every stage of your training development, tapir, and race-day. Once you learn to listen to it and give your body what it needs, you'll be on your way to some spectacular results.