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What should I eat before races to make sure I have enough fuel, but not . . . too much?
Ah yes. The midrace bathroom break. As you practice porta potty speed drills or, if you’re on the trail, immaculate Leave No Trace ethics, thoughts may run through your head: Was it the hamburger last night, maybe the coffee this morning, or what the gel you just slurped? It could be one – or all – of these things. Everyone has a different tolerance for specific foods. Anxiety itself can even trigger GI distress.
The point of this is not to scare you away from eating (PLEASE, do), but to encourage you to experiment, to know that at some point, you will inevitably fail to fuel perfectly and that’s okay.
Luckily, there are some guidelines you can try and follow to see if you can come up with a good pre-race meal for yourself:
1. Fuel Mindfully the Week Of Your Race.
Ideally, you are going into your race with glycogen stores that overfloweth. Race week is not the time to cut back on calories and carbohydrates or try out that new juice cleanse. Instead of relying on the dinner and breakfast before…
