What I eat during race week (Part 2) – Carb Loading
Ok, carb loading is 100% a thing, but that does not mean runners are downing massive bowls of pasta the night before a race. I actually can’t think of something that would make me feel worse on race morning than a massive meal the night before. So what do runners and I really eat during race week?
14 to 7 days before
In all my races I tend to follow a very similar trend in my taper week nutrition. I have found what works best for me and have stuck to it. For everyone, it’s a little different and it comes down to trial and error and knowing what works for your body.
For a marathon, I typically start my taper 2 weeks before the race ending with one final bike run and bike ride (This year it was a 65-mile ride on a Saturday and a 20-mile run the morning after). Generally speaking, my diet does not change much at the beginning of the taper period, just focusing on eating quality food and proteins to help me recover (and trying to minimize the late-night snacking). In terms of quantity, I continue to eat my usual amount, now this likely means I’m consuming more net calories naturally as I’m not working out as much. This is ok. Your body needs calories to rebuild, repair, and replenish!
7-3 days before
This is when I begin to focus on my nutrition a little bit more and begin to eat just a little bit more than I normally would. Overall I try to get these additional calories from high-quality carb sources – I love overnight oats and Kasha porridge for breakfast so these become staples.
I also begin to add beet juice (typically in the form of powder) in several ways – mixed into oats, drinks (ginger ale + beet juice is delicious actually), and by incorporating more whole beets into my foods like on salads or with roasted veggies.
Ok so why beets? – Well there is actually fairly compelling evidence that beets can provide a fairly significant athletic boost as they increase nitric oxide in the body, improving blood flow, and how efficiently your lungs uptake oxygen. Feel free to dig into the science if you like to geek out on things like I do (links below)
Ergogenic Effect of Nitrate Supplementation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
3 – 1 day before
This is when I become a creature of habit and follow nearly the same meal plan for every race. Overall, I am gradually increasing my carb and calorie intake over these days. A couple things that I have found particularly important to me:
- I have my last big meal 2 days before the race, and yes being Italian it’s pasta! So in the case of Boston (Monday race), this is Saturday Night. I have a really easy sauce recipe based on a Nadiya Hussain recipe that can be pretty much made anywhere (I have made this in hotel rooms too many times) in minutes. Better yet it’s a Beet sauce :).
- I began to reduce the amount of fiber I eat in the last couple of days. I do this by switching to more white rice, plain white bread, and canned vegetables over whole grains, berries, and raw vegetables. I have found that this is a huge help in preventing any race day discomfort.
So what is my final dinner the night before a race… well it’s breakfast …Pancakes! This has become a tradition for me, I generally have an early dinner (~4:30 or 5pm) that consists of a basic stack of pancakes, a banana, and some Greek yogurt on top. The reason this tradition started is kind of silly but when traveling for races, not having access to a kitchen can prevent cooking a homemade meal and it’s not always easy to find consistent places to eat a simple meal. I have found one exception to this latter part … IHOP… you can always find one and their pancakes are simple and delicious (just ask for the butter and fake syrup on the side).
To give a full picture of what these final three days look like below is approximately the meal plan I will follow leading into Boston – more to come on my race day fueling!
