Hey guys so this post is about what to consume weeks or even days prior to your race. Also reminder I am myself still learning on this topic as I am prepping for the Spartan Race. Though here are some of the knowledge that I pick up, also quick shout out to my fellow employees here at UAT who have been a lot of help on what to eat and how to train for the race.
Food is an important part of racing, it can often make or break the race for a lot of people. Though from looking around online somewhat of a golden rule pops up, nothing new for race day. You see during training there are certain foods that help you for the race, whether its to carbo load or keep off dairy, the diet differs for everyone. For example before I go for my runs which are usually in the morning, I run on an empty stomach and have just some water but not too much (the importance and how to hydrate is another topic all together). Anyways I usually eat some rice and get some carbs in my body the night but not too much as I know I will usually go to bed only couple of hours later which is when the food breakdown will slow down dramatically.
Everyone body is different, like metabolism and/or breaking down certain food faster than some, it can also depends on the individual training at the time. There are many factors that goes into the consumption for before a race and honestly im no expert or have a degree in it, however one thing that I have notice from experience is going back to the golden rule, nothing new for race day. Find your groove on what you eat and what works for you before you go for your races, stick with it and dont try anything fancy. Your body takes a while to get accustomed to some foods and its usually a trial and error in finding out what works so stick to what you know so you dont feel like you have taken an arrow to the knee.
Here is a personal example of what happen to me, instead of running in the morning like I do I had to run around 2-3pm which in Arizona time, might as well walk into an oven. Well the morning of the run I got myself a bowl of cereal with some MILK as you would like most people. Well the problem was that I havent had dairy in a while so for my body it takes a longer to process the fat in the milk, so when I started running I felt ODD. I started feeling heavier then usually and something was brewing in the Buddha belly, now I wont paint a Da Vinci for you but lets just say I was outside squatting and hoping I no one saw me. That was only from cheerios, so remember the golden rule " Nothing new for race day".
