Your muscles and mind aren’t the only parts of you that need pre-race day training and attention. You also need to follow a nutritional game plan leading up to an event or a strenuous outing.
“Part of your training is also training your intestinal tract,” says Nancy Clark, sports nutritionist and author of four books. Be sure to rehearse your eating and activity routine before the big day; that way, you can make adjustments as needed.
Try this: An hour and a half to two hours before you exercise or compete, it’s ideal to consume about 200 to 300 calories. This should be a quick carbohydrate that’s easy to digest, such as a banana and yogurt. Try to stay away from fatty foods and protein because they take a long time to digest. Also make sure you are well hydrated, especially in hot and humid weather.
“While exercising, it is important to maintain your blood sugar,” says Clark. A general rule is that if you are exercising for longer than an hour, you should consume 30–60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Prolonged exercise depletes muscle glycogen stores, which supply the glucose our body needs to fight off fatigue. Your carbohydrates can come in the form of a gel shot, bars, sports drinks, or even orange slices. During exercise, you also want to drink water at regular intervals because you begin to lose fluids as soon as you start exercising.
After exercise, a combination of carbohydrates and protein has been shown to be more effective in promoting muscle glycogen recovery and muscle tissue growth when compared to a carbohydrate-only post exercise meal. Clark suggests three times more carbohydrates than protein, although the ratio doesn’t need to be exact. For example, a post-exercise meal can be a small bagel, two ounces of cheese, and some yogurt, or rice and chicken. If you’ve been exercising for a long period of time and have lost a lot of fluid, try a sports drink along with your post-exercise meal to help speed recovery.
Of course, it’s important to remember that the nutritional choices you make on a daily basis during training are going to influence how you perform. That is why, when training, you want to consume quality calories. According to Clark, that means, “The food you eat every day should include a variety of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, calcium-rich foods, and grains.”
