Pre race meals

mentalalex

So what do you all do then

how many hours before your race ?

how many calories ?

and what do you eat ?

just trying to see what other people do,

Cheers Alex, Max Gear RT

Scrumple

porridge, about an hour b4 the weekend run. Bananas in it.

For meals, pasta or carbo's and nothing too heavy with it... maybe some butter and seasoning. Simple, and full of enegry. Unlikely to upset the stomach. Maybe grab some cake.

Night before is key, just eat well, and nothing heavy (not too much meat, or really spicy stuff)

Anonymous

Pre race it's 3hrs before. If it's a morning/midday race Porridge, seeds, protein shake. Coffee 45mins before the start.

If it's evening I'll have some brown pasta, tuna, lloyd grossman's sauce 3hrs before... Oh, and coffee 45mins before the start!

That said, I'm rubbish.

ozzzyosborn206

if its morning cereal an hour before then a energy bar 20mins before, if its afternoon then some pasta with tom sauce and maybe some chicken along with peppers onions etc

jibberjim

For a morning race, likely nothing, maybe a couple of hundred calories - you should be fully stocked up with glycogen other than a small amount used whilst sleeping which is only a few hundred calories.

Immediately pre-race on a short 1-2 hour race or where it'll be hard from the gun, I'll take a 100-150 calories or so, for a longer race that may well be moved until after I start.

racingcondor

If it's an AM race I just eat cereal (not that I'm advising it) but have a big chicken arrabiata the night before. If it's an afternoon Crit then it's (a small amount of) chicken arrabiata for lunch with at least an hour to digest. See a pattern .

Digestion time is important. Really.

sheffsimon

I won two Saturday afternoon races this year, and both times played football in the morning, had a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps for lunch (might even have put some crisps in me sandwich), and dashed out the house.

Thats the secret of race preparation for you.

Anonymous

SheffSimon wrote:

I won two Saturday afternoon races this year, and both times played football in the morning, had a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps for lunch (might even have put some crisps in me sandwich), and dashed out the house.

Thats the secret of race preparation for you.

That works fine when you're 7 though...

softlad

SheffSimon wrote:

I won two Saturday afternoon races this year, and both times played football in the morning, had a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps for lunch (might even have put some crisps in me sandwich), and dashed out the house.

Thats the secret of race preparation for you.

glad someone said that. I had my best result (4th, I think)after a night on the beer, bed at 2am and a breakfast consisting of a takeaway coffee and a bag of donuts on the way to the race...

mind you, I was younger back then, but it just goes to show....

sheffsimon

NapoleonD wrote:

SheffSimon wrote:

I won two Saturday afternoon races this year, and both times played football in the morning, had a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps for lunch (might even have put some crisps in me sandwich), and dashed out the house.

Thats the secret of race preparation for you.

That works fine when you're 7 though...

Working fine at 40 also

On a more serious note, is timing when I eat, and eating a particular food, just prior to a race going to make a difference at amateur level racing?? Doubtful IMO, and difficult to prove.

Anyway, cheese and crisp sandwiches aren't on UCI banned list yet, so I think I'll stick with 'em.

Scrumple

Being serious, some people can drink ale, and eat crap, and still leave most of us standing.

Nutrition is often made way too complex. Like hifi, the gain diminishes rapidly as you get more selective and begin to flap. There is a gain, but it is likely to be irrelevant to all but the most serious racers [edit - I see the poster above agrees!]

As everyone has said, you need enough calories in advance, and a sensible balanced diet.

On the day, you just need to avoid expending energy digesting food instead of helping you race. That just means a decent hour plus to eat before riding. Avoid sugar, go for complex sugars like pasta or starch etc with some sugary drink close to the race. And, hydrate well in advance.

SBezza

Nothing special at all, eat well pretty much all the time. Will have cereal in the morning before a race, sometimes it will be 2 hours sometimes shorter, depending on the start time of the event, and how close I am to the event.

If I am doing a long event 50miles + I will have a decent meal before bed to help keep glycogen stores pretty well topped up.

For what it is worth pasta is over rated, I don't eat the stuff and it doesn't hinder me. Complex carbs as part of an overall diet are far better than cramming loads of heavy carbs prior to an event, anything with sugar in will top up the glycogen stores, obviously some quicker than others.

ozzzyosborn206

softlad wrote:

SheffSimon wrote:

I won two Saturday afternoon races this year, and both times played football in the morning, had a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps for lunch (might even have put some crisps in me sandwich), and dashed out the house.

Thats the secret of race preparation for you.

glad someone said that. I had my best result (4th, I think)after a night on the beer, bed at 2am and a breakfast consisting of a takeaway coffee and a bag of donuts on the way to the race...

mind you, I was younger back then, but it just goes to show....

i have won local races the day after a night on the beers, and the first time i went sub hour for a 25 with a 57. 50 i had been to a music festival the night before, i think if i are going to have a good ride i would need to get seriously drunk the night before for it o effect me, that said i know some people who would race crap is they had just 3 beers the night before a race.

hammerite

I'm not successful at any level or discipline of racing. But I just tend to eat as usual, and don't do anything different. The only thing to think about for me is timing. If a race starts at 1pm for example, then I might have to eatlunch a bit earlier.

snakeeater

I only ever do morning races (65 miles +) so i make sure I eat well the evening before. That will normally be something like pasta with chicken seasoned well or with a light sauce or just plain olive oil and fresh tomatoes and garlic (learnt this from good amateur riders when I was living in spain). I even have a couple of beers or a glass of wine, but I try and make sure I'm well hydrated during the week. Just dont eat things like bacon or gammon steaks as they end up making you thirsty during the night. Wake up b4 the race and I'll just take some coffee, 1/2 litre water sipping periodically, and pecan pastry or similar. I dont try to stuff a good breakfast down me as its not needed. Get to race HQ and eat 2 bananas plus your preferred energy drink.

In fact when I go for a long training ride solo (60 + miles) I just make sure Iv had the same light breakfast.

Mettan

Nothing fancy on the day - simple sugars, bananas, fluid - (plenty of pasta and rice on previous days though - sensible food). And 2 days rest before a race (fresh legs).

richk

Porrige about 2 hours before for me.