Pre-Race Meals

Your meals leading up to competition should not be any different from your regular meals, assuming they are healthy. Many athletes change their meal plan for various reasons; for example, they attempt to improve glycogen stores by eating high amounts of refined carbohydrates. The problem is that this is often done at the expense of health, as the food and liquid consumed is often junk food or other unhealthy items. This can cause additional stress and often trigger high amount of insulin, reducing fat burning, lowering blood sugar, and potentially, depending on timing, even reducing glycogen stores. My recommendation has always been this: Once you find the best daily eating plan for your body’s needs, maintain those eating habits in the days leading up to competition. This will keep your blood sugar stable, optimize glycogen stores, and moderate insulin levels. Why change your body chemistry and risk additional metabolic stress by eating very differently before an event? As an endurance athlete, your goal is to maintain a high level of fat burning and utilize this during your event. The use of carbohydrates can greatly help in this endeavor during competition, but a precompetitive meal should include a healthy balance of low to moderate carbohydrates, complete proteins, and healthy fats, which will fill glycogen stores while satisfying other nutritional requirements.