So you wake up at 5.45am to get to the race extra-early because you missed the online entries. And you’re a tad nervous, butterflies in your tummy, it’s so early that food is the last thing on your mind. But it is important that you try to train your body to eat, even a small brekkie, about 1 – 4 hours pre-event. You will need a good amount of carb and protein, for efficient energy production. To be specific you need 1 – 4g per kg of carb. So for me, as a 60kg girl, I need 60 – 240 g carb for brekkie.
This is my brekkie plan:
a small bowl of Future Life (not too much fibre, which is a good thing!) and a banana. Giving me 88g carbs in total. Sorted!
Good carb options include:
- 1 cup Oats 54g carb
- Banana 51g carb
- 50g future life 33g carb
- 2 slices bread 29g and peanut butter 8g = 37g carb
- Glass of orange juice 25g carb
- Small handful of almonds 6 g carb
So you can mix and match a breakfast that meets your requirements.
Something that has also been a great friend of mine, pre-race is caffeine. I try to drink 2 cups of tea (I can’t stand coffee but that would be an option). The caffeine makes you more alert and helps to improve blood flow to the muscles, making you a racing-machine.
Test this out before your next race…