Beginners and Beyond

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What do I eat before this HM tomorrow? (Read 127 times)

Brilliant


    I know you're not supposed to do anything new before a race, but I just realized I have a problem tomorrow.  I'm running the 2nd half of the LA Marathon tomorrow as part of a charity relay team.  This means I'll be up for HOURS before I run.  I've never eaten a full breakfast before a long run before, much less before a race. And it's obviously too late to do any experimenting.

     

    Typical HM routine: Drink coffee & eat something very small (like a banana) before I leave the house. 90 min-2 hours later, just before race, eat something like Snickers Marathon Bar.

     

    Tomorrow possible plan:  Eat a normal breakfast around 7:00 (2-egg omelet stuffed w/ veggies).  3 & 1/2 or so hours later, just before race, eat the energy bar.

     

    I know I'll be STARVING by the time my race starts if I don't eat a normal breakfast.  I don't typically get digestive problems during a race (knock wood!), so does this sound like a reasonable plan?

    LRB


      Yes.  Careful with the types of veggies though, as some have a high water content which could come back around sooner rather than later.

       

      If it were me, I would have some type of bread (muffin, bagel, toast) with the eggs, and skip the veggies.  But you know yourself better than anyone.

       

      If you see someone wearing socks that say Bad Ass, that's Damaris, she's doing the full.

       

      Good luck, and don't forget to report back!

      Brilliant


        Yes.  Careful with the types of veggies though, as some have a high water content which could come back around sooner rather than later.

         

        If it were me, I would have some type of bread (muffin, bagel, toast) with the eggs, and skip the veggies.  But you know yourself better than anyone.

         

        If you see someone wearing socks that say Bad Ass, that's Damaris, she's doing the full.

         

        Good luck, and don't forget to report back!

         

        I've been off gluten for a while, so regrettably I have to skip the toast. Sad  But maybe I'll just have a little onion & cheese in my omelet instead of the usual pile of spinach, onion & 'shrooms.

         

        I've seen Damaris in photos in her race reports so I know what she looks like - if I see her go by while I'm waiting at the relay point, she'll definitely hear me yelling "Go Damaris!!!"

        LRB


           

          I've been off gluten for a while, so regrettably I have to skip the toast. Sad  But maybe I'll just have a little onion & cheese in my omelet instead of the usual pile of spinach, onion & 'shrooms.

          Do what you think is best, and go rock it!


          Hip Redux

            What about adding in some GF oats during your breakfast?  

            I would still bring a banana to have before your run too, in addition to the bar.  You might want something to snack on while you're waiting!

             

            Love the Half


              My  only suggestion would be to avoid anything heavy.  I'd skip the eggs because the protein takes a long time to digest.  I'm thinking more along the lines of oatmeal.

              Short term goal: 17:59 5K

              Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

              Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                  I'd skip the eggs because the protein takes a long time to digest.

                 

                I'd skip the eggs just because I don't trust them.   And I'd definitely skip the shrooms... you want to get to the finish line, and not to take a detour for talking to trees or something. Wink

                 

                Complex carbs that sit well should be OK, doesn't really matter what kind.  GF waffles or english muffin, etc.

                Docket_Rocket


                  Hope to see you there!  BTW, my socks say BEER and they are green, not black and Bad Ass.  Good guess, LRB!

                   

                  I've been off gluten for a while, so regrettably I have to skip the toast. Sad  But maybe I'll just have a little onion & cheese in my omelet instead of the usual pile of spinach, onion & 'shrooms.

                   

                  I've seen Damaris in photos in her race reports so I know what she looks like - if I see her go by while I'm waiting at the relay point, she'll definitely hear me yelling "Go Damaris!!!"

                  Damaris

                   

                  As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

                  Fundraising Page

                  GC100k


                    oc mom has already made her decision and started her day, but I thought I'd hijack this thread to talk about carb loading and race morning eating.  Last fall I had worse problems crashing during long runs than I did in previous marathon training, but through lots of reading and trial and error, I totally nailed carb loading and pre-run nutrition for my last few long runs and the marathon itself.  Here's my routine:

                     

                    Day before:

                     

                    normal breakfast and morning.

                     

                    Lunch: totally destroy myself at pizza buffet.  It's a lot of fat, but I somewhat avoided the heavy meat pizzas.  For the marathon itself, I got myself a large Pizza Hut pizza that I ate in the car on the 2 hour drive.  From the nutritional info on their website, the hand-tossed canadian bacon and pineapple seemed to have more carbs and less fat than most others.  Their pastas actually have more fat than their pizzas.  Pizza has always been a magic food for me - I always have lots of energy after eating pizza.

                     

                    Maybe some pretzels in the afternoon if not still full from the pizza.

                     

                    Dinner: potato curry on white rice.  I researched it and potatoes and white rice give you lots of carbs with not too much fiber. I searched for magic carb-loading products.  I googled, talked to nutrition and running stores, and posted in running forums.  There are a few out there, I tried a few things, and even had the nutrition store try to get a medical carb product that someone in a RW forum suggested.  But real food is as good or better than anything else.  We eat lots of curry (lived on the Indian subcontinent for several years) and are used to it, but I still had my wife make it real mild.

                     

                    Also had success with just potatoes as dinner or snack.  I generally don't like or eat potatoes in any form (no, I don't like potato chips or fries), but I made oven fries (cook the potatoes, sliced them up, and broil them) and they were fine.  You can also buy frozen fries or hash browns that don't have any grease.  I really just wanted carbs and not fats, so I was wary of greasy potato products.

                     

                     

                    Race/Run day:

                     

                    It takes me a couple hours and three or four visits to take care of pre-race business if you get my drift, so even for long runs it's a couple hours between getting up and heading out.

                     

                    Breakfast: Oatmeal with banana.  I also have coffee and Diet Coke.

                     

                    Immediately before run or race: Two Clif Bars.  My stomach can handle that no problem.  Tried three, but that was too much.

                     

                    Sports drink and Hammer gels during run.  I did the hammer gels because I can carry those in a race and so tried them out in the long runs.  In the past if I was running long enough to need fuel (a few hours), I'd have some PB&J or Clif Bars in the car and would loop back.

                     

                     

                    That's it.

                     

                    What you don't see: sports drinks or other sugary things before running.  You can get carbs from those, but I can't handle it.  Sports drinks or sugared sodas make me dizzy and nauseous or even black out.  I can drink watered down sports drinks while I'm running (or one gatorade with one water in the race), but definitely cannot handle it otherwise.

                     

                    This strategy is what a fat slow guy does to survive.  I make no claim that it's appropriate for a light, fast person.  It takes me 5000 calories to run a marathon.  Your body cannot store that much* or process that much while running, and you don't need to, but loading up ahead of time sure seems to make a difference.

                     

                    *in an easily accessible way, that is.  My body has enough energy stored for 30 marathons.

                      Interesting on the pizza.

                       

                      My day-before carb load last marathon consisted mainly of a box of mini wheats.  I think there were also some triscuits for salt, apples, bananas, and greek yogurt too.

                       

                      Definitely not a gluten-free menu.

                      MrNamtor


                        oc mom has already made her decision and started her day, but I thought I'd hijack this thread to talk about carb loading and race morning eating.  Last fall I had worse problems crashing during long runs than I did in previous marathon training, but through lots of reading and trial and error, I totally nailed carb loading and pre-run nutrition for my last few long runs and the marathon itself.  Here's my routine:

                         

                        Day before:

                         

                        normal breakfast and morning.

                         

                        Lunch: totally destroy myself at pizza buffet.  It's a lot of fat, but I somewhat avoided the heavy meat pizzas.  For the marathon itself, I got myself a large Pizza Hut pizza that I ate in the car on the 2 hour drive.  From the nutritional info on their website, the hand-tossed canadian bacon and pineapple seemed to have more carbs and less fat than most others.  Their pastas actually have more fat than their pizzas.  Pizza has always been a magic food for me - I always have lots of energy after eating pizza.

                         

                        Maybe some pretzels in the afternoon if not still full from the pizza.

                         

                        Dinner: potato curry on white rice.  I researched it and potatoes and white rice give you lots of carbs with not too much fiber. I searched for magic carb-loading products.  I googled, talked to nutrition and running stores, and posted in running forums.  There are a few out there, I tried a few things, and even had the nutrition store try to get a medical carb product that someone in a RW forum suggested.  But real food is as good or better than anything else.  We eat lots of curry (lived on the Indian subcontinent for several years) and are used to it, but I still had my wife make it real mild.

                         

                        Also had success with just potatoes as dinner or snack.  I generally don't like or eat potatoes in any form (no, I don't like potato chips or fries), but I made oven fries (cook the potatoes, sliced them up, and broil them) and they were fine.  You can also buy frozen fries or hash browns that don't have any grease.  I really just wanted carbs and not fats, so I was wary of greasy potato products.

                         

                         

                        Race/Run day:

                         

                        It takes me a couple hours and three or four visits to take care of pre-race business if you get my drift, so even for long runs it's a couple hours between getting up and heading out.

                         

                        Breakfast: Oatmeal with banana.  I also have coffee and Diet Coke.

                         

                        Immediately before run or race: Two Clif Bars.  My stomach can handle that no problem.  Tried three, but that was too much.

                         

                        Sports drink and Hammer gels during run.  I did the hammer gels because I can carry those in a race and so tried them out in the long runs.  In the past if I was running long enough to need fuel (a few hours), I'd have some PB&J or Clif Bars in the car and would loop back.

                         

                         

                        That's it.

                         

                        What you don't see: sports drinks or other sugary things before running.  You can get carbs from those, but I can't handle it.  Sports drinks or sugared sodas make me dizzy and nauseous or even black out.  I can drink watered down sports drinks while I'm running (or one gatorade with one water in the race), but definitely cannot handle it otherwise.

                         

                        This strategy is what a fat slow guy does to survive.  I make no claim that it's appropriate for a light, fast person.  It takes me 5000 calories to run a marathon.  Your body cannot store that much* or process that much while running, and you don't need to, but loading up ahead of time sure seems to make a difference.

                         

                        *in an easily accessible way, that is.  My body has enough energy stored for 30 marathons.

                        I would so crap my pants eating like that.


                        Hip Redux

                          I would so crap my pants eating like that.

                           

                          Agreed, that would totally wreck me!

                           

                          But, hey, whatever works.

                           

                          Curious now what OC Mom decided to eat. Big grin

                           

                          Love the Half


                            How much do you weigh GC?  The number of calories burned is a function dependent almost exclusively on only two factors - weight and distance traveled.  The only thing that can throw much of a kink into that calculus is elevation change.  Beyond that, two people who weigh 150 pounds will burn almost the same number of calories in 26.2 miles regardless of whether it takes them 5 hours or 2.5 hours.  Without looking it up, I'm guessing someone would have to weigh around 250 pounds before they'd burn 5,000 calories in a marathon.

                            Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                            Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                            Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                            Love the Half


                              BTW, there is some good evidence that few recreational runners do an adequate carb load the day before the marathon.  The amount you need to load for optimal performance is fairly staggering.  A couple of recent studies show that runners who carb load more heavily the day before a marathon run faster and fade less.  It turns out that you need 6 or 7 grams for every kilogram of body weight and that's a shitload of carbs.  We're talking about something on the order of 500-600 grams of carbs.

                               

                              How to Carb Load for a Marathon

                              Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                              Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                              Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).


                              Hip Redux

                                BTW, there is some good evidence that few recreational runners do an adequate carb load the day before the marathon.  The amount you need to load for optimal performance is fairly staggering.  A couple of recent studies show that runners who carb load more heavily the day before a marathon run faster and fade less.  It turns out that you need 6 or 7 grams for every kilogram of body weight and that's a shitload of carbs.  We're talking about something on the order of 500-600 grams of carbs.

                                 

                                How to Carb Load for a Marathon

                                 

                                1 cup of pasta has about 50g of carbs.  Are they really saying that people are supposed to eat the equivalent of 12 cups of pasta before a marathon?  Uhhh?

                                 

                                This made me LOL... yeah.  

                                According to a rather intrusive study this year, extremely high intake of carbohydrates was associated with faster times during endurance races but also with “nausea and flatulence.”

                                 

                                1234