Exact Pre-Race Foods I Ate While Traveling
We often hear advice like “eat carbs before a race”, but ever wonder EXACTLY what someone is eating? Well, here it is.
Traveling for a Race and Work Event
Last Thursday I flew from San Diego to Washington DC to take part in the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) convention and to present for an hour to room full of run coaches! This is my 2nd year speaking at the convention and it went really well!
Each year, the convention takes place in a different city during a RRCA certified event weekend – and this year it was the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.
This “race weekend” was obviously a little unusual – I wasn’t traveling JUST for the race – it was a combination of a work event and a race. And while a 10 mile race doesn’t need a 3 day carb load – eating more carbs the days before the race helps.
Food I Bought While Traveling Before a Race
While I don’t want to bore you with the details of EVERYTHING I ate while traveling (meals were a combination of conference provided food and restaurants) , I want to share a little more about what I bought and why.
Food I Bought While Traveling Before a Race
Airport Meal: Balanced Fuel for Travel Day
Airport – I chose a poke bowl in the airport for lunch during the 5 hour flight. I also had packed an apple, cashews and an orange.
Why I Chose This
Why I Chose This: The poke bowl was not only a great source of protein and carbs but it had quite a bit of veggies & fiber as well. The fruit and nuts also would keep me full and stabilize blood sugar so I would feel good when I arrived.
Evening of Arrival: Grocery Prep for Race Weekend
Evening of Arrival – After dinner on Thursday night I went to Whole Foods (luckily it was right across from the hotel) and got 3 bananas (one per day), coffee creamer, an instant oatmeal package, a carton of strawberries & a nonfat plain greek yogurt (not pictured).
Why I Chose These Foods
Why I Chose This: The coffee creamer is just because I’m high maintenance with coffee and it’s a taste preference, not a nutrition thing. The yogurt and strawberries were for a snack, knowing that often conference food (especially since I always indicate vegetarian meals can be low in protein). The bananas were for each day before my run (a group run Friday, shake out run Saturday, race Sunday). The oatmeal was for race morning.
Saturday Fueling: Increasing Carbs Before Race Day
Saturday Morning: Friday was a busy day with breakfast and lunch at the conference, and dinner out at a nice greek restaurant in downtown DC. I didn’t get enough to eat on Friday and I knew I needed to fix that on Saturday!
Why Carb Intake Matters Before a Race
After my shake our run, I went to Whole Foods and picked up a large bag of pretzels and a Go Macro bar. I started eating the pretzels while in line at the coffee shop where I ordered a breakfast burrito with eggs and potatoes and a latte.
Refueling After a Shakeout Run
CARBS! I knew I had some making up to do. And, immediately after a shake out run is the BEST time to eat something very high in carbs as your body is well prepared to convert it into glycogen and store it in your muscles to use for your race.
High-Carb Choices for Performance
The bag of pretzels had 130ish grams of carbs in it (it was multiple servings, but I ate more than half on Saturday) and the Go Macro bar has 36 grams of carbs and 10g protein. While I’m not a fan of relying on protein bars, these are good for runners when needed, because they have both carbs and protein and good quality ingredients (and yes, some sugar but when you’re about to race, sugar helps you run faster!).
Choosing Carbs Over Protein Before a Race
I chose the breakfast burrito with potatoes because I wanted more carbs (vs. meat for protein) and I got the sweet latte because I love fancy coffee and the sugar is a nice boost too.
Weight Loss vs Performance Fueling
Some of these foods would be the exact same choices if I were in weight-loss mode (like in Run Fuel), but these choices were made with performance fueling in mind, not weight loss. For weight loss, there would be some changes made if I were traveling, especially on Thursday/Friday. That being said, if I was running a race, EVEN in weight loss mode, I would still have increased carbs significantly on Saturday.
Race Day Results: Did This Fueling Strategy Work?
So how did the race go?
Amazing!!! I felt very strong throughout and ran a negative split race. If you want the entire recap, read it on my blog.
Final Thoughts on Traveling and Race Nutrition
Hope this helps – do you travel often for work, races or otherwise?
Happy running,
Nicole Dobransky
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