It's 2004. New York. My first marathon. Am I relishing the moment? Unfortunately not. Excited and overwhelmed, yes, but my overriding thought is "where the heck's the toilet?" In fact, the ensuing race is a run from one loo stop to the next. After all those early mornings, the niggles, the sheer hard slog, I'd screwed up by eating the wrong foods during the days before the race. In short, I'd "carbo-overloaded".
But every cloud has a silver lining, as they say. For me this cloud was a life-changer. At that time, sports nutrition was all rather theoretical, complicated, and certainly not very tasty. Already a cook, I decided to gain a deeper understanding of what, when and how to eat to get the best out of my sport. I set about trying to make nutrition more accessible for the average sports enthusiast and to put this into practice with recipes to use on a daily basis to fuel their training. To my sheer amazement, in 2009, I was offered a publishing contract with Random House for my first book, Go Faster Food. I've been writing about food for fitness ever since.
Inspired by so many stories I've heard of athletes who have trained hard for races, but messed up because they've eaten the wrong foods, my latest ebook, FuelSmart for Race Day, focuses specifically on those crucial three days before an endurance event. So, to avoid standing on the start line feeling like a bloated whale, try these simple tips:
1. The taper
Carbs are converted into blood glucose and used for energy, or stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle. You'll be jittery and desperate to squeeze in a few more miles, but reducing the length and intensity of your runs in the week before your race will enable your body to store the glycogen normally used to fuel your long runs.
2. Don't carbo-overload
Your body can store enough carbohydrate to keep you going for approximately 90 minutes, after which it has to resort to burning fat reserves for energy and this may slow you down. You just need to increase your carbohydrate intake by around 10% over the three to four days leading up to the race. This, combined with the reduction in your training, will help you start out with the maximum amount of glycogen in your body. You'll be on the start-line feeling like a coiled spring ready for action.
3. Carbs not calories
You're slightly increasing carbohydrate intake, not overall calorie intake. This will just make you feel heavy, bloated and overfed. I know I'm not the only runner who has made this mistake! Poor choices for carbo-loading tend to be high-fat foods such as french fries, crisps, doughnuts, buttery croissants, creamy pasta meals and cheesy pizzas. Clever choices are oats, basmati rice, pasta with tomato-based sauces, English muffins, wholemeal toast and plenty of fruit and vegetables.
4. Stick to plain and familiar foods
Pre-race nerves, combined with the taper in your training, can play havoc with the stomach. To minimise the risk of bloating, unwanted gas and diarrhoea, avoid unfamiliar foods and steer away from high-fibre or very spicy foods, such as lentils, curries, pulses, bran and brown rice. A fairly plain pasta dish makes a great meal for the night before the race, perhaps with a pesto or tomato sauce.
5. Do the pee test!
Drinking plenty of water during the days prior to the race means you'll start out nicely hydrated. The pee test is the perfect way to check you're hydrated. Your pee should be a light straw colour. If it is not, drink some more until it is. It's that simple.
6. Keep breakfast simple
The idea is to just "'top up the tank" about two to four hours before the race. Eat what you eat before a long session in training, perhaps porridge or cereal, some fruit and a slice of toast. Whatever you do, don't try anything new; it may not stay down! Again, do the pee test. Drink enough to ensure you're hydrated, but not so much that you can feel the water sloshing around in your stomach.
7. Practice makes perfect
Even if you start out with optimum carbohydrate stores, if you don't keep topping up regularly, you'll hit the wall. It's during training that you need to discover what works for you as an individual. Some runners swear by gels. I personally couldn't think of anything worse. Perhaps you're a sports beans person, or there are shot-bloks, sports drinks, chia seeds, bananas, energy bars. Whatever you choose, about 100 calories of carbohydrate per 20 minutes does the trick during the race.
8. Relish the recovery
This is my favourite moment. The well-deserved recovery! Eat and drink whatever is in the goody bag; you may not feel like it but it will kick-start the recovery process. You may be crying out for salty foods if you have sweated a lot; this is when it's actually fine to eat chips or crisps to replenish lost body salts! Treat yourself to a proper meal as soon as you can stomach it after the race. You'll need plenty of high-GI carbohydrates and protein to aid muscle recovery, but, quite frankly, listen to your body and eat what you fancy.
Kate Percy is author of Go Faster Food and Go Faster Food for Kids. Kate's latest ebook, FuelSmart for Race Day is available at a special pre-marathon discount of 99p (rrp £3.99). Follow Kate Percy on Twitter @gofasterfood.
