Fuel up: what to eat before a race

So, what’s the deal with the pre-race meal?

Your pre-race meal has a couple of things in common with the pair of Brooks shoes you run in.

First, it’s pretty much one-size fits you. “Pre-race meals are highly individual in terms of amount of food and what agrees with a runner”, says Dr. Kyle Pfaffenbach, a professor in the Health and Human Performance programme at Eastern Oregon University and adviser to Brooks Beasts.

Second, you wouldn’t lace up an untested pair of shoes at the starting line of your next race. Why would you risk stomach cramps or other GI stress on race day? Whatever your chosen meal you should break it in during training, especially on more difficult days.

Eating a balanced, nutritious meal before a race is a key part of getting your body to perform, but Dr. Pfaffenbach explains that too often, runners think about this meal as a singular event. Instead, runners should integrate their pre-race meal early in their training and make adjustments leading up to race day. Knowing what to eat before a run will help you learn what to eat before a race.

“The perfect pre-race meal is not the best way to improve as a runner — training hard and consistently is. Despite everyone knowing this, runners rarely eat their pre-race meal before key workouts and training sessions. If you find a pre-race meal that works, utilise it for hard training days, too! This will help you get used to the food and timing, and this approach fuels quality training sessions.”