Pre-Race Prepping: Question for Runners

zillah73

I have a question for all the runners out there. I have read so much conflicting info on "carb loading" prior to races, etc. I just wanted to get some of everyone's experiences.

A little background: I currently consume about 1200 calories a day. Before anyone jumps on my case, this has nothing to do with MFP's recommendations. It is doctor- and nutritionist-supervised until I drop out of the "Overweight" BMI, at which point it will increase of course for maintenance. But I have a 10k coming up on March 30 and I have tried the pre-race carb loading and haven't noticed any improvement in my performance over when I just run around the neighborhood park.

My question is this: what would you recommend, if anything? I was wondering if maybe I should increase my daily caloric intake for a few days leading up to the race? My doctor is fine with this, it certainly won't hamper my progress, but she's not a runner. I wanted runners' feedback in terms of performance. Any info would be awesome as I would really like to feel like I have improved year-over-year at this year's race.

TAsunder

What did you do when you tried the pre-race carb loading? The type of carbs and timing can be important.

That said, I'm not sure how much carb loading you would really need to do for a 10k. When I've done it in the past, it is for multi-hour events and I combined it with stuff like fig newtons.

rmdaly

Eat enough food before the race so that you don't feel hungry or sluggish. Have a good dinner the night before, but don't overdo it. Many people will eat spaghetti or pizza, but eat what you normally do and what won't give your stomach (or other) issues in the morning.

I agree with the idea that carb-loading is not discussed as much anymore, especially with the shorter distances like 10K.

After the race, analyze how you felt and if you think what you ate the night before, or the morning of, helped or hindered your race so that you can make changes for your next 10K.

zillah73

What did you do when you tried the pre-race carb loading? The type of carbs and timing can be important.

That said, I'm not sure how much carb loading you would really need to do for a 10k. When I've done it in the past, it is for multi-hour events and I combined it with stuff like fig newtons.

The first year I did it was just dumb and I can see that now. It was a latin food pig out dinner at a restaurant: cheese enchiladas, fried plantains and refried black beans. Last year I cooked up brown rice and beans with steamed veggies. Morning of the race I did coffee, oatmeal and a banana.

TAsunder

It would surprise me if you really would benefit from true carbo-loading (where the point is to make easily-used glycogen available to your muscles), but if you are really pushing yourself I guess it's possible.

Anyway, here's an article I followed when I carbo-loaded for a bike event last year. I have no idea if it worked, but I did this and had fig newtons around and several of my friends were impressed that I did not get off the bike and walk up the final couple of steep hills, so I guess that might be an endorsement? On the flip side I did a lot more training than they did leading up to it.

http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/fill-er?page=single

zillah73

Thanks!

tammymusic1

I am working up to a 10k I did 6.11 miles on Wed. I find that a piece of whole wheat toast with 1tablespoon of pbutter and half slice up banana on top and at least 8-16oz of water 1-1 1/2 hours before I run it just perfect.

wolfchild59

You don't really need to do a focused carb load for a 10K. You aren't really going to be running long enough for your body to have to fall back on additional stores like that.

But, what I might recommend is to do some additional carb eating the days leading up to the race, rather than just the night before. I typically eat a 40/30/30 macro diet, give or take. But when I have a half marathon coming up, as I get closer to the race (a few weeks), I start regularly eating 50/25/25. And then on Thu and Fri before the race, I'll eat closer to 55 or 60% carbs, and then on Saturday, I eat 60-65% carbs. It tends to feel better for the longer runs in the weeks leading up to the race and has proved to be a good formula for me and how I feel the morning of the race.

When I'm doing the increase in carbs, I don't worry quite as much about the source, other than non-sweets sources (e.g. candy). I'll do whole grain breads, oatmeal, potatoes, polenta, rice, and usually an all-natural nutrition bar (sometimes home made). Then race morning, after my normal long run day food that I eat earlier in the morning, I do a carb source that is sugar based, like a mini (sample-sized) bag of jelly beans or something like that about 30 minutes before the race.

Again, I don't think you need a specific carb load for a 10K, I usually just eat at 50/25/25 for the last couple of weeks before a 10K and have a Luna Bar for breakfast before the race. But everybody is different. The most important thing to do is not eat or do anything that you haven't done before. You don't want to discover that a certain food item or too many carbs is going to give you an upset stomach after you've already started the race.

Have fun and good luck!

Mokey41

Carb loading isn't going to be much help before a 10K. Just eat decent the day before and have your normal food before the race. Messing around with food is a great way to end up looking for the porta potties on the race course.