Carbo loading is still a good idea. There are a few theories out there on how to do it best. Personally not a fan of carb depletion. You want to make sure you top off your glycogen stores prior to your big day. If you don't eat a decent meal the night before you increase your chances of bonking in longer races, short races chance is less with a decent breakfast. In summary.

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Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

OK, to tweak the question a little, if you could eat any meal the night before an Oly, and any breakfast, what would everyone reccomend?

yes I agree...the bigger the event, the more important the meal. we've all head of 5K or 10K PR's coming out of a big night before party...any distance longer than this will feel like hell on earth.

carb loading actually makes me feel bloated and sluggish, so I make sure to eat it early enough with a high quality protein source and nothing to heavy on the stomach. in my experience, plain is better.

kc

I'm going to jump in here and hopefully the more knowledgeable will correct my "misgivings"

" With all the new gels, sports drinks ect., how important is the night before meal?"

The night before meal, and more importantly the 2-3 days of eating before do something that the gels, drinks etc don't do in my understanding and that's replenish muscle glycogen. During a race you're burning fuel from many sources two of them being blood glucose and muscle glycogen. During a race refueling via sports drink and goo's food etc does a decent job at refueling blood glucose but since you're burning fuel so quickly it's never really stored as muscle glycogen...again in my completely uneducated understanding.

So in my understanding not having a night prior and more importantly a couple days prior of decent "refueling" food is detrimental because come race day you're glycogen levels could be less than optimal which would mean less fuel to burn overall.

As far as what to eat. That depends on your specifics. I usually have a fairly light meal, high in carbs, usually pasta or something the night before. I basically base the night beore meal more on "haw fast will this leave me" rather than how much can I get from it. As IMO I loose more from having to stop on the race race course to take care of business or worse yet having something in my stomache or intestines than I gain by the "optimal meal". This is especially true if I follow a fairly high carb diet the prior 3-4 days and am pretty much "topped" of prior to the night before. As long as I keep the blood sugar levels up and put in enough to keep from depleting things I'm good to go.

~Matt

I pretty much do the same as Matt for the same reasons- increase carb and fluid levels in the 2-3 days before the race, then something light and bland for the night before.

I follow the same pattern of easy to digest, low fiber and bland. I eat until full and stop. I try to eat early in the evening with maybe a small snack later if I get hungry. I don't eat before races, I follow the Hammer Nutrition theory on not eating before a race, plus it avoids any chance of stomach problems or having to get up at 3 to eat for longer races.

Rough guidelines

- Races lasting less than 2 hours, no real need to do anything fancy with meals or carbo loading. Night before eat a light meal. Breakfast - eat a normal light carbo oriented breakfast.

- Races lasting 2+ hours to 4 - 5 hours. Load up on the carbohydrates in the 2 - 3 final days, but don't eat a huge meal the night before. Eat a normal meal that night. You will sleep better. Normal light carbo hydrate breakfast on race morning.

- IM distance - Load up BIG TIME on the carbohydrates in the last 4 days, but not the night before. If racing in very hot conditions, add extra salt to your meal. Stay hydrated. All that extra carbohydrate storage needs extra water. Know that you will put on a few pounds - this is your carbo fuel tank being topped up. This is a good thing. Don't eat a massive meal the night before. Keep it lighter. IM race morning breakfast should include some protein if you can handle it.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I know what not to eat. A big mess of hot chicken wings and beer does not make for a pleasant race day.

Pasta.

What if you eat lots of carbs year-round? I eat about 75% carbs all the time.

Dave in VA

I recommend visiting an Indian Buffet the night before a race. Load up on the masala and rember the old addage: you can never have too much curry. If you don't have good indian food nearby, then loading up on Thai food is a good alternative. Don't forget to load up on dairy for at least 3 days prior to a big race. This is especially important if you're lactose intolerant.

I would say, unless you are over 2-3 hours, eat what you normally eat before a long training ride. The training season isn't just for training muscles as it is a time for you to learn what your body can handle before a long exhertion. Tom D. probably has bratwurst and skittles the night before and still PR's a Half-Iron :-), but you have to find what works for you.

I like pizza for dinner. (still tastes goo and carb loads all at once.), and since I eat if fairly regularly, my body can process it without any problems. For breakfast, a slimfast and an energy bar.

yeah you defintley wanna stick with a carb-load the nigh befor. i tried going without and you feel drained the whole time.

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