Anyone know any of the pro’s (if there are any) and con’s of eating pizza?
Pizza is an occasional friday night thing for me. From what I can remember in high school I always had pizza on Friday night and had an invitational on Saturday morning… usually ran pretty well.
I’m doing long bikes on Saturdays now and long runs on Sundays. Should I keep it up? Is pizza any good for me?
one can never, ever possibly be anywhere near wrong with pizza. it’s got tomatoes which have lycopene to help keep the manberries healthy (sorry ladies), veggies which have some nutritional value, cheese for protein and taste, dough for carbo’s, meat for protein and iron. makes bad beer taste somewhat near ok.
eat up.
i think i remember hearing that lori bowden makes a homemade pizza the night before ironman. if it works for her…
it’s healthy??? lori bowden eats it???
well, with a arguments like that… pizza it is! every night!
maybe every morning too! 
thanks!
I’ve red where the high acid in the tomatoes can cause bowel problems the next day. I like the chances though.
Some pizza could be about the worse thing you could eat prerace. You could just as well eat a cup of lard and a loaf of bread as you could some pizza. I would guess a three cheese, Meat lover with cheese, or sausage and cheeze pizza is about 60-70% fat calories. A veggie pizza hold the cheese is probably around 20ish % fat, and fairly clean fat at that. I personally think a highfat meal prerace is courting disaster.
Post race yumm yumm G
Pizza is the world’s perfect food. Just make sure to test drive it a good nights before long runs and rides.
The day I stop eating pizza with a cold beer on Friday nights is the day I know triathlon has gotten out of hand and it’s time to quit one of them…Don’t listen to the psycho fitness freaks, beer and pizza are ALWAYS a good choice.
I’ve had some of my best race results after eating cold leftover cheese pizza on race morning.
I would hope that when we, as anal type a triathletes, talk about pizza the night before a race, it doesn’t include a meat lovers with extra cheese in the crust (or whatever the hell Pizza Hut is offering these days). Cheese pizza with vegetables, especially thin crust, is actually a pretty healthy meal, as long as you don’t eat the whole thing! I prefer to make my own with either spelt or ezekial (sprouted grains, no white flower) crust.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing, as long as it isn’t buffalo chicken or something like that. If you buy that pizza is similar in content to spaghetti and sauce, but with more cheese, then it’s a pretty typical pre-race meal.
I have no problems with a nice thin crust pizza with not too much cheese the night before a long workout, or once in a while for lunch at work(before going home to do a hard run or ride. The main thing I watch out for is that I don’t gut-load on the stuff.
“Although we don’t believe that there is any one thing, nutritionally, that will make you the Second Coming of Mark Allen or Paula Newby-Fraser, there are some dietary habits and supplements that you may want to try. We’ll attempt to discuss these as we believe they impact the performance of an endurance athlete. Some are more applicable to sprint triathletes and others to ironman distance people. Please keep in mind the differences among individuals. What works for one, doesn’t necessarily work for another. Consider that the fact that the night before the '92 Hawaiian Ironman, Paula Newby-Fraser’s dinner (*Don’t try this at home. Remember Paula is a professional.) consisted of 4-5 slices of Domino’s (no there’s no sponsor relationship here) bacon-cheeseburger pizza, about three leaves of lettuce, and about a quarter to a third of a pan of brownies (slightly undercooked and still warm). We don’t remember what she drank but recall her putting milk on her brownies. The next day she went on to set the course record for women of 8:55. There you go. There’s the magic formula you’ve been waiting for. “She goes so fast . . . I wonder what she eats?” Now you don’t have to wonder. Although we weren’t there to witness it, we’d would guess that Mark Allen’s pre-race meal was much more premeditated and a lot “healthier” probably including a variety of greens for salad, protein source such as fish or tofu, some pasta, bread, and fat in the form of olive or flax seed oil. Who is right and who is wrong? As you can see there is no right and wrong. There is only what works for you.”
Paula’s had pizza (and brownies!) on nights before Kona wins. So have a whole lot of other pro triathletes…
I’m racing tomorrow and I just had some pizza. Seems to work OK.
We make our own vegetarian pizza about once a week or so. Not at all greasy like some delivered pizza. Consider what goes into it - whole wheat flower, olive oil, tomatoe, green peppers, red peppers, mushrooms, pineapples, onion, hot peppers, spices, cheddar and goat milk cheese. It has to be healthy.
Pizza works well for me too. I do well on hard Saturday AM sessions when I eat pizza the night before. Pre-race, however, I eat a little different. Spaghetti and turkey meatballs. It works really well. I’ve rationalized it with the pasta providing carbs, the turkey meatballs (homemade) providing protein, and the tomato sauce provides a good dose of salt.
I’ve had some of my best races after having pizza the night before. I think it’s almost reached the level of “superstition” - I feel like I will have bad luck if I don’t get my pre-race pizza.
MMMMMMMM, Pizza.
MMMMMMMMMM, Lori Bowden.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, Lori Bowden making me pizza.
interestingly enough, I had a breakthrough race eating pizza before a race last season. Could have been a fluke or just a good day.
However, I still perfer to have sushi on the eve of races.
pizza is power food. hits all the key catagories: carbs, protein, sodium, fat, cholesterol, carbs, fat and likopene(sp)! i make my living selling it, which pays for race entries, bike stuff, wetsuits, etc.
definately great pre-race diet!!!