It took me a while to figure out what worked, but I have to say Quaker Instant Oatmeal with brown sugar followed by two strawberry frosting Pop Tarts does the trick. If I could sweet talk my wife into preparing some flapjacks with peanut butter and maple syrup while I frantically get my stuff in order, I’d be stylin’!
Good friend of mine likes eggs and bacon with Cholula hot sauce (Denny’s style). The thought of burping up Cholula and grease makes me ill, but it works for him.
I have to be careful about eating solid food before a race. I always have a can or two of Strawberry Ensure. Not that is tastes great but it works for me.
Depends on the length of time between the meal and the race. If it’s fairly close, I go with a can or two of Ensure (Chocolate). If there is about two or three hours, old-fashioned oatmeal sweetened with about 1/8 cup of apple juice and some raisens thrown in.
I usually have a bagel or two and a powerbar on the way to the race. I also usually drink a bottle of Gatorade. Finding what works for you is just a matter or trial and error since some people have sensitive stomachs and other could eat at a buffet and then go hammer 1/2 hour later.
They showed a very funny video pre-race at IMFL last year about “dos and don’ts” for ironman week narrated by Paula Newby-Fraser … Paul Huddle walks into a Waffle House and sees Chris Legh chowing down on pancakes and bacon and eggs and oatmeal and good knows what else and decides that if it good enough for Chris the pro that he’d better have the same thing. On the way out of the diner he wishes Chris good luck in the race and Chris says that he’s not racing …
3 hours to go: French Crueller, Boston Creme, Big cup of coffee- black. (refined foods seem to cause less G.I. distress for me but I still go to the bathroom almost right away).
2 hours to go: Marathon Energy Bar or Powerbar Performance bar with 1 liter of water. I avoid energy bars with a lot of fiber before a race.
1 hour to go- More water and maybe some sports drink depending on the temperature.
30 minutes to go: 1 can Red Bull, a little more water.
Aaaah, the layers of the onion are begining to be peeled back. No wonder you complain about your excessive corpulance and that you have become the literal butt of so many recent cruel jokes. "3 hours to go: French Crueller, Boston Creme, Big cup of coffee- black…) Am I guessing there was a mis-step in your path of life? Were you not, perhaps, destined for a career in law enforcement? To those of you ST’ers in law enforcement, my apologies, particularly if you are quite fit, but I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to beat on the guy one last time today. I mean everyone esle seems to have today, isn’t it my turn?
I always have two choc powerbars 4 hours before I race, even if that means waking up at 3:00AM to eat them (and going back to bed). Then gatoraide in the immediate two hours before the race.
Worse… It comes from one of Eddy Murphy’s stand up comedies (can’t remember Raw or Delirious) where he names his relatives after cereals. “…my cousin is a prostitute we call her Trix, my other cousin is retarded we call him Special K…” Amongst friends I got stuck with Special K (only because my last name begins with K, not only that I’ve been known to do some off-the-wall things in my past). -sorry for the long explaination, not that I’m sure you care…!
I find it interesting what sort of foods work for people during race morning. On any given long training day, I’m certain anyone could eat almost anything they want. But on race day, the nerves kick in!
I eat the same thing I eat pretty much every other morning. I’ve never understood why people eat differently on race morning than on any other morning. Are you hoping to introduce something new and different into your body on the verge of your extraordinary effort - in hopes of vomiting? Please explain.
No sooner than 90 minutes before I do anything:
Two bowls of cheerios (one regular, one multigrain)
2 cups of milk, 1-1/2 scoops of whey, a banana and some ice, blended (on the Cheerios)
Small cup of coffee to induce movement and any white bread product like homemade bread or plain bagels about 2 hours before start. 1 hour before start a banana. Plenty of water and gatorade up to 30’ before.
I’ve recently discovered muesli. My wife went to Whole Foods where they have the horse’s dream buffet of huge bins of grains and created her own “muesli” from scratch. I’m trying this now and expect to use it before my next race.
The best race of my life, I wake up 1:30 before the start and I live 1:30 drive time from the start. My wife sets a pr for getting ready in the morning and we are out the door literally in 2-3 minutes. The only thing I could think to grab is some stale homemade bread and a jar of peanut butter. I munch on that while breaking several traffic laws, get to the race a little late, then proceed to have the best performing day of my life.
Wakeup around 2-3 A.M. and drink 500 calories Spiz, 4:30/5 A.M. slimfast or spiz 500 calories or a can of slimfast and a bagel, 5:30 a water bottle with a can of redbull topped off with propell. RACE at 7
