Congratulations on signing up for your race!  As a rule of thumb, you don't ever want to try anything new on race day.  This holds true for what you eat before running.  What that means is whatever you have been eating before your training runs should be what you eat before your race.  Training is not only to make your muscles stronger and increase your endurance, it's also training your body to digest food and use it as fuel.

Before each of my runs I have a whole grain piece of toast (maybe two depending on the length) with peanut butter and a banana.  I eat this about an hour before I run to give it time to digest.  How long is your race?

t.

Congrats on your first race! And I agree with Nutrition Tara--what you eat prior to training runs is what you should eat prior to your race, regardless of what time the run is. Skip the coffee if you don't usually have it prior to runs. The energy of the runners and your first race will get you going!

I personally like peanut butter and banana and wheat thins, plus half a glass of water, consumed about 1.5 hours before the race. Too much closer to race time and I'll be needing to use the portapotties, or will have side cramps! I bring Larabars or other snacks for immediately after the race.

Hi,

My two cents - and I'm a frequent racer so this is the best advice I can give from my experience:

1) Eat 2 or more hours before the race. Food needs time to digest.

2) Eat familiar things - don't try anything new.

3) You didn't mention how long your race is, but basically if it's a shorter distance, maybe just 200-300 calories, a half 300-400 and a full, 400-600. The purpose of eating is just to restore your blood sugar levels as they have lowered during your previous nights sleep. It's also to make sure you're not running on an empty stomach which forces the body to use fat as energy and the body is much less efficient at this.

4) If you drink coffee normally, don't skip it. You will do yourself more harm than good, contrary to belief. Have a cup, and a cup only (and not a mega cup - a standard cup of coffee is 8oz). This should also be around 2 hours before the race - caffiene takes about 2 hours to have a positive effect in runners. But you can easily overdo it - remember coffee is a diuretic. Race adrenaline is powerful - but it doesn't make up for the morning cup of joe when your body expects it.

5) Drink about 10 ounces of water pre-race. Don't over-hydrate - or you might have to urinate mid-race and this is not pleasent. You want to be adequetly hydrated, and maintain throughout the race.

HTH,

JP

Thanks - just here to help whenever I can! That's what running is all about!

I'm running my first race tomorrow.  it's a 12K.  The thing is I live 2 hours away from the race site and we will arrive around 1.5hours before we actually run (this has to do with parking, group photo, etc).  So if I eat when I leave my house, I'm going to be hungry again when I arrive at the site.

I bought one of those energy gels, but I've never tried it before.  Is it really a bad idea to consume this before the race then?

I also bought a recovery bar for afterwards.  I take it that's OK to eat since I will have already completed the race?

Thanks in advance for the input

Renée

Most of what is said here is good. One thing: coffee is not a diuretic. That has been de-bunked time and again. I have coffee before I race, and in longer runs take GU with caffeine. Google it, coffee is not a diuretic.

Really, you dont want a debate? Itis fact a mild diuretic. Drink the coffee. Or better yet down an energy drink.