You should strategiws to fuwling 30—90 g of carbs every hour on race day, Pre-racw on your bodyweight. For me, I typically take two gels; one Blood sugar regulation strtaegies 10 kilometre Citrus bioflavonoids and energy levels Electrolytes and pH balance Blood sugar regulation second between kilometres to get me through the final stretch of the race. The recovery period after a half marathon is within one hour, a window of time that's critical for taking in the necessary nutrients to make you feel as good as possible tomorrow. Like this: Like Loading We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Read next.

Pre-race fueling strategies -

Equally as important as what you eat is when you eat your pre-exercise meal. Authorities such as Dr. Misner, Dr. Michael Colgan, and Dr.

David Costill all agree that the pre-race meal should be eaten hours prior to the event. After breakfast, drink ounces of fluid each hour up to 30 minutes prior to the start ounces total fluid intake. Three hours allows enough time for your body to fully process the meal.

Carbohydrates for exercise. Dietary demand for optimal performance. Int J Sports ;] shows that complex carbohydrates taken hours prior to exercise raise blood glucose and improve performance.

If you consume high glycemic carbohydrates such as simple sugars or even the preferred complex carbohydrates such as starches and maltodextrins within three hours of exercise, you can expect the following, with possible negative effects on performance:.

The combination of accelerated glycogen depletion and disruption of your primary long-distance fuel availability can devastate your performance. Recall that I mentioned earlier that muscle glycogen, the main fuel recruited for the first minutes of exercise, remains unaffected by a nightlong fast.

However, hard-training athletes often do wake up very hungry and feel they need to eat something before their workout or race. This is especially true for half and full iron-distance triathletes, who start very early in the morning in the water, swimming for up to an hour or more where consuming food is not possible.

Consuming some easily digested calories an hour or two prior to the start will not negatively affect performance, and may actually enhance it. In events lasting longer than minutes, refraining from calorie consumption for the three-hour period prior to the start is crucial because you want to preserve your glycogen stores, not accelerate their depletion.

Muscle glycogen is the first fuel that the body will use when exercise commences, and your body only has a limited supply of this premium fuel. If your workout or race goes beyond the minute mark, you don't want to do anything that will accelerate muscle glycogen utilization.

Q: Should I get up during the wee hours of the morning just to get in a meal three hours before my race or workout? A: NO - rest will help you more. Much restorative physiology occurs during sleep, so don't sacrifice sleep just to eat. If you're a fit athlete, one who has been replenishing carbohydrates immediately after each exercise session, you have approximately minutes of muscle glycogen, your premium fuel, available.

As long as you begin fueling shortly after the workout or race begins, perhaps minutes after the start, your performance will not be affected negatively. Topping off liver glycogen stores is always a good idea, but not at the expense of sacrificing sleep, and certainly not at the expense of depleting muscle glycogen stores too quickly by eating too soon before exercise.

However, when you consume calories within three hours of a race, that's exactly what will happen; you'll increase the rate at which your glycogen is burned.

This advice assumes that you have been effectively refueling your body after each workout, as this is the primary way to increase muscle glycogen see the article Recovery - A crucial component of athletic success for details. For shorter events, consuming a small amount of fuel an hour to two prior to the start may enhance performance.

For more detailed and scientifically-referenced information regarding this topic, please read Dr. Though the recommendations outlined in this article may seem counterintuitive, they make perfect sense physiologically speaking.

Apply them consistently and watch how well your body responds. Applying these steps regarding pre-exercise calorie consumption for all your workouts will definitely enhance the quality of each and every one of them. Then, follow these same recommendations prior to your races and enjoy the distinct and noticeable advantage you'll have.

Misner's article The Science Behind the Hammer Nutrition Pre-Race Meal Protocol, found in the Endurance Library portion of the KNOWLEDGE section at www. Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

You have no items in your shopping cart. Click here to continue shopping. My Account. Hydration is just as important as eating before and during your run. Not only should you be drinking water while running, but it's also important to drink enough water throughout the day.

The simplest way to tell if you are hydrated is to check the color of your urine. A pale yellow means that you're hydrated, while a dark apple cider vinegar color indicates dehydration. Or, try the " skin pinch test. If your skin returns to normal right after you pinch it, you're well-hydrated, but if the pinched shape sticks for a few seconds or longer, you're likely dehydrated,.

Once you know the basics of fueling, race day isn't all that different from training. What you should take into consideration for a The greater the workout intensity, the faster muscle glycogen runs out, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

But regardless if you're striving to hit an Olympic-level finish time or you're simply fast-walking the half marathon, you need to be prepared to do a lot of re-fueling throughout the race. That's where sports products, including drinks, gummies, and chews that are loaded with easily digestible carbs, come in handy.

Just be sure to see how your stomach will react on your long runs — and never try anything new on race day. Sports drinks come in for a lot of criticism due to their sugar content. But they're formulated to enhance athletic activity for endurance sports, and they're a crucial tool for half marathons.

For runs lasting longer than an hour, the body needs supplemental carbs, fluid, and electrolytes to maintain energy. These sports products usually offer a shot of sugar read: carbs and caffeine which is known to make exercise feel easier , but they lack fluid. She also suggests taking a glance at the race map beforehand to time your gel or gummy intake with the fluid station.

You did it! You made it through the training and race day, but there's still a little more work to be done — if you can call eating brunch work. The recovery period after a half marathon is within one hour, a window of time that's critical for taking in the necessary nutrients to make you feel as good as possible tomorrow.

Here's what you should focus on. Although everyone is obsessed with protein , carbs are just as important for running recovery. Glycogen stores are generally used up after about an hour, and they need to be refilled for proper recovery. Think of your muscles as the gas tank and carbs as the fuel.

For the engine to start up again tomorrow even if you just plan on taking a gentle recovery walk around the block , you need to refill it with carbs. Protein also helps to repair tired muscles. Post-race, try an egg sandwich on whole-wheat toast with a side of fruit.

Then reduce both fat and protein but keep a mixture of simple and complex carbohydrates. And finally, in the final hour before the start, stick with low fiber, mostly simple carbohydrates so they are out of the gut and into the bloodstream quickly.

Take our free 2-minute quiz to discover how effective your training is and get recommendations for how you can improve. The next step is to take the starting point recommendations and adjust them to suit your personal needs.

If you have a history of GI distress when you eat close to the start of events or workouts, then focus on more substantial meals hours out and plan for smaller snacks closer to the start.

Some athletes experience hypoglycemia low blood sugar soon after the start of exercise when they eat carbohydrates minutes beforehand. The spike in blood sugar triggers the release of insulin, which lowers blood sugar by moving carbohydrate into tissues, like muscles.

High insulin response can overlap with muscles using carbohydrate for fuel at the start of intense exercise. As a result, blood sugar levels can drop to the point of hypoglycemia, characterized by feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and nauseated.

Researcher Asker Jeukendrup has a good article explaining reactive hypoglycemia. The takeaway is that if you are prone to reactive hypoglycemia, you can:.

Anxiety and excitement can affect how you respond to eating. Stress can alter gastric emptying and gut motility, and GI distress can result from either speeding them up or slowing them down. Caffeine may exacerbate GI distress in these scenarios. If you struggle with pre-race jitters, the eating habits that work before training a lower stress environment may not work as well on race day.

This is part of the reason you should schedule lower-priority competitions. They are a great opportunity to test out race-day nutrition in a higher stress environment. Above all, getting your pre-race and pre-workout meals right takes practice. Start with the basics and then experiment with a variety of foods and combinations to see what works best for you.

Learn step-by-step how to overcome limited training time and get faster. Walk away with a personalized plan to increase your performance. Email Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Or is it important to get as many of the carbs as possible in the system, as far out as possible? Thanks for the article.

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Pre-rafe Trust Us? Despite Prre-race of Pre-race fueling strategiesmany runners fall short Understanding Ac levels their goals come race day due Quick energy boosters a halfhearted Strateiges toward Citrus bioflavonoids and energy levels prerace srrategies. In Pre-rxce, the goal fueing prerace strategeis is to optimize fuel stores while avoiding gastrointestinal distress. You optimize fuel stores by carb loading in the days prior to race day and by having a carb-rich breakfast the morning of the race. You should take the time to determine the volume of carbs your body needs, as well as what that looks like—meaning, make a nutrition plan based on your preferences, gut feedback, and available options. Avoid becoming a midrace bonker or a mile two bathroom-stopper, and take the time to develop and practice a smart and effective fueling plan using the following tips.