What should I eat before big race and practice?

Question

For our xc team we usually have 7 am Saturday morning runs and I leave from home around 9 or 10 am in the morning to go to invitationals or championships and I want to know what I should eat for breakfast, I'm always worried of getting stomaches since I get them easily sometimes so I don't drink or eat anything that might have milk or anything heavy but I feel like half a granola bar isn't enough. Advice?

Answer 1

Before practice, I'd suggest eating some natural sugar and complex carbs.  Try a couple of pieces of toast with honey (not jelly) or a banana and an english muffin.  Drink plenty of water, too.  You can eat more when you get done with practice.

Before a race, do about the same thing as you would for practice, just make sure you eat about 3-4 hours before your race so you don't get cramps and your energy isn't wasted on digesting your food.  Again, get plenty of water.  If you're REALLY hungry, just keep the food light (like grapes, oranges, or bread) and don't eat too much, but eat as much as you feel you need to.

Answer 2

I found that eating nothing worked fine for me before all races. Only thing I would eat was 2 teaspoons of creatine with juice 1 hour before the race

Answer 3

I have never run XC but when I played soccer in high school I would always eat a banana before practice to help me not cramp up.  We usually ran about 3-4 miles during practice and I had enough energy.  Maybe you could try eating a banana and a granola bar.

There are also protein bars you could try but that might be too heavy for you that early in the morning.  

Answer 4

If your not hungry then nothing. If you are eat what you feeling like eating. What you feel like eating is your body telling what it needs. I just got finished running and I feel like eating a Whooper. Whatever you eat before you run is only for that extra push IF you need it. No more than half a glass of water.

Remember that its all about what you need.

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