Trying out a few meal options the night before a big training day will help decrease the surprises come race day. You’ll want to avoid taxing your digestive system with hard to digest meats and processed foods. However, finding something that you’ll enjoy is equally important.
The timing of your pre race dinner needs to be thought out as well. Try not to leave it too late at night - it can be hard to sleep on a full stomach. Eating late will also leave you feeling too full to have a decent breakfast on race morning. We like to give ourselves 9-10 hours between the pre race dinner and our pre race breakfast. That way you can still take in sufficient calories in the evening without worrying about having a full belly for the 3-4:00am wake up call.
Our favorite meal: Mashed potatoes, carrots, rutabega and yams - heavy on the yam. Small side of lightly steamed spinach and a tomato. Home made humus for flavour (cut that out if fiber affects you on race day)along with 2 or 3 hard boiled eggs for added protein. Top it off with 300 calories worth of dark chocolate (minimum 75% cocoa) soon after finishing. We’ve made some slight modifications over the past 3 years (2010 as we update this post). The meal itself is quite high glycemic, but having the eggs with the meal and the dark chocolate (high fat content) will slow down the absorption some. Root vegetables are a good source of easily digestible carbohydrates (much easier to digest than pasta), and they contain serotonin which can help relax you.
