billh

I know eating routines before races are highly personal, but does anyone regularly fast before a race, say the 12 hours? and by fast, I don't mean total abstinence from food and liquids, not sure what I mean, let me explain . . . I was a subject in a medical research study last week, a "healthy control", thank God, for a study on the microbiome (gut bacteria), diet and exercise, part of the "high exercise" non-vegan group . . . anyway, I had to keep a food diary, then have a colon biopsy (really, it's not painful, ) which required a 12 hour fast before the biopsy, scheduled at 7:30am. So I "fasted" starting at, really, 4:30pm the afternoon before. The thing was I felt like superman the next morning, had some green tea in the morning, which almost DQd me from the blood work. I was 5 lbs lighter on the scale, rode my bike to the hospital, and felt incredibly full of energy on the bike, especially climbing hills, like it was no effort. So this experience got me wondering if this eating strategy would work for race day. ?? I know it's counterintuitive. I don't usually like eating a lot before a race. My typical routine is to eat a piece of banana, and maybe a cliff bar in the morning, then hydrate with gatorade, but the difference was the what I ate the night before. Typically race night, I binge on chips and salsa, peanut butter, honey, crackers, pretty much whatever I see, I eat. So wake up feeling pretty bloated but "topped off" with glycogen, so I hope. But with this fast, I only drank my green juice my wife made in the juicer (pineapple, kale, cucumber, apple, celery, carrots, and whatever else she added), green tea (unsweetened) and Trader Joes Super Green Drink to knock out my appetite. And I felt like superman. couldn't believe it. well, I have a race this Sat 1:20pm so might try the "fasting" green juice/ tea routine the night before, maybe supplement with some beet juice, and see if I bonk during the race, traditional 40 min flat cx course, Gateway Cup in St Louis this weekend, which has a UCI race along with it. Comments, suggestions?

jfmckenna

Can't hurt to give it a try. Might be ok for an hour long race but I cannot imagine it would be good for two races or like a long road race.

Fat Boy

So you felt better eating real food rather than complete crap. Huh, who woulda' thunk it?

grolby

I'm with Fat Boy. It sounds like your normal diet the night before a race is really poor. You don't need to fast or drink only vegetable juices the night before a race, but a basic, healthy meal is going to probably leave you feeling better the next morning.