5 Power House Breakfasts<\/a><\/p>\nSupplements for Joint and Muscle Recovery and Health:<\/strong>\u00a0 Although I like to mostly use whole foods, supplements certainly have their place for any athlete who\u2019s pushing his or her limits.<\/p>\nConsider using:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- 2000 milligrams ginger from supplements (usually 4, 500 mg supplements per day).\u00a0 I recommend this as a daily supplement throughout the year, but it\u2019s possible to get benefit from it beginning just one week out.<\/li>\n
- 1000-2000 mg DHA\/EPA from fish oil.\u00a0 The idea is to increase your ratio of omega-3 fats to other fats consumed.\u00a0 Since our diets are much higher in omega-6 fats and omega-9 fats, supplementing the omega-3s can help, and thereby increase the production of anti-inflammatory hormones and processes in the body while decreasing the pro-inflammatory ones.<\/li>\n
- 5 grams L-glutamine each night.\u00a0 This amino acid often becomes deficient in endurance athletes since it\u2019s used heavily by the muscles when training.\u00a0 If not supplemented, it may be chronically low and affect both muscle recovery and digestion (it\u2019s also used by the gut cells).\u00a0 I generally add it in for after-training recovery throughout the on-season, but increase it to every night for a taper.<\/li>\n
- High-quality multivitamin: Although it seems like a copout for not eating properly, I recommend a multivitamin to my endurance athletes.\u00a0 Most of them, especially while trying to control eating to maintain a lean weight, will be at least slightly deficient in magnesium, copper, iron, B-vitamins, and more.\u00a0 Even with an extremely healthy diet.\u00a0 Blame the soil quality, blame pollution, or blame whatever you\u2019d like.\u00a0 These athletes simply \u201cuse up\u201d more nutrients than they can throw down with foods alone.<\/li>\n
- Iron: Especially if you\u2019re a female athlete, you are at high risk of low iron.\u00a0 Even when a client comes to me with superb eating habits, it\u2019s rare that her serum ferritin is at or above 30 ng\/dL, a level that generally affects performance, without supplementation.\u00a0 It\u2019s best that iron levels are optimized early in training, but still optimizing them beginning seven days before a race is better than not at all.\u00a0 With your doctor\u2019s or nutritionist\u2019s individual recommendations in hand, reach for a slow-digesting or gentle-on-the-stomach iron supplement.\u00a0 I often recommend Slow-Fe and Hemaplex.<\/li>\n
- Beetroot Juice as a Performance Aid: Without going into the whole (long) story, I\u2019m confident in recommending beetroot juice in a 6-7 day protocol, or a single-dose race day protocol.\u00a0 You\u2019ll likely get slightly more benefit from the full 7 days, but either will work and the one-day single shot is more cost-effective and simple.\u00a0 Beets contain nitrates that the body uses to form nitrites which improve oxygen delivery to the cells by dilating the arteries, and improve oxygen uptake by the cells.\u00a0 Most marathoners will take that!\u00a0 To use it, drink 500 mL (16 oz.) every day for 6 days leading up to your race, and then one more dose just 2-3 hours before the race.\u00a0 You can also use organic beetroot powder in an equivalent of 16 oz. juice.\u00a0 Confirm amounts and equivalents with individual manufacturers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
One day out:\u00a0<\/strong> Now you\u2019ve set the stage for a great race with healthy, consistent eating and supplementation throughout the week, and you have the opportunity to \u201cload.\u201d <\/em><\/h3>\nZone in on two nutrients the day before your race: carbohydrates and sodium.\u00a0 But don\u2019t just wing it.<\/p>\n
If you go into the loading phase with the plan of an all-you-can-eat carbohydrate and sodium buffet, you may over-do it and feel heavy, sluggish, and stuffed on race day.<\/p>\n
Instead, add approximately 30 grams of whole-food, long-lasting carbs to each of 3 meals the day before the race.<\/p>\n
Examples of 30-gram-carb add-ons include: 8 oz. honey milk, 1 large piece fruit or 1 medium banana, 1\u00a0cup unsweetened applesauce, 1 100% whole wheat English muffin or small bagel, \u00bd small bagel with 1 Tbsp. low-fat cream cheese and 1 Tbsp. honey\/jam, 1 slice toast + 1 Tbsp. honey or jelly, 8 oz. yogurt, 1 large yam\/sweet potato, 2\/3 cup cooked wild or brown rice, 2\/3\u00a0cup cooked quinoa, or 1 cup whole-grain pasta.<\/p>\n
Next, add about 1200 milligrams extra sodium throughout the day before your race.<\/p>\n
Use electrolyte drinks\/supplements, pickle juice, pickles, or simply add salt (1\/2 tsp. = 1200 milligrams sodium).<\/p>\n
In my opinion, the drinks and pickles are easiest because they are usually not foods athletes normally eat on a daily basis, so they truly are \u201cadd-ons.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, any vinegar you get from pickle juice just may reduce your risk of cramping on race day.<\/p>\n
Race Day\u00a0Morning:<\/strong> It\u2019s finally here.<\/em><\/h3>\nMake sure to have a plan in place before you jump out of bed, as it will greatly reduce stress and build up your confidence.<\/p>\n
Before your race, you\u2019ve got a balancing act to perform.<\/p>\n
Your goal is to feel energized and well-fueled, but still light and nimble with nothing in your stomach.<\/p>\n
I recommend about 100 to 150 grams of non-bulky, low-fiber carbs for most athletes the morning of a big race.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve never done the math, this may seem like a lot; maybe too much food.\u00a0 And I know how scary it can be to put foods and drinks in your stomach before your race.<\/p>\n
First, this should never be done for the first time on race day \u2013 you\u2019ve got to practice with it during training.<\/p>\n
My favorite option for pre-race is a smoothie.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\nSince it\u2019s liquefied, your body has one less task in digestion.<\/p>\n
This means faster, more efficient digestion, absorption, and metabolism.<\/p>\n
In fact, you can drink your smoothie just 2 hours out and skip the 4 am breakfast wake-up call.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example of a balanced, easy-to-digest smoothie and nutrition plan for race morning:<\/strong><\/p>\n1 (6\u201d) banana (30 gm. carbs) + \u00bd cup cooked rice (23 grams carbs) + \u00bd cup berries (10 gm. carbs) + 2 Tbsp. honey (30 grams carbs) + 1 scoop protein powder + 1 tsp. organic coconut oil + \u00bc tsp. salt + any needed water\/ice for desired consistency = 95-100 grams of carbs, about 500 calories.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to use beetroot juice or beetroot powder (my preference), either drink 500 mL (16 oz.) juice or add 4-6 tsp powder to your smoothie.<\/p>\n
Make sure to hydrate up until 60 minutes before your race.<\/p>\n
Then, just an hour or so out, you can sip any favorite sports or electrolyte drink until 30 minutes out, but don\u2019t overload your bladder.<\/p>\n
Make sure you give yourself a chance to empty it before racing.<\/p>\n
Lastly, get a jump start on your during-race nutrition and consume a quick-acting, easy-to-digest carb source just 15 minutes before the gun goes off.<\/p>\n
These carbs should be similar to what you\u2019d eat while training.<\/p>\n
Many of my clients use gels, small bars, honey, or 2 dried dates for the remaining 20-25 grams carbs.<\/p>\n
It will take 10-15 minutes for these to hit your blood stream, just in time for a great start to your race.<\/p>\n
Now, ready, get set, pedal (and stick to your during-race fuel plan)!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Only one week until your big race. You\u2019ve made it.\u00a0 You\u2019ve survived the training.\u00a0 You\u2019ve started to taper.\u00a0 But what should you eat now? There\u2019s plenty of conflicting advice out there to confuse most anyone. There\u2019s \u201cto carb load,\u201d there\u2019s \u201cto carb starve,\u201d there\u2019s reducing calories, adding calories, and more.\u00a0 Clear as mud. Taper week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[210,601,655,656,657],"class_list":["post-1824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-endurance-nutrition","tag-sports-nutrition","tag-taper-week","tag-taper-week-nutrition","tag-tapering"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}