Discussion: carbo loading and race day eating

I wondered what everyone eats the day before and the day of a longg race. I have found recently that I can't get running well in the early going - first 45 minutes or so - because (or I think because) I am eating too much, too late and my body is busy digesting food (blood to the stomach rather than available for lungs, O2 and muscles) instead of allowing me to run at my full potential. Anyone have the perfect meal for a race day? Anyone have a similar problem? What do you eat, what doesn't work? I already know through trial and error that if you have as many beers as hours of sleep you run slower than normal...

What do you mean by long: 2 hours? 6 hours? 36 hours? I've found that carbo loading only works for efforts in the 2-3 hour range. Shorter than that and you already have plenty of carbs without doing anything special. Longer than that and you're burning mostly fat and stuff you eat during the event. In the 2-3 hour range, the little extra carbs can make a small difference.

Frankly, I've come to feel that carbs are overrated among athletes. Sure, you need them, but a normal diet gives you plenty. My best results all came after I stopped eating so much. Keeping your weight down goes a lot further than having every last carb jammed into your system. It's very tough to do both.

The paper linked below is a synopsis of a symposium presented at McMaster University on October 12, 2003 in conjunction with the World Cycling Championships in Hamilton, Canada.

http://www.dontgetlost.ca/ghocanadagho/ejss1.pdf

(Wes, oatmeal and muffins just under 3 hours before the race is my pre-race preference).

my longest races range from 3 to 6 hours depending on the format and - when Oing - the navigator....

I think the recommendation for pre race meal is about 3 hours before race time. That said, if I were going for 3-6 hours, I would plan on some eating along the way, and trading off 45 minutes of going slow to cram in a few extra calories is a fine trade off for me.
For a 6 hour event, a 50Km trail race or the Hudson Highlander, I will usually use a sport drink (Shaklee Performance, 100 cal/8oz) which is easy to run on.

superwes1000 said "I already know through trial and error that if you have as many beers as hours of sleep you run slower than normal..."

A good friend of mine once ran a PB 30:14 minute 10 km on 1,5 bottles of good SA wine and about 3 hours sleep, I guess that throws that theory to the dogs *grin* Although I must admit my experiences are more in tune with superwes, so many the exception really does prove the rule!

A good friend of mine once ran a PB 30:14 minute 10 km on 1,5 bottles of good SA wine and about 3 hours sleep

I read an article recently about study concluding that lack of sleep day before race does not impact athletic performance.

I read an article recently about study concluding that lack of sleep day before race does not impact athletic performance.

My own experience corroborates this. In fact, in running races, I find that I perform best on a short night's sleep (2-6 hours). My hypothesis is that getting lots of sleep depresses the metabolism, and that it doesn't bounce back before race time.

Skimping on sleep before orienteering isn't such a good idea, though, since mental functions suffer from sleep deprivation.

Yeah, going without sleep for even 20 hours can be bad news - it's like having a BAC of .05%, which is enough to get you a DUI on an Air Force base. That might explain all those crazy decisions teams make late in a 24 hour adventure race or rogaine...

From my experience, its really important getting enough sleep two nights before the race, and the night before really doesn't matter