It does not fail. Breakfast is the favorite conversation of runners at the starting line. It is also the preferred question that they ask us in the workshops we carry out or in the typical talks that are given at the runner’s fair, one or two days before the competitions. As you may already suppose, the answer to a generic question always begins with the same word: it depends
At this point in the race, you already know that nutrition does not work in a generic or theoretical way. There are no good or bad foods. There are no recommended foods for runners or good breakfasts for before a Marathon or a judo fight. There are people very adapted to training in the morning on an empty stomach and people unable to write an email if they have not had breakfast. The digestive processes of each one of us are different, the level of nerves and stress as well, our flora, our tastes, our hunger, etc. Yes, some guidelines can be given, but it often happens that guidelines turn into blog headlines and blog headlines into gym truths.
Anyway, we’re going to try to make reading this help you. Let’s see if we can make a post that can guide you a bit on the condition that you will not try any of this on the day of the test if you have not taken it before in the previous days and you have seen that it suits you. Remember the universal maxim:
ON THE DAY OF THE TEST, IT IS NOT TESTED.
This photo is very old, but the fashion for pants has not changed. Anyway, to us. Here are some generic nutritional recommendations to consider for breakfast before competing:
1. Avoid fat and protein at breakfast if you go with just enough time
If you are one of those who get up, have breakfast standing up and leave the house running, we would tell you that the nuts, eggs, ham, avocado or chocolates, leave them for another day. Foods rich in protein and fat take a long time to digest and should compete on an empty stomach.
2. Creamy, liquid or ground textures digest faster.
- Yogurt with honey or jam
- Oatmeal porridge with banana, defatted cocoa and cinnamon
- Fruit, milk and oatmeal smoothie. Avoid high-fiber cereals and fruits like apples.
- Porridge with chocolate, biscuit, honey …
3. If you never have coffee for breakfast, don’t do it before the test . And if you usually drink 4 coffees a day, don’t expect to notice anything special. For reference: the effect of caffeine usually begins after 10 minutes, reaches its maximum concentration in the blood after 45 minutes and can last up to 2 or 4 hours. If you want to know more about the effects of caffeine on your performance, prepare a little coffee and take a look at our post on caffeine and sports performance
4. All the chemical reactions that our body performs to make everything work occur in water. Drink water frequently the days before to give your body time to hydrate itself outside and inside the cells. Take a little bottle of water in case things are delayed and you have to stay in the sun for a long time.
5. Simplifying very much:
- The higher your heart rate while running, the more carbohydrates your body will consume.
- If you don’t eat breakfast, load up on carbohydrates at dinner (rice, for example, is better digested than pasta and the sooner everything is digested, the sooner you rest)
- If you are going to be competing for more than 90 minutes, stock up with some gel, sports drink or jelly.
6. We repeat: the day of the test is not the time to test anything . If you have been training at 4:30 min / km, it does not occur to you to leave the transition at 3:05 min / km. If you haven’t taken gels while training, neither in the race.
Photo by Jeffrey Deng
We hope we have helped you a little, even if it is “only” to make you aware that your diet is as unique as you are, that there are no magic foods for before or after training, and that in nutrition and in the human body, there is very few certainties.
If you are looking for a team that can design your personalized nutritional plan, take a look at our service with online nutritionist
