When our races or competitions are late at night, it can be hard for us to know how we should fuel our body throughout the day to optimize our performance. Kara Goucher, 2x Olympic distance runner and VIS Mentor, shares how she fuels her world-class performance.
Breakfast
Let’s start with the most important meal of the day. “When I’m racing at night the most important thing for me is to eat normally in the first half of the day,” Goucher says. “I’ll have a large breakfast, usually an omelet. That way I’m getting good carbs and easily digestible proteins in my stomach early in the day to prime my body for what’s coming later.”
Kara’s Omelet
Ingredients
3 eggs
Spinach
Tomato
1 slice Swiss or provolone cheese
1-2 slices of whole wheat bread
Directions
Whisk 3 eggs together in a bowl, heat up on a stovetop pan. When cooked, flip over.
Chop up the spinach and tomato and add it to the pan along with the slice of cheese.
Fold the cooked egg mixture in half and let it heat through.
As the omelet finishes heating, toast the wheat bread.
“Voila, a good nutrient-packed breakfast!”
Why is a Hearty Breakfast So Important?
“When you are racing at night you really need to fuel your body properly all day. You can’t eat a tiny breakfast and then wait around all day to race. Your body is an engine—you have to give it what it needs all day to make sure you have the strength and power to race at night,” she says “Focusing on getting in proper calories and nutrition are so important. I lean toward easily digestible foods to make sure that I have no issues later in the day.”
Lunch
“I’ll have a simple lunch, a small sandwich,” says Goucher. “On race days, I’ll swap out my usual whole wheat for white bread to make sure that I’m giving my body easily digestible foods as I approach race time.”
Simple Sandwich
Ingredients
White wrap or bread
Turkey
Lettuce
Tomato
Provolone cheese
Pre-Game Snacks
About an hour and a half to two hours before her race, Goucher fuels up one more time. This is usually “oatmeal and a banana,” Goucher says. “One last top-off of food.” For her snacks, “I also always bring a sports bar and gels over to the race venue with me. That way if I get a little hungry, I have a way to get some more simple calories in before race time,” Goucher says. “I’m also sipping on a diluted sports drink. Half water, half sports drink, and I sip that all day long."
Avoid this Mistake!
“Sometimes when racing at night, athletes try to eat light all day. They think they don’t want to eat too much or be weighed down with food. But that is a big mistake,” Goucher says. “Your body is used to being nourished all day, the engine is cranking. You want to make sure that you go to that starting line with a body that is fueled properly and ready to push hard. Depriving your body during the day will only hurt your performance at night. Treat your body well and it will perform well!”
Fueling up for nighttime competitions can seem like a challenge, but with these Olympian tips, we are unstoppable!
