Our next Suva Marathon Club member willing to share their eat/run/sleep secrets is Daniell C who is one of Fiji’s most experienced distance runners in both the long haul running and triathlon circuits.
Yeah..ok… having learnt way too many lessons the hard way and having broken all the advice below to my own detriment 😀 I can say…
- Important what you eat in the few days before. don’t over eat so you still feel light and not bloated. But if you starve yourself of calories you will feel it on race day.
- Electrolytes the night before are just as important for me as the next day. You want to wake up feeling awesome and not dehydrated or you are starting from behind with a long day ahead.
- Don’t do anything different is an old cliché but a true one. If you cant eat breakfast at 6am before a run in training you wont be able to do it at 4am before the race
- Get your body clock adjusted at least a week before. this will help not only how you feel but how you eat
- Eat which way? I swing between a big late meal the night before and something light on the morning…and a early light meal the night before and something more substantial on the morning (say 2 or 3am if you are looking at 6am start). Everyone is different on this- in our own house we are different.. Don’t be afraid to set the alarm..get up and have breakfast and go back to bed!
- Don’t panic too much about overeating and getting the stitch. Unless you plan on running a world record pace (highly unlikely in Suva’s tropical balmy heat 🙂 ) it shouldn’t be an issue if they have had something in line with the options above.
- Bananas rule. However..if you ignore point 3 above and eat 4 of them that are slightly unripe on the morning of the race it’s not wise 🙁 . This advice is evidence based 😉 .
- Eat during the race. Take whatever your body feels like. If you have had a good base before and all your body wants is chips and coke then fine eat and drink it during the race but main thing is to keep taking stuff on. Its better to try and mix sugar with non sugar to stretch out the energy but the main thing is to keep taking stuff on.
- Sleep is important. My other tip is what works for me (which is non nutrition but related) is the non sleep thing the night before. I always try to have a later night with less sleep 2 nights out (i.e Thursday before a Saturday event) so that the night before I want to sleep and sleep early. Helps to overcome nerves that keep u awake.
- Practice, practice, practice… everyone should practice what works for them before the race..i.e. plan for your last few long runs in the month before as if they are a practice race…(sleep, food, drink etc)
That’s all from me.
I’ll be the one in July dragging myself through KM 38 as I’ve ignored all my own advice… 😀
