I read one post (which of course I can’t find anymore) that approximatly 60 minutes after eating the body is at a sugar peak, and 90 minutes after eating, sugar low, and that of course the sugar low needs to be avoided around race time.
My daughter normally eats an hour or so before the meet, then snacks during the day.
There has been a race or two though, that she didn’t feel her normal energetic self, she felt lethargic and slow. We assumed that this was from other factors, such as too many events, or not enough recovery between events…but it may also be from eating.
Now, she is competing in High School track (age 14/freshman) and during the summer, she competes in AAU/USATF meets.
In High School track, the coach normally has her run these events and in this order:
4 x 100m relay
open 400m
200m (not always)
4 x 400m relay
she has District Championships this Friday, next week is Regional Championships and hopefully the final State Championships the following week.
We would like to know what would be the best time period before running the open 400m to eat. The open 400m is her best/favorite event.
She normally eats bananna, fruits, 1 or 2 luna bars, other easily digestable foods and of course lots of water.
I’m probably the one who wrote the post you can’t find, and the data is actually, after glucose ingestion: 45 minutes to glucose peak and 90 minutes to glucose valley (crash). The information came from Dr. David Costill’s book, “Inside Running: The Basics of Sports Physiology,” pp. 65-68.
Personally, on race day I try to emphasize lower glycemic index foods, such as oatmeal and multigrain toast. Charlie also had something of a rule about getting up 4-5 hours before race (which might not work, of course, for a high school championship that takes all day), so I will tend to have the one large feeding at breakfast at least 2-3 hours before first comp, then small feedings the rest of the day (or commonly Red Bull between prelims and finals). Anything to avoid the single large ingestion of simple carbs that always results in a crash.
Thank you!
That is very good information.
Would Red Bull be a bit much for a HS freshman, or what quantities would you recommend?
What “snacks” would you recommend, if say, an hour or more between events, or would you stick with the Red Bull?
In the morning, we usually eat oatmeal mixed with chia seed and Hemp seed.
And juice…wheatgrass juice, I grow my own wheatgrass (about 1 1/2 oz of wheatgrass juice) or green juice (about 8 oz. of juiced greens (mostly)/apple/carrot/cuccumber) Only just enough apple and carrot to offset the strong taste.
This gives quite the rush for awhile after drinking.
Using an upright, single auger type juicer (Omega VRT 350HD) so that not much is waisted, oxygenation and heating of the juice is not a problem with this type of juicer.