Avoid pre-race food poisoning with careful pre-race meal planning
DC Running Coach Michael Hamberger shows he's filled his pre-race carbohydrate storage capacity !
The pre-race meal can make or break a race. Top athletes like D. C. Running Coach Mike Hamberger make a point of scouting the local venue for good places to eat the night before the race. Hamberger and TriathlonTrialLawyer Doug Landau shared a great Italian “pasta-loading meal” the night before the 2009 US National Duathlon Championships in Richmond. Landau noted that the young multisport star’s post race dietary habits, on the other hand, place him firmly in the “Junk Food Junkie” camp.
Pre-race nutrition, however, is no laughing matter. Going to a strange city or foreign country can wreak havoc on the most carefully planned training schedules. When stomach distress or food poisoning strike, they can lead an athlete’s world “to collapse,” to paraphrase US distance running star Shalane Flanagan. As reported in Universal Sports, in her run up to the Beijing Summer Olympics, Flanagan had to delay going to China due to the suspected food poisoning. According to her coach, John Cook, cooking oil used in food preparation at the training camp may be to blame for Flanagan’s distress. Whatever the cause, the problem delayed Flanagan’s flight to Beijing by a day and forced her to miss at least one day of training. The US Olympian spent her time resting, rehydrating and trying to eat solid foods before going on to win the bronze medal in the 10,000.
