Try a new breakfast on a short run day, then on a long run day, before deciding it's safe for your race. In other words, trust your gut. Most races and endurance events start in the morning, so you're already getting up early and dealing with a million tiny things. (Where are my safety pins? Which roads will be closed?
To properly prepare for an obstacle course race, you’ll want to include both running and strength training. The distance of your race will determine how much endurance you want to build. For example, several races are only 3-4 miles, while others can be upwards of 12-14 miles.
If you're pinched for time, liquid calories like a smoothie or a cup of gatorade will digest quickly, and could make a good last-minute breakfast or a post-breakfast snack to carry with you to the start line. Hydration should factor into your schedule, too.
Here are some classic runners' breakfasts, along with what makes them so great: Peanut butter on toast: Provides carbs, along with a little fat and protein to slow down digestion so you won't feel hungry while you're lining up at the start.
A carbohydrate rich meal in the 2-3 hours before an event will ensure that the body's fuel (glycogen) stores are topped up ahead of the race. Suitable options include foods such as cereal with milk, porridge, baked beans or toast with jam or nut butter.
How to Train for an Obstacle Course RaceSign up. ... Get your gear. ... Mix running and strength training. ... Increase muscular endurance. ... Get grip strength. ... Bring a friend. ... Clean up your diet. ... Pack a travel bag.
What to Eat Before a RunA bagel with peanut butter.A banana and an energy bar.A bowl of cold cereal with a cup of milk.Oatmeal with berries.A turkey and cheese sandwich on whole-wheat bread.
Bread/toast, bagel, peanut butter, fruit without skin (banana), pulp-free fruit juice or sports drink for a pre-race breakfast. Rice, pasta, lean meat, starchy vegetables, fruits for “carbo-loading” at least three days before the race. For hydration, drink 500 to 700 ml of fluid about three hours before the race.
One of the best ways to build endurance for full obstacle course races is to incorporate distance running and training that helps you achieve and maintain a specific heart rate. We recommend completing 80% of your training at 80% or less of your max heart rate.
Here is how I recommend training for such a test:Continue with upper-body strength/endurance workouts. You need the muscles that enable you to perform a pull-up, push-up and dip. ... Repeat 5-10 times. Run 100 meters fast. ... Grip. ... Balance. ... Weights or calisthenics.
10 Foods that Boost Energy and Build Endurance in SeniorsNuts. Nuts are full of healthy fats and proteins that give seniors nutritional energy. ... Berries. ... Whole Grains. ... Sweet Potatoes. ... Greek or Plain Yogurt. ... Bananas. ... Beans & Lentils. ... Water.More items...•
Your precompetition meal should be high in carbohydrates and fluids. Carbohydrates include bread and bread products, rice, pasta, and some vegetables, such as potatoes. Your meal should also be low in fat and protein. Foods that are high in fat or protein take longer to digest than carbohydrates.
Starches and grains — Good options are bread, cereal, crackers, rice, potatoes and pasta. Fruit — Fresh is best, but frozen, canned or dry is OK too. Milk/yogurt — Fat-free or low-fat milk and yogurt are best.
Aim to eat a variety of high-quality protein foods, such as dairy, like milk, yogurt, and cheese, as well as eggs, lean beef, poultry, fish, legumes, and beans. Relying heavily on protein bars and shakes can put athletes at risk of missing key nutrients.
Good sources of carbohydrates for sprinters include whole grains, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes and quinoa. Choose a variety of healthy fats including nuts, seeds, oils derived from vegetables, lean cuts of meat and cold-water fish.
If you are an obstacle course race athlete that competes every single weekend, it’s not possible to taper prior to each race. You would end up with no training time. You might, however, perform lower intensity training or technical training during the 2 days before you race and save the tapering for your “A” (most important) races.
A common trend I see with obstacle course race athletes is a panic to get hydrated the week leading up to a race. Far too often I hear athletes recommending guzzling litres and litres of water or Pedialyte.
This is mainly because fat will slow digestion, leading the meal to sit in your stomach. If you eat a carbohydrate with a fat, you will not be able to use the glycogen from the carbohydrate for fuel as the addition of the fat will have slowed down the digestion of both to the point where the carbohydrate will no longer be a usable fuel source once digestion is complete.
Therefore, it is essential for athletes to be consuming protein in approximately equal amounts throughout their day in order to maintain proper body function .
The days of carbo-loading with pasta and bread before race day are well behind us, however, carbohydrates are still very essential leading up to race day. Without going into too much detail, carbohydrates allow for higher glycogen stores in your muscles, and glycogen is your main source of energy. Therefore, eating a diet a bit higher in carbs the day before race day will allow you to top off your glycogen stores, making sure you have the most energy possible come race time.
Avoid fiber, protein, and fat in the hours before your race. They’ll just slow the absorption process, and the last thing you want when you’re busting your butt in a race is a bunch of food sloshing around in your stomach. Digestion requires blood flow around your gut.
Ah, the week before a big race. You’ve been training vigorously for months — honing your mind and body in preparation for an event that will be a memory come Monday morning. Now that event is just days away, and there’s nothing you can do but taper your workouts, get a few good nights’ sleep, and mentally steel yourself to rock your competition on ...
Your body also uses dietary fat ( and to a lesser degree dietary protein) for energy, but carbs absorb into your system the fastest and are the most efficient way to fill up on something called muscle glycogen. Glycogen is basically a back-up blood sugar supply that’s stored in your liver and muscles.
You should be drinking plenty of water leading up to your event, but things become critical 2 to 3 hours before starting. At that point, there are two ways to know you’re hydrating adequately. The first is the “thirst sensation.”. If you’re thirsty, you’re not drinking enough.
After that, return to a moderate carb diet, but don’t be afraid to have an extra piece of bread at dinner, or grab an apple for a snack if you’re feeling peckish.
The calories in food come primarily from three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The primary job of carbohydrates is to provide energy.
No need to carb-load. But if your event lasts longer than an hour, it’ll behoove you to increase your carbohydrate intake, starting about 3 days before your event. (The fancy term for this is “supercompensating muscle glycogen levels.”) There are a couple ways to go about supercompensating.
A cruller might be a little over the top, but even the riders on the Tour de France eat things like energy bars, rice cakes, and little sandwiches.
One of the perks of being a serious endurance athlete is that you can pork out with impunity. All of that training burns major calories, which is why we can do real damage to all-you-can-eat buffets. In fact, sometimes it seems like we’re hungry all the time — except during a hard workout or race. In such situations, the “fight or flight” response ...
While protein is instrumental post-event, it should play very little part in during-event feeding. Your goal is to restore glycogen as fast as humanly possible, and protein slows absorption. The exception is a multi-stage race.
But as the intensity of your workout increases, so too does your body’s reliance on carbs for energy. If you plan on exerting any real effort, or if you’re planning on training for more than a couple of hours, you’re probably better off refueling with carbs as your body burns through its glycogen stores.
One benefit of OCR is it gives you a chance to break up the monotony. Rarely is any one course exactly the same from the other, so each race you sign up for is a completely different challenge compared to the local 5K you do every year.
Brakken Kraker is one of the original members of the Spartan Race Pro Team and runs LeaderboardFit, a coaching program geared toward obstacle racing athletes who want to gain endurance, speed, and strength. He also has experience working many runners who were once new to OCR.
Yancy Culp has been a certified fitness coach for 20 years and trains more top OCR athletes than anyone else. He said the first thing runners new to OCR ask is about shoes.
Much like a first marathon, ending a race much later than you planned can send runners into a downward spiral of self-doubt. “When you’re assessing the time you expect to be out on the course, make sure you add about 25 to 50 percent to your expected finishing time of an equivalent road or trail race,” Kolbl says.