Pre Race Nutrition - More Iron & Energy

My pre race nutrition consists of a couple essential foods. Red meat and vegetables. Along with a couple other high fat, low carb foods. This is my own personal nutrition and the same nutrition I did before Grandma's Marathon 2013 where I ran my most recent personal record (2:48:54) cutting 8 minutes off of my personal record from 2011 on the same course (2:56:54).

Here is the list of foods -
1. Ground Beef - 80/20 and 96/4
2. Vegetables - My Favorites - Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Peppers (I eat them raw or cooked in coconut oil and sprinkled with sea salt)
3. Roasted Coconut Chips
4. Cowboy Salsa
5. Almonds
6. Coconut Oil
7. Sea Salt
8. Coffee & Tea & PowerAde Zero (not in the picture above)

My nutrition consists of only these foods Monday until Friday morning. I then eat mostly carbohydrates with some proteins and fats for the 2 days prior to the race. I eat a lot of sushi, cliff bar & other granola bars, sweet potatoes, Friday lunch at Chipotle, etc. before the race Friday until Saturday night. On Sunday, the morning of the race I eat a protein bar. Why do I do my nutrition like this? This is exactly what I did before Grandmas Marathon and I felt great for the race. My idea with having only red meat for 4 days is the amount of Iron I would get into my system. Since red meat is a great source of Iron, here are the benefits & the functions Iron has in the human body.

1. Helps to form Hemoglobin (which stores about 2/3 of the body's iron) and Myoglobin and assists in the transport and storage of oxygen.

2. Assists in the enzymatic activities responsible for increasing red blood cell formation, blood vessel growth, and production of anaerobic energy.

3. Helps to form the cytochromes involved with cellular energy production and drug metabolism

4. Forms an essential constituent of hundreds of proteins and enzymes

When it comes to cardiovascular exercise, I would say these would be some great benefits. It's like doping but naturally with an excess of red meat before a race. I am not sure how much it actual helps compared to not having the red meat, but on my last marathon I got a personal record by cutting 8 minutes off of my marathon time.

Not only does it provide a lot of iron and a great source of food (protein, fats, no carbs, nutrient dense) all of the vegetables provide an abundance of vitamins and minerals and are low in carbohydrates. Cooking them in coconut oil adds some more healthy fats to my nutrition.

By keeping my carbohydrates low for 4 days, then carb loading, my body with store more glycogen in my muscle tissue and liver to utilize during my marathon. More oxygen and more energy stored through nutrition? This is what works for me!

Feel free to share your pre race tapering routines and food sources!

Happy Tapering Week Nutrition Running :)

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