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10 Experts Pick the Perfect Pre-race Meals

10 best meals or snacks before running.

What to eat before a run or race is one of the most popular topics that every beginner, intermediate, or advanced runner has to tackle.

As someone who personally doesn’t enjoy breakfast, but likes to run early in the morning I turned to the experts for some inspiration.

Below you’ll find 10 different tips from 10 different styles of runners, from sprinters to marathoners, from running bloggers to professional runners.

Ask Lauren Fleshman

Lauren Fleshman is a 5 x NCAA Champion and 2 x USA Track & Field Champion. If you have a specific question you want to ask her you can do it here.

Here is her pre-race go to breakfast and snack:

“Breakfast: Coffee, one egg, oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and slivered almonds, glass of tart cherry juice.
Last minute snack: Half a Picky Bar 60 minutes before, or a gel 15 minutes before.”

Runner Unleashed

Gelcys, also known as “the scoliosis runner,” was told at the age of 14 she would never run again. And has an absolutely amazing story of overcoming obstacles to become a marathoner.

She recommends eating about 4 hours prior to a race, but my favorite tip is her advice for people running within the next 30 minutes that haven’t had a chance to eat properly ahead of time.

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“A quick, drive-through option, Frappuccinos, iced caffe lattes, and similar cold coffee beverages provide liquid to hydrate you while also cooling you down before a warm workout. The milk provides some protein, while the caffeine can improve your focus during a run.”

Black Girls Run

Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks-Rocha are the co-founded Black Girls Run to help combat the epidemic of obesity among the African-American community.

One of their secret tips is to add maple syrup to your pre-run meal as it is a 100% natural energy source containing simple carbohydrates that the body can easily breakdown into glycose to help fuel your run.

You can check out a couple of their maple syrup centric recipes here.

Runners Love Yoga

Ann built Runners Love Yoga to show all runners the power of yoga and the internal focus that can carry over into the sport and hobby of running.

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Her pre-race go to is probably going to be a fan favorite:

“For all of my morning races of half-marathon distance or shorter, I have what I call a peanut butter banana and aNature Valley Crunchy PB granola bar.  I take a banana, slice it lengthwise and spread a not overly abundant amount of organic peanut butter on it, before slicing it again into ‘pennies.’  I also add more peanut butter to both pieces of the Nature Valley granola bar (always to the same side that already has some PB on it.”

Personal Best Nutrition

Brian Shea is the Owner and CEO of Personal Best Nutrition and a certified triathlon coach through U.S.A. Triathlon. Mr. Shea is also an accomplished endurance athlete himself having competed in over 100 triathlons and marathons.

He’s big on hydration as dehydration can often be the most influential negative impact during your run.

“…one of my favorite pre-race meals is (1) Vanilla Ultramet blended w/ 16oz Pineapple Juice, (1) banana & 16oz water + (1) defizzed can of Red Bull. With that meal I will also consume (2) Multivitamins, (2) Antioxidants, (3) Optygen, (2) Endurox Capsules and (6) Muscle Nitro. Each of these are typically consumed no later than 90mins before the gun.”

Be sure to check out some more of his articles on endurance nutrition and training.

Johnson Fit

Jonathan Thompson runs the blog at Johnson Fit, and he covers this topic by talking about some of the myths of what to eat prior to a common 5k.

His advice conflicts with some advice above, but we’re here to get all sides of the story so runners can make the best decision possible.

“A common practice is to eat simple carbohydrates, like honey or sugar, shortly before the race for a quick boost of energy. This, however, can lead to dehydration: your cells need excess water to absorb the sugar. The sugar spike will also lead to an insulin reaction, which will cause your blood sugar to drop sharply later on, leaving you tired and sluggish.”

rUnladylike

Jesica blogs about everything running because it’s always been part of her life and also to carry on the legacy of her father.

She’s a fan of eating Paleo and one of her tips has to do with one of my favorite foods.

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Unsweetened applesauce mixed with protein powder (I use egg white protein powder.)

No Meat Athlete

Matt Frazier founded No Meat Athlete back in 2009 after becoming a vegetarian. Since then he has run several marathons (including the Boston Marathon) and ultra-marathons each year.

While he offers some very traditional advice, I really liked his input on the use of what he calls “superfoods.”

Chia seeds are a popular one these days, and your body will absorb them in either whole or ground form (be prepared for them to gel though).  Maca powder is another one, great for helping the adrenal glands recover from the stress of a workout.  Acai, goji, chlorella, greens powder, ground flaxseed, hemp… the list goes on.

One Green Planet

One Green Planet was founded by Nil Zacharias and Preeta Sinha. Their site isn’t specifically about running, but they are experts on “eating green,” which is definitely something I wanted to cover.

Here’s what they have to say:

Eat one or two of the following plant-based foods before your run. They’re easy to digest, rich in fiber and natural sugars, and incredibly energizing all own their own.

  • Bananas
  • Oatmeal
  • Brown Rice
  • Dates
  • Chia Seeds
  • Cacao Powder
  • Maca
  • Leafy Greens

Runner’s World

Last, but certainly not least is one of the most popular running sites on the internet. Their biggest tip is to focus on high-carbohydrate foods to ensure you get at least 1 gram of carbs for every 1 pound of body weight. So, a 200 lb runner would need 100 g of carbs.

That does it for your pre-race nutritional advice.

If you think we left something off, or agree/disagree with the advice above then be sure to let us know in the comments below.

Comments

  1. Thanks so much for sharing my site and for all the great sites to check out. I love so many of these runners and bloggers and look forward to checking out those that are new to me. I don’t eat Paleo anymore, but I do like to try to eat as much veggies, fruits, lean meats and healthy fats as possible. Happy healthy eating (and running)!

    Reply

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