Eat what suits YOU!
Large doses of supplementary vitamins and minerals (such as iron) are not essential and produce no benefits if you are already on a good mixed diet, but additional vitamin C in small doses is reasonable when fresh fruit and vegetables are in short supply.
Large doses of supplementary vitamins and minerals (such as iron) are not essential and produce no benefits if you are already on a good mixed diet, but additional vitamin C in small doses is reasonable when fresh fruit and vegetables are in short supply.
Training (with adequate rest) helps you to sustain a high level of muscle glycogen as long as you eat enough carbohydrate. If you can, eat within the two-hour period after your long runs and your race. This will help to replace the muscle glycogen quickly and will speed up your recovery.
Do not change your normal diet drastically in the last week before a race, but eat less protein (meat) and eat more carbohydrate (pasta, bread, potatoes, cereals, rice and sweet foods) – especially for the last three days before the race, when you should also be markedly reducing your training. Eating more carbohydrate loads your muscles with glycogen and will delay or prevent you from ‘hitting the wall’. NB: you will not eat enough carbohydrate unless you reduce your protein intake.
Note also that depleting your carbohydrate levels with long runs and sticking to a low-carb diet, and then carbo-loading closer to your race, can make your muscles very heavy – and so this is best avoided. Make sure you include enough carbohydrate in your diet throughout your training.