By CHRISTOPHER McCLINTOCK
For Brentwood Home Page
This weekend is the New Orleans Marathon, but I don’t think that gumbo or King Cake is on the menu the night before a Marathon. Proper nutrition and the timing of that nutrition a few days before your event can make or break your Marathon race day.

You can store only so many calories and you’ll want to begin that process a few days before the event. The day before your event you’ll want your biggest meal to be the lunch time meal.

Go for these kinds of foods:

Pasta and Rice
Fruit with Lowfat Yogurt
Hot and Cold cereals
Energy bars
Big sandwich with Lowfat meats
Bread

American College of Sports Medicine and American Dietetic Association recommend 3.5 - 4.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight. This will be about 30-40% more calories than you normally consume.

Example: Christopher weighs 160

160 x 3.5 = 560g of carbs
160 x 4.5 = 720g of carbs

That is almost 2500 - 3000 calories per day, so snacking is very important.

1 PowerBar is 45g of carbs and 230 calories. 

1 cup of Pasta is about 200 calories and 40g of carbs.

Perspective: Olive Garden Lasagna portion size is about 4 servings equaling about 800 calories

Here’s to eating your Personal Best!