Are there any qualified nutritionists or dieticians out there who could advise on the best snack to have before a 5k? I suggetsed to our local 5k organiser that by having a mass-banana- munch-in before the race it would help promote the 5 a day (fruit and veg) message and would attract abit of media attention. But his reply was that nutritionally, chocolate or something more sugary would be better.... But I was under the impression that a banana would sustain you for half an hour, and that choc would not be as good from a Glycaemic Index point of view because of the fat content. (It would be better I know to give fruit in the goody bag at the end - like they did at Buxton this weekend, but difficult to find a sponsor when 2,500 + runners)
0 ·
Comments
From an unqualified nutritionist! :-)
this would apply to fruit in general.
try a go gel instead.
but really, provided you've had a good breakfast, if its only a 5k then why bother?
Fructose, the sugar in fruit, doesn't need insulin to be absorbed into the cells so won't cause an insulin surge with the subsequent sugar low. Sucrose, the sugar in chocolate, is broken down to glucose and fructose during digestion and so does need sucrose and can cause a sugar low. That would be the last thing you need at the start of the race. The fat in chocolate would also slow down the absorption of the carbohydrate from the chocolate and slow down digestion, meaning that the food is more likely to be sitting as extra mass in the stomach to be carried around rather than actually providing an energy source. Again, the last thing you want at the start of a race.
I wouldn't advise a "mass munch-in" of any fruit immediately before a race, though, in case all the fibre causes bowel problems during the race. If by "mass munch-in" you mean lots of people eating one fruit rather than everyone eating lots of fruit then I think you couldn't do any better than bananas.
I really do think bananas are nectar of the gods prior to a 5K and just wish I'd remembered to take a banana to my 10K yesterday.
I have found that a nutrition bar helps.
Why not experiment before races and find out which you prefer.
It would be interesting to hear about your results
there was some reason why fruit was rubbish though on some resources i read, that all agreed, and were based upon recent research undertaken for ironman nutrition. but these were advocating proprietary maltodextrin gels and so they should be expected to be somewhat biased!
either way, i bought into it. its Go, GU and squeezy all the way for me now!
now if only i could run properly....
[munches wistfully on a cornflake]