Easy Recipes to Fuel Your Best Performance

Photo by Jannis Brandt on Unsplash

After the last post, I received a request for some of my favorite recipes and what they are good for.  Ask and you shall receive.  In this post will give you what you need to know to fuel your best performance.  I’m going to organize this info into three categories:  pre race/workout, post race/workout, and general nutrition.

I am certainly not a chef, and I’m not even a good cook.  Everything that I prepare is simple and often a recipe that I got online or in a cookbook.  Also, for those that don’t know, I eat a plant-based diet so all of my suggestions will be plant-based.  Even if you choose to eat meat though, the information in this post will still be valuable.


Pre-Race/Workout
The most important thing to understand about pre/post race nutrition is that there is no magic food that will make up for poor eating in general.  That one thing you eat before a race cannot undo bad choices at the other 20 meals you’ve had that week.

But what about caffeine?  Yes, it can give you a short-term boost in performance for a single race.  I often abstain from any caffeine (I like to drink tea) for a week leading up to a race, and then have coffee the morning of my event.  Keep in mind though that I only race two or three times per year.

However, caffeine cannot be relied upon for regular use.  For one thing, its effectiveness decreases the more you use it.  Also, it is not actually helping you gain better fitness.  You are just borrowing energy from the future that you will have to repay eventually.

What to eat before a race or workout then?  That depends on a couple of things:  The intensity of the activity, and how long before you are eating.  As a general rule, the closer to the event you are eating, the simpler the food should be.  When running I don’t like to eat anything inside of an hour.  Inside of 90 minutes I only eat fruits like banana, dates, etc.

For an early morning session,  I would make sure to have a good dinner the night before.  Then the morning of the race just some fruit and maybe a few nuts about 90 minutes before.  For an after school session, I would focus on a good breakfast, light lunch, and maybe some fruit before the race/workout.

Everyone is a little different though, the key to figuring out what works best for you is to test.  Try different foods and different timing and pay attention to how you feel in your training and early season races.  Then by the time you reach the bigger races at the end of the season, you will know exactly what to eat and when.  This can change over time also, so you have to keep working on it each season.

All that being said, I do have a specific recipe that I use before a race or big bike ride.  I think it could make a good breakfast for you the morning of a race or big training day.  It is nothing fancy and doesn’t look all that great, but it tastes good and provides plenty of energy.  Because it is my pre-race meal, I’m calling it Ironman oats. :)

Another one of my favorite breakfasts which I eat often is buckwheat.  I eat it as a general breakfast, pre-workout, or post-workout.  Mix it with fruit, nuts, seeds for a great buckwheat breakfast bowl.


Post-Race/Workout
After a workout or race, it is important to replace the fuel that you’ve burned and provide your body the nutrients it needs to repair damage and grow stronger.  This means carbs, some protein, electrolytes, and other vitamins and minerals.  Foods that reduce inflammation are also important.

My favorite post-workout meal is a big smoothie.  Blending makes the food easier to digest, and you can add alot of good stuff to pack in the nutrition.  I’ve written up the recipes for the smoothie that I eat, and one that is a little simpler to start with.


General Nutrition
As I mentioned before, what you eat right before and after a race or workout won’t have much of an effect unless you are paying attention to what you eat the rest of the time.  That’s not to say you can never have a cookie ever again, but if you want to perform your best, you should limit the junk food.  But rather than focusing on what not to eat, I find it more helpful to focus on what to eat.  Fill up on good food and don’t leave room for anything else.

So what is good food?  Dr. Greger of Nutritionfacts.org has a great checklist with all the essentials.  They even have an app so you can keep track easily.  If you are able to check off all, or even most, of the foods on this list each day, you are doing good.  Dr. Greger conveniently just released a video explaining the list as I began to write this post as well.
Daily Dozen Video:  https://youtu.be/g0UmVKA-4F8
Iphone App:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dr-gregers-daily-dozen/id1060700802?mt=8
Android App:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.nutritionfacts.dailydozen&hl=en

As for recipes, I didn’t create any of the recipes I use, so I’m not going to give away someone else’s work.  But here are some of my current favorite sources:

https://ebook.simnettnutrition.com - I follow this guy on Youtube and like his style of cooking.  He recently released a digital cookbook.  I’ve only made a couple recipes, but his black bean and sweet potato mix up has become one of my go to meals that I eat several times a week now.

https://deliciouslyella.com - I’ve followed this blog for a long time.  I even have the app which gives you access to more recipes.  Honestly I’ve only ever made a few recipes, but everything always looks so good.  I’m planning to incorporate more of them into my rotation for some variety.

https://thehappypear.ie/recipe/ - These guys are awesome and they have some great quick recipes.  Select “5 minutes” at the top of the page to see the easiest stuff.


In summary, 
good general nutrition will get you 99% of the way there.  That extra 1% is mostly about trying out different foods and different timing to discover what works best for you.  Eat simple carbs like fruit to top off before a race.  After a race make sure to get a mix of carbs, protein, electrolytes, and other vitamins and minerals so your body can prepare itself and grow stronger.