But... Race days and event days are different and for big endurance events (before I ran my marathon or in this case, the lead up to Ride100) it looks a lot different. Pushing your body and being on the move for several hours continuously requires lots of fuel, and that means carbs. There are lots of mixed opinions on how long you should carb load for, how best to do it, and whether it is worth doing at all. All I can say, is that it works for me. Having done longer runs and rides feeling wrung out and drained for a week following, I'm not in a hurry to change my routine. You'll also not I've approximated calories and although the carb content is much higher than my 'normal' day food diary linked above, the number of calories consumed are approximately the same at around 1600.
Welcome to the Ride100 edition of What I Eat In a Day: Carb Loading!
Breakfast - approx 300 cals
Whilst I'm normally a protein & fruit smoothie breakfast kind of a girl, carb loading calls for porridge- yes, the instant kind because I'm lazy like that and not being a morning person, I'm not in a hurry to add 'fight with my dad for space in the kitchen' to my morning routine. I like to add either a spoonful of jam or a teaspoon of my favourite nut butter- MyProtein Triple Nut Butter

Morning
As with a more normal day, breakfast is more than enough to see me through to lunch, but down the hatch with 1.5-2L of water. I drink a LOT of water and that means I have to watch my electrolytes and sodium carefully when it's warm and during endurance sports. I've talked about drinking too much water before right HERE
Lunch - approx 550 cals
This is about the time in the day I start to find Carb loading just a bit weird. Lunch is normally heavy on salad, fats, and protein. I tend to reduce my fibre consumption fairly during carb loading too, so no avocado for Chloe, but I'm not quite ready to give up my vegetables just yet...

Cheese, home cooked ham, tomato & (very minimal) spinach toastie on my own wholegrain bread.
Snacks - approx 110 cals
Normally I'd go hard and heavy at mixed nuts or a small piece of cheese, maybe a small piece of chocolate for a snack.. Today... These small flapjack bits from Aldi are a bit of a lifesaver. They're around 100 calories a shot and being individually wrapped means I can shove them in my work stuff, I also use them as fuel during exercise whether it's long runs or long rides because they're tasty, small enough to not feel to heavy and again, gotta love the individual wrapping! Oh, and it's only 75p for five!

Are you loving the table cloth at our temporary accommodation?
Dinner - approx 450 cals
I totally lucked out on this one, I happened to be staying with my parents who are on a mission to empty the contents of the freezer in their temporary accommodation, and it so happened that there was steak to be eaten. SHAME! I passed on heavy buttery sauces (normally I'm a sucker for bearnaise) because they don't agree with me when I have lots of sport to do, but this is carb loading, so say hello to the potato mountain. Not that steak and wedges are an especially normal occurrence for me, but I wouldn't normally be eschewing vegetables or salad, but with 2 days to go before an event, now is the time I start to reduce the fibre in my diet. It's tedious, but I've also learned through experience, that this works for me. My favourite, tried, tested, carb loaded pre-race dinner though? Homemade pizza...

More Snacks - approx 200 cals
Something else that is incredibly unusual is the addition of a dessert or snack. It's not something I often have room for, and I still can't stomach the weighty suggestion of toast or muffins or similar after eating a full meal, but an apple with nut butter, a(nother) small flapjack or a cereal bar type snack I can usually manage. Yay... Carbs....
