Many spaghetti dinners are planned before races to load your body up with carbs that will burn as energy during a race. There isn’t anything wrong with this, and we don’t want the spaghetti dinner organizers getting mad at us for saying otherwise, but you might want to try something more for even better results.
Around a week or so before your big race, stop eating carbs. Yes, you heard right. Actually, deprive your body of carbs. Doing so now will make carb loading more successful later.
As you aren’t eating carbs eat things like fish, chicken, and lots of vegetables.
Your body is actually using your protein enhanced diet to heal itself so it is ready come race day.
A few days before the race and after a few days of no carbs, now it’s time to load up on the carbs. Since your body was deprived of carbs for a few days it will soak up all the carbs you are putting in your body now.
Try eating slow-burning carbs like sweet potatoes, avocados, or grits. Typically, brown carbs are better to eat than white carbs.
Just eating a spaghetti dinner the night before a race should only be a small part of your race week nutrition. By depriving your body of carbs then carb loading a few days prior to your event, your body will rebuild and repair itself then take the carbs in better.