Eating for Night Races

So far, I've run three night time half marathons.  The 2011 Disney Wine & Dine Half started at 10 PM, The Davis MOOnlight Half started at 7PM, and most recently the Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half started at 4:30 PM (yes that is nighttime in the winter)!

The day of the Disney Wine & Dine Half, I had pasta with a cream sauce at 3:00PM and nothing until race time.  At about mile 8 I started to have quite a bit of stomach pain and it lasted through the evening (even after the race).  I regretted the pasta and decided that night races are harder than morning races.

The day of the Davis MOOnlight Half, I had a veggie burger and fries for lunch around noon.  After driving to Davis from San Francisco, I had a short stack of pancakes from IHOP at 5:30 PM.  I hoped to PR at this race, as the course was flat and I'd been working on speed leading up to it.  Instead, at mile 6 I got an upset stomach and ended walking a good bit.  I finished within 30 seconds of my PR and if it weren't for the pancakes so close to the race things may have gone better.

The morning of the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half, I had 1 egg and three pancakes at about 8 AM for breakfast.  At 12:30, I had pasta with marinara sauce and a few pieces of garlic bread.  After Alek read in the Running Doc's Guide to Healthy Running that taking antacids before a race will help relieve nausea, I decided to give it a try for this race.  I also had a Gu immediately before starting.  I didn't feel any stomach problems at all until the 12th mile.  Even at that point it wasn't enough to slow me down!

After three tries, I've figured out how to eat for a nighttime race:

• No large meals within 3 hours of start
• No high fat, high protein, or high fiber meals day of
• Have an antacid before the race

I suspect if I were to run a nighttime race closer to home, eating would be less of an issue.  But when running a destination race, I'm left eating restaurant food that is almost always much heaver than my normal meals.