My Pre-Race Morning Routine
What I like to eat for breakfast before my college cross-country and track races. My pre-race meal includes a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with peanut butter and fruit. In this post, I also go through a little bit of my pre-race morning routine and why I love to race.
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My Pre-Race Routine
Good morning friends. My first collegiate cross-country season is now in full swing, and today is race day! I thought it would be fun to share my favorite pre-race breakfast and race day morning routine. I will also talk a little bit about why I love endurance racing. Let’s dive right into this post.
In order to perform to the best of my abilities on race day, I always make sure to fuel myself well. One of my favorite pre-race breakfast foods is oatmeal. I have actually been eating oatmeal before cross-country and track races since high school.
Fortunately, my school’s dining hall serves oatmeal for breakfast pretty much every single morning. And even if they didn’t, I could still make use of my microwave to cook up some of the quick oats that I keep in my dorm room. That’s actually one of my top tips for living in the dorms. Always keep some cheap microwaveable foods on hand so that you can make something whenever you’re hungry.
Anyways, let’s get back to the topic of dining hall oatmeal. I headed over to the dining hall this morning to assemble my oatmeal bowl and fuel up before my race. The dining hall oatmeal is definitely not as thick and creamy as I typically make mine, but it tastes decent enough. I topped this morning’s bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter, fresh fruit (I went with banana slices today), and some of the granola they had in the cereal section. I also enjoyed a glass of almond milk on the side. Since I have enjoyed a solid breakfast, I know that I am well fueled and ready to tackle today’s race. Now that I’ve talked about my favorite pre-race breakfast, I will go ahead and discuss my typical pre-race morning routine.
The Morning Routine
My pre-race routine is incredibly simple and it remains the same before each race, no matter the distance. I woke up this morning, had a cup of coffee, and then did a short shakeout jog (around 10 minutes). The shakeout helps me get my legs moving and wake my body up in the morning so that I’m ready to run fast later. I always keep my pace super easy. I like to listen to music while I do my shakeout. I ended today’s run at the dining hall rather than my dorm room so that I could walk right in and grab some breakfast.
I enjoyed my bowl of oatmeal with some delicious toppings as I already mentioned. Then, I walked back to my dorm room, packed up my backpack with everything I will need to race later today (uniform, socks, spikes, snacks, etc.), and started typing up this blog post. I will be hitting the road with my team shortly to drive to the race course. Then, comes the fun part – racing!
Why I Love To Race
Racing is actually one of my favorite aspects of the sport of competitive running. You get to test your limits, compete, and see exactly what you are capable of on a given day. For me, race day means a lot more than just trying to run a new personal best. I love that I get the chance to dig deep and truly challenge myself. I am forced to push through pain and overcome adversity. Each race provides me with a new opportunity to learn and grow. Every single time I finish a race, whether I ran extremely well or fell short of my expectations, I always try to take a lesson from the experience.
When I was in high school, I often dreaded race day. I never felt prepared, and I was often consumed by self doubt and a lack of confidence. Now, I go into each race excited to see what I can do. Today marks my third race as a collegiate runner. My team started the season off with a 5k followed by a 6k. Today, I will be racing my second 6k.
The first one was, to put it lightly, not great. Although 1k further doesn’t seem like much, I could feel it wearing me down towards the end of the race. Still, I’m excited to tackle it again this week. I’ve always preferred longer distances over shorter ones. Anyway, that’s it for this post. I hope you enjoyed. As per usual, I will be back with another one very soon.
-Alyssa 🙂
