Whether you are a football player or a distance runner there is a critical time in the hours before, during, and after your event when your nutrition decisions can mean the difference between a great and not so great performance. As your game, meet, or event approaches you should be focused mainly on fluids and carbohydrates.

FLUID: Start hydrating at least 24 - 48 hours before your event. You may think you are losing most of it in your urine and that is true to a certain extent, but hydration is too important for top performance to be ignored. Choose non-caffeinated beverages like water, sports drinks, and natural juices. Caffeine can work against you because it stimulates urine production and may actually dehydrate you if youíre not careful.
As your event approaches keep these rules in mind:
Before: drink 16-24 ounces of fluid 2 hours before your event.
During: drink 4-8 ounces every 15-20 minutes during your event. In events lasting more that an hour make sure your beverage contains carbohydrate.
After: consume at least 24 ounces in the hour following the event. Then resume your normal consumption of fluids (80 -100 ounces a day minimum).

CARBOHYDRATES: Protein and fat are crucial in your daily training diet, but as important events draw near you may want to increase your carbohydrate consumption a bit. Your specific sport and the nature of your event will influence your decisions here. Discussing each type of event is beyond the scope of this article, but keep these general rules in mind:
Before: About 24-48 hours before your event, start increasing your carbohydrate intake. During this time you should focus on complex carbs such as wheat breads and pastas, brown rice, vegetables, bran cereals, etc. Complex carbs will steady your blood sugar so that it is not very high or low as you begin your event.
During: This is when simple carbohydrates such as those found in many energy bars and drinks are the best choice. These sugars will enter your bloodstream quickly and be an immediate fuel source for your muscles.
After: In the several hours after an event, your muscles are at least partially depleted of glycogen (storage form of glucose) and therefore highly receptive to synthesizing new glycogen. Your job is to consume enough carbohydrate so that your muscles can adequately recover. You should eat at least 100 grams of carbohydrate (400 calories) within one hour after your event. (You may also want to get in some quality protein at this time to further assist muscle recovery.) Two hours later, have another 50-100 grams of carbohydrate and continue eating  plenty of carb - rich foods the rest of the day for full recovery.

     Remember that good nutritional habits in the days before an event will not make up for poor eating habits in between. Rather you should consider competition nutrition as the icing on the cake. Another important note: never eat something in a competition that you havenít already tried in training. You never know if your body will have a negative reaction to certain foods and you certainly donít want to find out the day of your event!
Please see the handouts outside of room 109B by Nancy Clark, RD,  "Recovery after hard exercise" and "The pre-competition meal" for more information.