lines as the last few weeks and look at maximising your nutrition for the event. Again all of the basic healthy eating messages still remain for your everyday diet. 

For events such as this there is no need to follow a ‘carb loading’ protocol which involves multiple days of very high carbohydrate consumption in the lead up to the event. You will easily be able to achieve adequate carbohydrate stores within 24h of the run. One of the most important messages I can give is do not try anything on event day that you have not tried previously in training. 

The evening prior to the run:

• Include a high carbohydrate meal such as pasta or rice for dinner 

• Make sure you stay adequately hydrated but don’t go overboard or you’ll be up all night going to the toilet 

Morning of the run:

• This will depend on your starting time as you want all food to be digested before the event

• If starting early it may be difficult to have a decent meal so you may be better off just having a light carbohydrate snack such as cereal, fruit smoothie, liquid meal supplement or sports bar. These can be had within 1-2 hours of the event but you should test yourself in training.

• Fat is very slow at digesting so limiting fats will ensure quick passage of food through the gut 

• Reducing your fibre intake for this meal can decrease the likelihood of gastrointestinal upset

• Ensure adequate fluid intake

During the run:

• Ensure frequent fluid intake and have extra if it’s a hot day

• With the maximum distance being 15km it is unlikely that anyone would need to take on any extra carbohydrate during the run. Those participants completing the 15km may get some benefit in performance from having a small amount of carbohydrate during but it is not essential. A sports drink would likely be the best option for this

After the run:

• You might just be glad you made it and not concerned with your post run nutrition however ensuring you consume adequate protein, carbohydrate and fluid will achieve maximal recovery

These points cover all you need to know about pre event nutrition for the fun run. Next week I’ll aim to summarise our topics and look at how to maintain the changes you’ve made after completion of the event. 

If you’re interested in reading more about sports nutrition I recommend heading to:

• The Sports Dietitians Australia website (http://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/) 

• The nutrition section of the Australian Institute of Sport website (http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition)