Night Before Race: Whole wheat or white pasta?

[jared]

This discussion stems from the night before my first Ironman where I'm making myself some whole wheat pasta. I was asked if I was making whole wheat pasta and told that I should be eating white. Well, it freaked me out for a minute but then I figured I would be fine as I always eat whole wheat pasta. Anyway, it got me thinking so I was looking around to find out why white pasta would be better than whole wheat pasta the night before a race.

Here are a couple of points from what I found:
* White pasta is more easily digestible than wheat
* White pasta has Less fiber = good thing on race day
* Both have a low glycemic index so they're still slow burning carbs

Any thoughts on this? While I certainly don't think whole wheat pasta is going to sabotage your race day, it doesn't hurt to get the best food you can. The amount of fiber in the food would be a main point for me, especially with an Ironman distance race.

[alexg]

I wouldnt do pasta at all the night before. I would do more like chicken or fish and some veggies and a little bit of brown rice or a couple pieces of bread. The reason for me anyway, is because when I eat pasta, I EAT PASTA. Like about 3/4 of a box. Whether I eat whole wheat or white it's just alot of food. I actually load up on complex carbs 2 days before the race, then have a good size breakfast and lunch and a regular to small dinner the day before.

[johnny5]

Before race day, I eat what I normally eat during training. That includes a mix of low fat protein (fish or chicken) and white pasta. I did read somewhere that eating too many veggies might be a little problematic since your body can't process all of it and you might need to take a potty break in the middle of competition.

[Ashley]

Because both provide different benefits, I end up mixing roughly half white and half whole wheat pasta the afternoon/evening before a big race or long workout. That seems to cover all ground and do the trick!

[Damon]

Normally I like to eat whole wheat pasta. White pasta the day before the race for me. Or two days before.

I found that eating a small amount of pasta at lunch the day before works pretty well. But I'm like Alex as well. I love to EAT pasta. I don't like to eat it for dinner though as I feel it just doesn't get through in time for the race. Oh, and I put chicken in it instead of beef. For dinner I try to eat something fairly small. Chicken, fish, something like that. Perhaps in sandwich form. I try to keep dinner pretty small though. That worked out very well for IMMOO '09.

Damon