The big thing is hydrating the day before the race. I will have 20 ounces of water right when I get up in the morning the day before, and I'll drink throughout the day.
Like every fight, after you make weight, you want to go crazy and eat after you've gone through a camp where you can't do that. So I'd eat pizza and wings and beers.
Everyone on my team is different in terms of how long before a workout they prefer to eat. I like to eat my big meal 4.5-5 hours before I play. I usually eat a carb either rice or pasta with tofu or chicken. Around 2 hours before I play to like to eat greek yogurt with a banana.
I love food, and I love carbs: Pasta, rice - that's my thing.
America has been conditioned to think of pasta as the never-ending pasta bowl and Olive Garden.
When you are doing endurance swimming you just need to take in as many carbs as possible to put on as much weight as you can. Basically you can eat whatever you want, which can be quite fun. Everything is guilt-free.
Pregame, you definitely want to carb up.
I usually try to go for meals that aren't heavy when I'm playing for a long time. I'll try to stay away from carbing up too hard - so I avoid pastas.
