ENERGY-PACKED RISOTTO

Fancy making a delicious meal the night before your race? Get in the kitchen and whip up this high-impact, energy-packed risotto and share it with us on Insta by tagging us at @trailrunmag

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for trail runners. Your body uses a significant amount of carbohydrate to help you get through long, intense runs; and they predominantly come from three main sources: the glycogen stored in your liver, the glycogen stored in your muscles and the glucose circulating in your blood.

Think of glycogen as your premium fuel tank – the only way to increase the carbohydrates stored in that tank is by consuming carbohydrates in your diet. This is why increasing your carbohydrate intake before long, intense efforts such as races or big training sessions is helpful to increasing your energy throughout your run, sustaining a quicker pace for longer and, consequently, improving your performance.

Topping up your energy reserves before a race or activity is known as carbohydrate loading. Research has shown that carbohydrate loading for endurance athletes increases time to exhaustion by about 20% on average and improves time trial results by about 2 to 3%.

By being high in carbohydrates and low in fat, this delicious tomato risotto can be a perfect meal to include as part of your carb-loading protocol ahead of your next race or as a carb-focused meal the night before your next long run.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup arborio rice

• 3 cups vegetable broth

• 4 tomatoes

• 10g fresh thyme

• 1tsp sea salt

• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

• Leftovers: refrigerate for up to three days

• Serving size: one serving is approximately one cup

SERVINGS: 4

1. Preheat the oven to 205ºC (400ºF)

2. Use a food processor to crush the tomatoes

3. In an oven safe dish, add rice, broth, crushed tomatoes and thyme. Stir well, cover the dish tightly with tin foil or a lid. Bake in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until the rice is cooked

4. Stir in the parmesan cheese (optional) and salt. Adjust seasoning to your taste

5. Enjoy!

• For more flavour: add zucchini, capsicum and garlic powder

• For additional toppings: add basil or coriander

NUTRITION PER SERVING

• Calories: 264

• Carbohydrates: 47g

• Fibre: 1g

• Sugar: 1g

• Protein: 9g

• Fat: 4g

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Gaby Villa is a sports nutritionist, dietitian and founder of IntensEATfit who specialises in optimising performance for ultra runners by making food their best ally in sport and life. Find her online at intenseatfit.com for more in fo.