This can be for any events that you are doing like running, triathlon, rowing, rugby etc but for the time of year we are in, we’ll look at short, intense workouts like the CrossFit open or CrossFit comps!
Risk management
Don’t change your diet drastically during the open, it’s too late for that, the time for this was during the off-season. You need to be fuelled to perform at your best. Stick to the foods, supplements and drinks that you have been using regularly. Think about those days where are you absolutely smashed a workout or a training session, what food did you have on that day or the night before?
Try to avoid getting sucked into trying a new supplement, pre-workout or food because you saw some games athlete on Instagram eating it because amongst other reactions, this can potentially mess with your bowels 
Fuelling yourself with what you normally eat/ take, gives you peace of mind that you aren’t messing anything up, which has a significant emotional and mental load on you during the workout.
Don’t go into a Calorie Surplus
This one has taken me a few years to realise 
The open events are tough, they are neurologically intense on the body but this is not really an excuse to treat yourself with a tub of ice cream or a huge takeaway after doing an open wod, you are probably doing less work than a typical training session!! You have two (2+) more weekends of this! We don’t need to be going into a calorie surplus every weekend by rewarding ourselves with food which could potentially impact the last couple of open workouts.
Don’t weigh yourself during the open!!
You might wake up on Friday morning and for some reason your half a KG up and there is a gymnastics-based work out later 
This could mentally impact you, playing on your mind all day and during the event, “I’ll be too heavy for pull ups”, we don’t need this extra stress!
Let’s try shelter ourselves as much as possible with our mindset, we can now focus all of our energy on the event.
Pre and Post Event Nutrition
Protein breaks down at different rates when digesting in the body. So if you want to recover faster after an afternoon workout or event make sure your lunch has a nice mix of protein, carbs and a bit of fat so that as you finish your workout your lunch helps with the regeneration of muscle damage and your post work shake/ meal helps with further recovery. This is especially useful if you want to repeat the wod or have a multi-day comp. Examples of how long some foods take to digest:
- Boiled egg – 45mins
- Chicken breast – 1.5-2 hours
- Lean fish (cod) – 30mins
- Cottage cheese – 2 hours
- Pork – 4.5-5 hours
According to the recommendations of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, dietary protein intake necessary to support metabolic adaptation, repair, regeneration and protein turnover generally ranges from 1.2 to 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
Another thing that works well for most people when looking for a snack option before an event is a mix of high and low GI carbs to help you with fast energy and to also stay with you longer throughout the whole wod. It’s also important to include carbs and fats in your post work out meal because your body’s glycogen stores are used as fuel during exercise and consuming carbs after your workout helps replenish them. The increased availability of fat to the muscle will stimulate fat oxidation and enable glycogen resynthesis from the available dietary carbohydrates. However, One thing that tends not to work before a workout, especially Crossfit, is eating a high-fat meal (for activities that are long, lower intensity endurance activities a high fat meal is actually preferred). The open workouts are intense and a high fat meal can sit in your belly and feel heavy as it will take longer to digest. This can impact your whole workout, playing with your mind and potentially making you feel a bit sick 
So try to relax, try not to get stressed, stay hydrated and get some sleep. I hope this helps and best of luck 
