Marathon Training

Are you training for a half or full marathon? Do you feel tired during your run? Or maybe you just want to improve your running time. Although proper training has a positive impact on overall fatigue and performance, eating the right foods before, during, and after your run can help as well.

There are four important moments to pay special attention to our eating habits when preparing for a half or full marathon (or any event lasting than 90 minutes):

• Carb loading 1-4 days before the event;
• Hours before the event;
• Throughout the event;
• After the event.

 

What is Carb Loading?

Carbohydrate (carb) loading is a sports nutrition strategy which consists in increasing your carbohydrate intake 1 to 4 days before an event lasting 90 minutes or more. Carbohydrates can be found in plant foods and dairy products, such as fruit, vegetables, legumes, cereals, grains, milk, and yogurt. When carbohydrate-containing foods are digested, they are broken down into glucose, our main source of energy. Carb loading can improve our performance by maximising our muscle reserves of glucose (called glycogen) before our competition. If we think of our body as a car, glycogen would be our main fuel tank. The more fuel (glycogen) we have, the further our car (our body) can go without breaking down. For this reason, anyone competing for 90 minutes or longer (non-stop) at a moderate to high intensity would benefit from carb loading!

 

How Do We Go About Carb Loading?

Step 1

Calculate your carbohydrate needs: multiply your body weight in kilograms by 7-12. This will give you a range of carbohydrate intake in grams that you should strive for when carbohydrate loading. For example, a 70 kg person would eat between 490g-840g of carbohydrates. This is a very large amount, about 3-4 times more than we would normally consume. To give you an example, the following foods provide about 25 g of carbs:

Carbohydrate Intake
Cereal Products
2 slices of bread	1 cup of cereal
½ bagel	2 fig/date cookies
1 English muffin	1 cup of oatmeal
Dairy products	Fruits and juice
2 cups of milk	2 cups of strawberries
1 cup chocolate milk	1 medium fruit
½ cup fruit yogurt	¾ cup of juice
Mixed dishes
1 slice of pizza	½ cup macaroni and cheese
½ of a 6’ sub	½ cup rice and beans
1.5 cup chicken noodle soup
Sports drinks, bars, and gels
2 cups sports drink	1 energy bar
1 cup Ensure or Boost	1 sports gel