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Marathon nutrition plan - IronMate Copyright 2012 ©
A human needs a regular supply of carbohydrate and if you are an endurance athlete like a Runner or Triathlete then it is even more important & this is why.
The brain is an organ of the body and requires a supply of carbohydrate fuel.
When energy levels drop this affects the brain that’s why we can have mood swings or have negative thoughts make mental errors (run past a feed station without hydrating or dropping a drink and carry on rather than stopping to hydrate).
Sugary foods are not the answer.
If you are struggling to complete the training you are simply doing one or some of the following.
Training too much.
Increasing volume or intensity or both too soon.
Always training too hard.
Trying to lose weight while training by cutting back on calories.
Not allowing for adequate recovery.
Not having recovery foods straight after each workout
Not have calories during sessions lasting more than 60 minutes.
Often dehydrated or a combination of the above.
If there is also too much else going on in your life to fully recover this will delay your recovery.
At rest or low intensity exercise the body uses fat as its preferred source of energy.
One gram of fat is energy rich and has 9 calories. A lean person could have 60,000 calories stored but this energy is slow releasing and is not efficient as fuel for running because it does not give sufficient energy when we run.
When we run we need carbohydrates because our working muscles demand sugar which can be easily obtained form carbohydrates
Nutritional period should also be periodized just like your training. You adjust your nutrition with your training.
For example if you put the same amount of fuel in a car each week but some weeks you travel more miles than others there will come a time when you could run out.
Marathon hydration.
During the marathon the body produces more heat than it can get rid of by sweating.
A marathon runner’s body temperature can gradually rise by 3 to 4 degrees that’s 102 degrees Fahrenheit which is considered a good level to use energy. Sweating stops the body from over heating that’s why we have feed stations in the marathon.
Practise running and drinking, this is easy for some of us and harder for others. It is a skill easy to lose even experienced runners struggle if they have not practised sipping a drink at marathon pace.
3 Stages of your marathon plan
Marathon training nutritional plan
Make a note of what you eat for 7 days, work out calories from the food and drink and how many calories you may have used up running. Compare this with how much energy you have for everyday life. If you are putting on weight you are eating too many calories.
If you are hungry you may be eating the wrong ratio of carbohydrate protein and fat for your body type, it’s the bodies way of saying give me more protein or fat or carbs?
If you cannot do this then contact a sports nutritionist?
If you run too fast fail to rest up and do not have a good breakfast this will explain why you will “Hit The Wall”
Read below to find out how to avoid hitting the wall.
Marathon Taper plan
Reduce size portions slightly keep snacking avoid going hungry. Reducing the amount you train will give you extra calories you can store for the marathon.
The 3 Week Taper for the first timer.
Divide you training time or miles for the last 8-10 weeks to get an average weeks training.
3 weeks to go aim for 75% of an average week 2 weeks to go aim for 50% race week aim for 10% plus the marathon.
Example
Let’s say you ran on average 50 miles a week.
3 weeks to go 75% so you should run 37.5 miles – still maintain a long run @ marathon pace.
2 weeks to go 50% so you should run 25 miles – s till maintain a long run @ marathon pace.
Race week aim for 10% race week and the marathon 26.2 miles = 31.2 miles = 62% of an average week.
So you can see how little you run marathon week, tick over most days for 5-15 minutes with easy slow and marathon pace running.
If you run anymore race week you will simply be running on empty and hit the wall earlier than you thought possible!
Low mileage runner 3 week taper.
If you are a low mileage runner ease back to
3 weeks to go run 50-60% of an average week
2 weeks to go run 30-40% of an average week
Race week – 15-20% marathon week, so you can run marathon week not lose endurance and not be tired at the half way of the marathon.
Marathon Nutrition on race day
Practise race day breakfast for many weeks starting months before.
Progress to rehearsing on the same day race day race break fast & nutrition sports drinks gels or what ever you plan on using during your long runs and find what works best for you. Monitor how a big breakfast and planned race nutrition hinders or helps you.
Carbohydrates are the fuel for the body to allow us to train & run the marathon.
Calories required running a mile depends on many factors including your fitness how long you have been running and how economical you are at running.
Approximately 75% of the calories used in running a mile comes from carbohydrates.
Carbohydrate is stored in the muscles liver and in the blood.
Marathon diet needs to be
Carbohydrate 65% to 70% carbohydrate -1 gram = 4 calories
Protein 25% - 1 gram = 4 calories
Fat 10% -1 gram is 9 calories
The amount of carbohydrate a runner needs
For every mile you run you need approximately 100 calories using the ratio
65% carbohydrate 25% protein and 10% Fat
You will need 16g of carbs (64 calories) 7 grams of protein (28 calories) and 1g of fat (9 calories) to run a mile.
Sounds complicated but you only need to work out an average portion once and then use this as your guide.
Dr Michael Cogan table below guesstimate guide of your carbohydrate needs in grams based on body size. This is only a rough estimate as every runners will need different amounts. Use this as a guide and see if it works for you.`
Body weight Training Hours
1 2 3 4
50kg 200 300 400 500
60kg 300 400 500 600
70kg 400 500 600 700
80kg 500 600 700 800
90kg 600 700 800 900
100kg 700 800 900 1000
110kg 800 900 1000 1100
Marathon Nutrition mistakes
All carbohydrates are not equal.
Some are fast fix carbs and some give you a steady stream of energy.
Using the Glycemic index system of 1 to 100, simple carbohydrates are absorbed into the system quickly & have a high GI and complex carbohydrates are slow releasing and lower on the GI scale.
Having carbohydrate foods that are low in the GI scale allow you to maintain your training runs much longer.
Eating foods high on the GI scale causes very high blood glucose levels so insulin is released which then causes carbohydrates to be pulled away form the blood resulting in low blood sugar levels.
Keeping your blood glucose stable is vital for endurance events like the marathon.
Low Glycemic index foods are considered better for long term good health and stable weight maintenance.
Marathon Taper Nutrition Plan
“The person that slows down last is the winner”
If you have had a good build up then your taper should start 3 weeks before your marathon.
Continue to maintain your 65% to 70% of carbohydrates.
The skill is to reduce slightly the portion sizes while reducing the training.
Reducing mileage reduces your calories requirements.
This will help you get ready for the marathon without putting on too much weight.
Race week super compensation is helped by resting and not being busy.
A rest day is not a rest day if you are busy and end up being tired.
Eat carbohydrates
Avoid protein for the last 36 hours before marathon and fibre rich foods.
Make sure all your protein has been digested and you have less fibre in your system to avoid tummy troubles during the marathon.
Avoid eating extra carbohydrate race week & the reduction in training will mean you have extra calories than will be stored for the marathon.
You must eat low GI carbohydrates to maintain a steady state of blood glucose.
Marathon Nutrition
Before
You need to work backwards to plan when you will eat.
You cannot have enough breakfast 3 hours before a marathon if you had your last big meal 5 to 7 hours before so this is what you have to do.
Night before
Last main meal finish no later than 7pm. You can still have a snack before you go to bed.
If the marathon starts at 10:00 am then you will need to finish breakfast by 7:00
(Note finish eating not start). Earlier if you have a sensitive stomach or cannot run without anything in your tummy.`
With the anticipation of the marathon you may find that you simply cannot eat as much as you would like and your digestion is likely to be slower than normal.
These results in it may take longer to have an empty stomach
So that’s why you need to eat by 6pm the following evening that gives you 12 hours between fully digesting a meal and topping up on marathon day.
You liver glycogen stores will be lower when you wake up so make sure eat enough.
Race morning breakfast gives you that little extra.
It needs to be low GI foods to keep blood sugar levels stable if you have high GI foods will cause blood glucose levels to fall especially resulting in low liver glucose & you will have problems at 18-21 miles.
Examples include whole grain toast butter and banana.
Race Day Marathon Nutrition
You need to fuel during the marathon high in GI Foods that are easy to digest and quick to give you energy.
Examples of these are gels energy bars and sports drinks.
Having bars or gels early in the marathon when you are not tired and they put less strain on the body so you can save stored energy for later.
My recommendations are gels just before a feed station so you can wash them down with water. Then rely on sports drinks in the later part as they are easy and work well.
Timing
First gel after 30 minutes after the start then a gel every 20 -30 minutes until one hour to go then switch to the sponsored sports drink. They not only hydrate you they are more effective than water and will assist you to replacing lost sugars and salt lost during exercise.
Marathon Nutrition Mistakes
Diluting any sports drink – it is designed to be absorbed quickly changing the ratio alters the speed it can be absorbed
Avoid taking gels with sports drinks- too much carbohydrate will delay stomach absorption and can cause stomach problems. Gels with water sports drinks on their own. If you normally have a sensitive stomach stop taking gels, then drink plain water at next feed station then swtich over to sports drink to make sure you have absorbed the gel.
Caffeine has been shown to help performance but too much coffee or tea can promote the “runs” in a long run or marathon.
Too much fruit juice although it is carbohydrate it is fructose which will leads to poor absorption and stomach upsets. Many a marathon runner staying in a hotel has ruined their race by drinking glasses of healthy fruit juice just before they left for the race. Fruit juice is high in calories but should not be used as a sports drink.
Hydrate not just with plain water and never keep drinking lots of plain water in the last 36 hours before your marathon you are not a camel and this can be fatal.
Keep your energy levels topped up especially the day before along run do not try to cut back and lose weight or think if you complete a long run you will get some sort of benefit you won’t.
Post race recovery snacks speed up the recovery to allow you more energy for next time.
Never try something new race week or the night before or race morning or during the marathon.
See you at the Races!
Mark Kleanthous
74 x marathon runner and coach
www.ironmate.co.uk
IronMate Copyright 2012 ©