Marathon nutrition.

So I`m just over a week away from the Brighton marathon.
Training has been OK and am comfortable up to 20 miles so hoping that I will be OK for the remainder on the day.
What I do need help with is the nutrition side of things. What should I be eating in the days running up to the event and then on the morning and during?
All advice welcome.

What did you do during your 20 milers? Do that, but a bit more!

I wouldn’t recommend trying anything new just for the race.

they used to do an energy bar specifically for this but you can’t get ’em any more

20 miler was a Mars bar and bottle of water but don`t think this will be enough.
Feel like I have neglected a key part of the training process.

Load up on the carbs during the week, i.e. Pasta etc..

Breakfast is really a case of what you can eat, some people struggle to eat the moring of a race due to nerves. Porridge is one thing that a lot of people recomend. Tart it up with things like bananas & honey. I normally load up on toast with jam! But leave enough time for it to digest so you don’t get a stitch!

During, depends on what you’ve trained with! If you’ve used gels etc during training with no side effects then go with them. Personally I have stomach problems if I try to take most sports drinks & gels. So for longer events I usually have a small bag with something like Jelly Babbies or Haribo and cashew nuts mixed together!

Good luck & enjoy!! 😀

scaredypants – Member

they used to do an energy bar specifically for this but you can’t get ’em any more

Posted 5 minutes ago #

Beat me to it !

Well I would not be worring too much about it until two/three days out from an event… although wouldn’t be touching booze a good week/10 days before… Then just the same meals and meal sizes but with more emphasis towards carbs over other food stuffs…Also I start to drink a little more water a couple of days out… (and have a bottle next to my bed, If I turn over in the night I’ll sip a little water)

Morning of the race (2/3 hours before start) generous bowl of porridge keep sipping the water and maybe a power bar and/or banana as you arrive at the event and kept sipping the water until the off.

Water and gels to power me round, not many mind as they can give me stitches, maybe 4 ?? taken at about 10/14/18/22.

Milk and meat once done… and then feed my carb cravings later in the afternoon/evening/next day

good luck

I’ll be taking a gel every 9km with a small amount of water. I also use energy chews. I have however tested these in training so I know they work for me.

I wouldn’t test anything new in a race that I hadn’t tested in training.

I did the same thing as you for my first marathon last year. Didn’t use any gels/drinks training then thought about it before the week before the run.
My main concern was cramp and getting enough electrolytes to stop it.

Doing what you do in training and not changing on race day is the best advice – I ignored this and took 5 gels I hadn’t tried with me thinking I may take 2 or 3 of them. In the end I used them all and had no stomach problems.

Stupidly also took a High 5 Zero tablet with me to add to water if I needed it, decided it would be a good idea to eat it without water and ended up with a fairly fizzy mouth. Was glad to get to the next water stop a couple of miles later!

Good Luck 🙂

fish and chips?

A few tips, one of which may be slightly controversial- but I can back it up.
In the vast majority of cases, electrolyte tabs don’t prevent cramp, especially in single day events like a conventional marathon. They are a big fallacy widely pushed by the sports nutrition industry. Compared to the mobile salts already in the body, the tiny amount present will have no measurable effect.
More conventionally, drink only to thirst, not any kind of programme. Try not to drink too much in the first hour, sloshing water in the belly is a real nuisance and can lead to nausea.
As others, say, stick to what you know, rest well, fuel well on the morning and stay calm. It’s only a few hours of effort, so fuel in the event can be kept quite simple. Try to have something with you that you actually look forward to eating.
Don’t forget to enjoy the whole experience.

Shouldn’t need to do anything too special. Avoid alcohol for the couple of days beforehand, having some pasta for evening meals, have porridge for breakfast and a gel every hour or so works fine on my efforts.

Highlandman – interested in your electrolyte theory, I was fairly sure that gels were helping to keep cramp under control.

Would you say this was mental or more due to the sugar rush than electrolytes?

jekkyl – Member

fish and chips?

Posted 1 hour ago #Report-Post

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Tupper

My OH didn’t drink enough doing the London Marathon and made national TV by passing out as she crossed the finish line…….

It was the hottest year on record mind. When she came round in the St John’s tent, they gave her some Lucozade, which she mistook for water so poured all over her hair to try and cool down. She was then dehydrated, delirious and a sticky mess…

Just eat and drink normally. You should be hydrated anyway so it makes little difference.

Did 22 miles on Wednesday, off road / fell so ended up being 3:20 of running. I lost my bottle of drink at 4 miles so didn’t drink at all, I ate about 1/3 of a soreen at 13 miles then a fist full of haribo at 19. Thats my plan for race day except I might take 3 or 4 gels instead of the haribo.

The lack of drink was fine in the end but I did have 1.75 ltr of liquid in the rest of the evening.

Still recovering now, it was probably a bit much!

I’m also running Brighton. I use SIS gels, one after 60 minutes, then one every 30 minutes. Tested this in my 20 milers and seems to work fine for me. But that’s the crucial point, I’ve tried it 5 times. As others have said, don’t do anything new. Frankly, if you can knock out 20 on a Mars bar and a bottle of water, you’ll be fine doing the same in the marathon. Maybe have a mini Mars bar at 20 miles 🙂

Good luck with the race. Any time in mind? I’m hanging out with the 3:45 pacers to try and get my first sub-4hr time.

I just did 4 x 1 mile intervals, average 5:33, I am stoked! got a Mara in 31 days.

Sorry to hijack, for my marathons I just ate what was on offer round the course. Don’t drink or eat too much, I did, ended up peeing a few times!

Thats very fast for 4X1. You must be hopeful of a pretty good time

I’ve an ultra next month for which I’m woefully prepared. I sailed close to the edge this weekend and did 20 off 500ml of water and 6 jelly babies. Don’t do that – it hurts!

Next time plan the run with a pub stop in the middle 🙂

Highlandman – interested in your electrolyte theory, I was fairly sure that gels were helping to keep cramp under control.

Have a read of Timothy Noakes book ‘Waterlogged’, it appears to cover and debunk all the research ever done on salt ingestion.
That said I think he concentrates pretty much on Sodium Chloride, as that’s the one we have the most of. It may be that Potassium, or Magnesium chloride might need supplements to reduce cramp – I don’t know.

I just did 4 x 1 mile intervals, average 5:33, I am stoked! got a Mara in 31 days.

I’d be happy with 1 x 1 mile interval at 5:33 🙂

My OH didn’t drink enough doing the London Marathon and made national TV by passing out as she crossed the finish line…….

Interestingly, this is covered in the book mentioned above. If you collapse after crossing the line, it’s almost always Exercersie Enduced Hypotension rather than dehydration. That’s not to say that the person wasn’t dehydrated though, just that dehydration doesn’t directly cause the collapse.

http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subject-guides/med/course-pages/Poplprac745PDF/Exercise-ass.pdf