The Ultimate Marathon Nutrition Guide

Start Preparing Early

Running a marathon is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication, training, and mental strength. One of the things many people forget when racing is proper marathon nutrition.

It is a shame when you put all the proper work in and don’t run to your expectations on race day due to a poor marathon nutrition strategy.

However, a proper marathon nutrition strategy begins way before the day of the race. Fortunately, it is not that difficult, by following this simple marathon nutrition guide, you can at least be sure that you will have your nutrition plan down on race day!

Train Your Nutrition Plan

TL;DR

• Study the marathon course in order to develop your nutrition plan.
• Practice your nutrition strategy in training. That means practice eating your race day breakfast before going on long runs, drinking liquids while running, and training with other energy foods.

When preparing a marathon nutrition plan, it is important to note that it should begin at least 10 weeks before your planned race. This gives you enough time to figure out not only timing but what food/drink products work best for you.

You should never be experimenting on race day. If you want to try out new foods/drinks, this is the time to fine-tune your nutrition strategy.

While carbs are very important for running, many people don’t realize that protein is just as important for runners. In fact, according to nutritionist Renee McGregor, “During marathon training there’s a lot of wear and tear to the muscles, so I always advise increasing your protein intake.”^[1]RedBull – Marathon nutrition Everything you need to know

It is recommended that you take:

(Your weight in kg) x 1.4 = recommended daily protein intake in grams

In addition to meat, some great sources of protein include lentils, fish, Greek yogurt, and eggs.

Days Before Your Marathon

TL;DR

• Start carb loading.
• 1 to 2 days before your race, start reducing your fiber intake to help with potential gastro problems on race day.

The days before your marathon are when you start reducing your workload. In addition, this is a great time to make sure your muscle fuel stores (glycogen) are full.

Traditionally, carb-loading just meant eating a big pasta dinner the night before your race.

However, when carb-loading, you should really consider the planning several days to a week before your marathon. This doesn’t mean that you should be overstuffing yourself with food. Rather, you need to make sure that you are increasing the percentage of your daily diet’s carbs.

In addition, if you will be traveling to your race, you will need to take this into mind. Do some research ahead of time, to pick places that will provide not only enough carbs, but are healthy as well.

In general, you should start your nutrition build up no later than Wednesday for a Sunday marathon.^[2]BBC Good Food – Marathon meal plan

Wednesday

According to sports nutritionist James Collins, you should start increasing your carbs on this day.

Thursday

Focus on eating not only more carbs, but high-quality proteins as well.

Friday

You should officially begin your 48-hour pre-race carb loading.

Saturday

Focus on easily digestible carbs the day before your marathon.

Pre-Race Marathon Nutrition

TL;DR

• Start with your standard breakfast you have developed throughout your training cycle. Make sure to eat it 2.5 to 4 hours before your race.
• During this time, avoid eating high protein, high fat, and high fiber foods.
• Make sure to eat at least 100 grams of carbs.
• Drink enough liquids. You will know it is enough if your urine color is light.
• 5 to 15 minutes before your race, start fueling with quick-absorbing carbs (such as gels) and drink a few sips of water.

It is very important to eat something for breakfast before you race your marathon. This is because during the night, your body has used a good amount of your glycogen stores to fuel your brain. In general, you should try to eat it around 2.5 to 4 hours before your race. However, if you have the time, try to eat earlier rather than later.

What you should eat for breakfast really depends on you. As you have been practicing these last 10 weeks on your pre-race nutrition, you should be pretty aware of what works and what doesn’t work before going out on a long run.

As few things to note, if you suffer from gastro problems, try reducing your fiber intake. In addition, try to make sure that your breakfast has at least 100 grams of carbs in it.^[3]BBC Good Food – Marathon meal plan – Sunday

A few great options for breakfast include:

• Rice
• Pancakes and syrup
• Energy bars
• Oatmeal

When you are around 15 minutes before the start of the race, make sure that you take fast-absorbing carbs such as gels and a few sips of water. It is important to practice this timing, as these carbs and fluids will take a few minutes to absorb and you want to make sure that they are available for when you race.

Marathon Race Nutrition

TL;DR

• Stick to your marathon nutrition race plan; however, if things start going sideways, make sure to take that into account as well.
• Make sure to get around 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour.
• Eat fast-absorbing carbs such as bars, chews, or gels.
• Don’t eat high protein or high-fat foods.
• Drink enough, but not too much.
• Don’t take too much electrolytes.

When racing the two main nutrition things you should be thinking about are fluids and carbs. It is important that you get enough, but not take too much otherwise you run the risk of stomach troubles.

Fluids

The best way to know how much fluids you will need while racing is by understanding your sweat rate. This is different from person to person.

The weeks leading up to your race, it is important to weigh yourself before and after you run. The difference in weight can help you determine how much weight you lose due to sweating. From there, you can develop an informed fluid strategy for your marathon.

It is important to take into account the weather. If you will be running in weather that closely matches that of your regular training runs, then you will most likely need the same amount of fluids. However, if it is colder, than you will probably require less, and if it is hotter, you will probably require more to prevent yourself from dehydrating.

Marathons typically offer runners cups of water along the racecourse. These cups generally carry about 150 ml of water of which you will probably drink about 100 ml of. The rest will be lost to spilling.

Additionally, your stomach can empty between 180 to 210 ml of fluid every 15 minutes. Taking into consideration, how much water your stomach can hold and how much water you are losing to sweat you should generally focus on not drinking more that around 600 ml of water per hour of running.^[4]Runner’s World – How to fuel your body best during marathon training

A general guideline is that you should drink several sips of water every 15 to 20 minutes of your run.

Carbohydrates

Carbs are stored in your muscles as glycogen and serve as the quickest energy source your body can get access to.

When running a marathon, your body will favor using glycogen as the main source of energy. However, your body can only store a limited amount which is not enough to take you through an entire marathon.

As such, it is important to replenish your glycogen stores while running. However, how much carbs is enough?

In general, you should focus on consuming around 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour of racing. If you are running faster, you will be on the higher end of this range. If you are running slower, you will find yourself on the lower end of this range. That is because the harder your perceived effort, the more carbs you will burn.^[5]RedBull – Marathon nutrition Everything you need to know

Some popular carb sources while running include:

• Jelly beans: 11 grams of carbs
• Energy bar: 20 to 40 grams of carbs
• Gel: 21 to 27 grams of carbs
• Banana: 24 to 30 grams of carb

Unfortunately, carbs are a limited source of energy when running. One way many marathon runners attempt to combat this issue is by making their body better adapted at using fat as a source of energy instead of carbs. If you would like to learn more about that, check out

• 9 Intermittent Fasting Tips for Beginners
• The Ultimate Keto Diet Guide
• The Top 10 Keto Mistakes You Should Avoid

After the Marathon

TL;DR

• Kick start the repair process right away by refueling as soon as possible with water, carbs, and protein.

You might think that now that you have finished your marathon, now is the time to party. Why is post-race nutrition important? You have already done all the work.

However, a proper marathon nutrition guide shouldn’t end when you finish your marathon. In fact, the recovery phase is just as important.

During this phase, you should be focusing on not letting your body breakdown, but build up instead.

A proper post-race nutrition strategy will help you:^[6]Nicolas Aubineau – Runners diet

• Get the proper amount of vitamins and minerals.
• Rehydrate.
• Build back your beat up muscles.
• Push out all the lactic acid waste from your body.

By doing so, not only will you be able to get back to running quicker, you won’t feel as sore while you are recovering. You don’t want to be the person who feels like they can’t walk for several days after a race!

Proper Marathon Nutrition

Marathon nutrition is probably one of the most overlooked parts of training for a marathon.

However, it is also one of the most important parts of running a successful marathon.

Fortunately, it is not something that is too difficult to do. With the proper strategy and practice, you can make sure that you are eating and drinking the right things to fuel you to a great race!