Fuel your body: What to eat before a marathon

Completing a marathon is being added to more people’s bucket lists. Sticking to a running plan will help you prepare for your upcoming race. However, a marathon training diet is also necessary if you want to run at your best. Our experts explain what’s important to consume while training and how to work that nutrition into your schedule – all the way up to and throughout race day.

What to eat during marathon training: Before taper

Long-distance running takes a lot of energy. Feeding yourself properly is required if you want to avoid fatigue or hitting the wall. Just like how you spend months training for your marathon, you should practice your nutrition for at least three months leading up to the race.

As you train for the marathon, you’re working to build up speed and stamina by working on intensity and distance. During this phase of training, when you eat can be as important as what you eat. As you train, eat a variety of foods before and after your runs to determine what your stomach handles best. Don’t forget about including energy gels, chews or sports drinks in this plan. If you’re going to use them during the big race, make sure to include them in your training to find out what works best for you.

This is your time to experiment with how certain foods and eating at different times impact your performance. Some people need to eat two or three hours before running in order to move comfortably, while other runners are ready to race an hour after eating.

Your diet during marathon training should replenish the energy you expend. You’ll be running longer distances and burning more energy, so that means consuming more calories to keep you going. There are many different plans to get the necessary calories and nutrients depending on your individual training goals and needs. As a general rule, at least half of the calories you eat should come from carbohydrates before you taper. Carbs are important because they help the body recover the amount of glycogen (stored energy) it expends during rigorous physical activity.

If you’re unsure where to start with your training nutrition plan or want to be sure that you’re eating the right mix of nutrients, consider talking with a registered dietitian. They will help create a training diet for every phase of your training and educate you on what and when you should be eating to make sure you run at your best.

Easy-to-digest carbohydrates

As part of your training, you’ll need to find out which carbs settle best with your stomach. It will take time for your gut to adjust to more carbs. Try varying what you eat before and after your runs.

Avoid foods that can cause stomach discomfort

Some foods that are high in fiber can contribute to runner’s diarrhea. Consider avoiding beans, lentils, chickpeas, green peas and broccoli. You may also find that other types of food cause stomach discomfort while you’re running. Incorporating a variety of foods into your diet throughout your training is crucial so that you can find out which foods agree with you and which should be avoided as race day approaches.

What to eat during taper: 3 weeks before the marathon

Three weeks out from your marathon, you should be focused on letting your body recover from the rigorous training while replenishing your glycogen stores. The key to your diet during this point of marathon training is to decrease your calorie intake while maintaining how many carbs you’re eating.

In order to be at your best, you’ll need to taper your training regimen before the marathon. This means that you’ll reduce the intensity of your training to give your body a chance to recuperate. During the taper, you’ll be running less, which means your body will need fewer calories. In order to cut calories without cutting back on the carbohydrates you’re eating, reduce the amount of fat that you’re eating. By eating fewer grams of fat, more of your calories can go to carbohydrates. Shoot for 20-25% of your daily calorie intake coming from fats.

Protein is also necessary to rebuild muscle during the taper period of your marathon training. Eat between 0.6-0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day. And do your best to eat a variety of protein from lean meats, legumes, eggs and other protein-rich foods.

Fill up a week before your marathon

The week leading up to your marathon, make a point to maintain calorie intake even though you are not burning as many calories. Increase your carb and protein intake to fill up your body’s reserves.

Your performance and endurance can improve if you start a race with a full store of carbs. It’s when this store gets low that your brain and muscles get tired. And added protein will help with muscle recovery.

Fill up on the grains, starchy vegetables and fruits that settle well with your stomach. Your protein intake should also increase as your portions become larger. Greek yogurt and quinoa are two foods that are rich in both carbs and protein.

Carb load 48 hours before a marathon

The marathon is almost here! In the two days before your big race, you’ll want to focus on eating one thing: carbs. Eating a lot of carbs will help top off your glycogen stores so your body has plenty of energy to use during your race.

Stick to carbs that are easy to digest. Eating meals that are easy on the stomach will reduce the chances that you’ll develop digestion issues before or during the marathon.

Plan to carb load between 36-48 hours leading up to your race.

What is carb loading?

Carb loading is eating a high amount of carbohydrates before a race or other sporting event to boost the amount of stored energy in your body. This method will increase the glycogen in your body over the normal levels for a short time, improving your stamina and performance. When carb loading, try to eat about 10 grams of carbs for every kilogram of body weight.

The best foods for carb loading are:

• Fruits (bananas, tart cherries, oranges, grapes, watermelon)
• Whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats, whole grain-low fiber cereal)
• Beets
• Leafy green vegetables
• Sweet potatoes

Eat 65-70% of calories from carbs the day before a marathon

The day before a marathon, eat mostly carbohydrates, some protein and a big lunch. About 65-70% of your calories this day should come from carbohydrates. Aim to eat something every two to three hours. Good choices for carb-rich snacks include bananas, dried fruit and oatmeal.

Make lunch your big meal – not dinner. This will give your body more time to process nutrients. It will also make you less likely to have stomach problems on race day. Whole grain pasta is one of the best pre-race meals. Japanese soba noodles, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, quinoa and brown rice are also good choices.

It’s also important to take in protein the day before your marathon. Eat 3-4 ounces of fish, lean meat or tofu at lunch.

Eat familiar foods 2-4 hours before a marathon

You want to fuel yourself well a few hours before your race. Avoid digestion problems by staying away from new foods you haven’t eaten during your training. Eat a meal high in carbohydrates that won’t spike your blood sugar, moderate in protein and low in fat and fiber. This will prep your body for the duration of your race.

Whole grain cereal, bread or a bagel with a small amount of peanut butter or almond butter are good options. If you want to eat fruit, choose a banana.

Drink 17-20 ounces of water or a sports drink.

Eat a carb-rich snack each hour during the race

Shortly after you begin running, you will want to supplement your carb stores. Your body can only store so much glycogen, and you don’t want to risk running on empty. Energy gels and chews, sports drinks, bananas and crackers are packed with carbohydrates that will release energy for you quickly. Plan to eat 20-25 grams of carbohydrates every 30-45 minutes.

Hydration is important too. To avoid over-hydrating, rotate between drinking water and drinking sports drinks. Your sports drink should contain 6-8% carbohydrates. The average person should drink 5-10 ounces of water or sports drink every 15-20 minutes. However, the exact amount depends on how much you sweat. Weather on race day will have the biggest impact on how much you have to hydrate (sunny vs. cloudy, humidity, heat and wind). And if you’re using energy gels, make sure to always eat them with water. This helps your body digest them more quickly and keeps you from getting dehydrated.

Replenish your body: What to eat after the race

The 30 minutes immediately following your run are really important. You may not feel hungry, but this is the time to replenish your body’s carbohydrate stores, stock up on muscle-repairing protein and rehydrate. After a marathon, your carbohydrate stores will be almost completely gone. It’s also possible that you damaged tissue during your run.

Aim to eat a 3-to-1 ratio of carbs to lean protein. A cup of chocolate milk is an example of a 5-to-1 carb to protein ratio. Other good snack choices include trail mix with nuts, peanut butter on crackers, pita and hummus, yogurt and dried fruit.

Eat a full meal two hours after your marathon. The meal should have fiber-rich carbohydrates, lean protein and healthy fats.

Like during the race, it’s important to drink both water and sports drinks to replace the fluids you lost through sweat. Drink 16-24 ounces of water or sports drink for every pound you lost while running. This should be done within 24 hours after the marathon.

Get support from a registered dietitian while you train

What you eat makes a big impact on how well you run your marathon. Working with a registered dietitian can take the guess work out of your marathon diet. Our dietitians will work with you to create a personalized diet that fits with your training schedule, personal preferences and other needs. We’ll show you how to get the calories and nutrients you need from a diet rich in whole foods. Together, we’ll make sure you’re full of energy on the day of your race.