Training Marathon
Eating and Running
A well-balanced diet is important for any athlete going into competition. Athletes should concentrate on eating more complex carbohydrates (Pasta, Bread, Rice, Cereals), fruits, and vegetables and generally consume more calories on training days than the average healthy person. They should avoid foods high in saturated fats, and refrain from excess protein, sugar, highly processed foods and the simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates cause a rapid rise in blood sugar while complex carbohydrates gradually release sugar to the bloodstream when digested and are most helpful.
Diet
The ideal diet for endurance athlete who exercise 5-10 hours a week should contain 60-70 percent carbohydrates, 20-25 percent fat and 10-15 percent protein. If an athlete logs more than 10 hours of endurance activity, at least 70 percent of calories should come from carbohydrates. Besides carbohydrates meals should include bran, vitamins, calcium, iron and potassium.
A good breakfast choice for an athlete might be a cereal that contains
plenty of bran, iron and carbohydrates, topped with a banana and low-fat milk.
Other breakfast options might include toasts, bagels or muffins.
Lunch and dinner can include salad, fruits, soup, steamed vegetables, pasta
(without fatty sauce), potato (without sour cream), rice and bread.
Before training/race
For shorter events, do not eat at all or have a very light breakfast at least
3
hours before the race, mainly to ease feelings of hunger.
For events longer than half marathon, have a light and easy to digest breakfast
mainly to delay the draining of glycogen stores. Again, make sure you eat your
meal about 3 hours before the race or it might result unnecessary fatigue.
It is also recommended to add a gel 10-20 minutes before a long race. It is
important to add that each individual athlete might have different nutritional needs so when you find the right combination of when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat, stick to that menu. When in doubt, just drink, but do not eat.
During training/race
For events longer than 2 hours, you will have to eat rich carbohydrates food during the race. The recommend amount is 200-300 calories per hour after 1.5 hours into the race. You can carry your own food or consume energy replacement bars and gels which are offered at most aid stations.
After the race
A proper post race diet will minimize injury and illness and allow you to return to normal training and racing routine sooner. A long race / training will deplete your glycogen stores, so to recover them, you should eat plenty of carbohydrates afterward as well as before. Eating a hour following long training or competition, exercised muscles are twice as receptive to glycogen replacement so you can quickly replenish lost energy reserves and better prepare for your next run. Make sure more protein are consumed with your post race meal (around 30% of your total calories) to promote rebuilding of muscle tissue. Eating fatty foods is not recommended, despite the fact that you have burned fat as a fuel during the race. Fat supplies are plentiful in your body.
