Nutrition for Marathon Training [Follow-Along Week 10]

Nutrition for Marathon Training [Follow-Along Week 10]

Nutrition for marathon training

To reap the benefits of your long distance training, you need to consume healthy foods so you can properly fuel your body, build muscle & recover from hard & long workouts. As you get progress through your training for your race, you will find that what you eat impacts how feel both during and after your workouts and ultimately how long it takes you to complete your race.

Also, to get prepared for your race, you must stay healthy while you train. This means you need to build a strong immune system. It’s easy to get tired and even run down during your training if you don’t properly recover. In this post I will speak to the importance of diet during your training. I will also provide some sample meals.
Although, exercise helps build the number of germ fighting cells in your body, eating the right foods also helps. Healthy runners have a diet that includes a balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein, lean fats, vitamins and minerals such as zinc, iron and vitamins C & E for a strong immune system.

Timing of your food consumption is critical

It’s important to eat nutrient-dense calories & drink plenty of water prior to your main workout of the day. Also, to limit post exercise muscle damage and speed the recovery process you need to consume both protein & carbohydrates soon after your runs. This is especially important in the 30 – 45 minutes following a hard run and then a few hours later to have a bigger meal. This helps to ensure optimal recovery.

Just like each person’s training is different because of their goals, mileage and athletic abilities, the same is for nutrition. Each runner’s body can responds differently to foods. It’s important that you try different healthy foods and time consumption so you can optimize your performance and avoid any GI issues.

Here’s some proven strategies that I follow & share with runners I coach.

Avoid empty calories and focus on eating foods that give me the most nutrients per calorie. These include good sources of whole grains and starches (like brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole wheat bread and pasta), lean proteins (lean meat, fish, Greek yogurt, eggs and beans), healthy fats (salmon, avocados, nuts, and olive oil), and of course, colorful fruits and veggies which provide antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
For pre- and post-workout snacks, I recommend fruits, fresh cut vegetables, healthy (meaning not a ton of sugar and full of natural ingredients) granola or energy bars, fruit, nuts, and Greek yogurt. My focus is to time the healthiest eating around my runs so I’m fueling when I need it and not just grazing or snacking at odd hours with “bad food.”

Here’s some examples of healthy meals:

Recovery Breakfast
Whole wheat toast with peanut or almond butter
4-6 ozs.of low fat Greek Yogurt + Banana
8-10 ozs of Orange juice + 12 ozs of Water
*I like to make myself a breakfast sandwich that includes a toasted whole grain English muffin, cheddar cheese, scrambled or easy over egg and turkey bacon or sausage. Include some hot sauce for a little “kick.”

Recovery Lunch
Turkey or chicken sandwich with spinach, tomato and mustard on whole grain bread
Orange, Apple or cup of mixed fruit (not sweetened fruit salad from a can)
4-6 ozs of mixed raw vegetables (carrot sticks, broccoli, sliced red/yellow peppers, pea pods, etc)
8-10 ozs of unsweetened plain soy milk or almond milk
12 ozs of Water

Avoid processed foods. A good place to start is to cut back on food that comes from a plastic wrapper. If you must purchase packaged food, then choose those with the fewest and most familiar ingredients.

Recovery Dinner
Whole grain pasta with tomato sauce & meatballs (turkey or meatless) or grilled chicken
Or Baked Salmon + baked sweet or russet potato with nonfat Greek Yogurt & Brummel & Brown Yogurt butter.
Garden salad with spinach, kale, yellow/red/orange peppers, sliced carrots, sliced avocado, cranberries and/or blueberries, sunflower seeds and oil/vinegar dressing
Steamed broccoli or mixed vegetables + Whole wheat dinner role
12 ozs of Water

The bottomline for your diet is that just like with your training, there are no shortcuts or 3-4 foods you can consume that will make-up for not eating a well balanced diet. You don’t have to be too strict, just be aware of what & when you eat and listen to how your body reacts.

On the day of the race, never eat anything that you haven’t previously tested during your training.

Following are my workouts for the week of June 11th.

Monday June 11th – short run @ easy pace

The purpose of this run was to recover from the previous days’ long run. It’s very important to go easy throughout this run, especially considering the next days’ workout is going to be tough.

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 6.7 miles, 53:28 minutes, ave pace 7:56

Tuesday June 12th – Strength run 10 x 800s

This was a tough workout. I couldn’t run on the High School track, so I just ran on neighborhood surface streets near the track (not optimal). I was tired the last 3-4, but I pushed through. My times weren’t near target (3:05-3:16), but the stimulus of the workout achieved it’s goal.

Yasso 800s for marathon training

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 9.9 miles, 1:21:53 minutes, ave pace 8:14

Wednesday June 13th – short run @ easy pace + strides

5 mile easy run + strides. The purpose of this run was to recover from the previous days’ very demanding run.

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 5 miles, 43:09 minutes, ave pace 8:33

Thursday June 14th – Off Day

Rest & Recovery Day

Friday June 15th – Long Tempo Run

The purpose of today’s workout was to build strength. I increased the distance by a mile from my last tempo. Paces are the same, as shown in the image below. After a 1 mile warm-up, I complete 9 miles at marathon pace. As you can see, I was right on pace for the duration of the tempo. The extra day of rest (completing this workout on Friday instead of Thursday as my scheduled called out) really helped. I’m happy with this run, especially after struggling through the Yasso 800s on Tuesday.

10 mile tempo for marathon training

Run Distance, Time, & Average Pace: 11.6 miles, 1:22:12 minutes, ave pace 7:04

Saturday June 16th – short run @ easy pace + 15 minutes of conditioning exercises at gym

The purpose of this run was to recover from the previous days’ intense workout. The conditioning exercises weren’t too intense, but they help to build strength & improve flexibility.

Run Distance, Time, & Average Pace: 5.4 miles, 43:34 minutes, ave pace 7:58

Sunday June 17th– Medium Run @ easy pace

A slightly longer run than typical easy days, but at an easy pace. As we get closer to the race, I am shortening some of my runs.

Run Distance, Time, Pace: 8.5 miles, 1:07:13 minutes, ave pace 7:50

Weekly total = 47.4 Miles

How to Establish a Hydration Plan for Half & Full Marathons [Follow-Along Week 9]

How to Establish a Hydration Plan for Half & Full Marathons [Follow-Along Week 9]

Hydration for marathons

With 4 weeks until race day, I can tell that the accumulated fatigue of 45+ miles/week and numerous hard workouts is starting to get to me. Although I’m still definitely motivated to run and complete my workouts, I’m starting to feel fatigue in my legs both during & after my runs that I didn’t feel a few weeks or months ago. With the onset of warmer & more humid weather, it’s now more important that I’m adequately hydrated prior to and during my run.

In this post, I discuss the importance of hydration and how to establish a hydration plan for your race and how to practice it during your training.

Here’s the link to my Strava Dashboard so you can see the details of each of the workouts that completed this week & throughout my journey.

It should come as no surprise that proper hydration is important for both safety and performance. Warm and humid weather typically increase sweat rates and can accelerate the onset of dehydration. This can lead to an increased risk of early fatigue and heat related illnesses. Keeping your body properly hydrated will ensure that you maintain blood volume and cardiovascular function. Dehydration not only decreases blood volume, but also increase heart rate, slows heat loss in the body, which ultimately can cause runners to slow or eventually drop out of the race.

It’s important to determine your individual fluid needs because there is no single recommendation that applies to everyone. Ideally you want to balance fluid intake with sweat losses to avoid both dehydration and hyponatremia (too much fluid).

Signs of dehydration can be feeling faint or light headed, rapid heart rate, dry mouth or feeling very thirsty. The best 1st step is to drink some fluids to see if your condition improves.

Need Marathon Training Info

Signs of hyponatremia (too much fluid) can be water sloshing in your stomach, severe headache or feeling bloated in the hands and feet with nausea or upset stomach. The best first step is to stop drinking until you begin to urinate.

How much to drink?

To determine your unique fluid needs, you need to estimate your sweat rate by weighting yourself nude and then run for 1 hour in the conditions at the pace you expect to race. Do not drink during this run. At the end of the run, strip down, and reweigh yourself nude. The difference in weight is your approximate hourly sweat rate. You’ll need to convert lbs to ounces (1 lb = 16 ozs) and then plan on consuming that much per hour during your race.

For example, if you lost 1lb of sweat, you should consume about 4ozs of fluid every 15 minutes during your race. During your training, you can test this program by weighing yourself prior to and after your runs. If you weigh 1-2lbs during longer runs, you’ve kept your weight nearly neutral except for water loss. If you gained weight during your run, it’s a sign that you drank too much, which can lead to hyponatremia (over hydration), which in can be fatal.

On those occasions when you know you’ll be losing a lot of sweat, I recommend drinking 10-20 oz’s of fluid about an hour before the race to ensure you start with adequate fluid in your system.

In summary, try to match your fluid intake to just below your weight loss (which should be 2-3lbs in a race like a marathon). Do not overdrink. If you’re feeling effects of hot weather, slow your pace. Recognize the warning signs of dehydration and hyponatremia. If you are not feeling well during or after the race and incorporating a few simple changes doesn’t make you feel better, then it’s best to seek immediate medical attention.

Source: International Institute for Race Medicine (amaasportsmed.org)

Monday June 4th – long run @ easy pace

The purpose of this run was to get miles on my legs and build aerobic capacity.

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 11.0 miles, 1:23:50 minutes, ave pace 7:37

Tuesday June 5th – short run @ easy pace

I completed this run early in the morning while on business in Boise. Ran along the beautiful campus of Boise State near downtown Boise. The purpose was to help recover from the previous day’s long run.

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 6.0 miles, 48:38 minutes, ave pace 8:06

Wednesday June 6th – short run @ easy pace + conditioning in hotel gym

6 mile easy run on forest preserve trails in Rosemont, IL (O’Hare airport area). After the run, I was able to get into the hotel gym, where I completed 20 minutes of body weight & dumbbell exercises.

Run Distance, Time & Average Pace: 6.2 miles, 48:16 minutes, ave pace 7:44

Thursday June 7th – Off Day

Business meetings & travel from Chicago to home. Rest & Recovery Day

If you’re interested in joining me, I can put together either a custom training plan or I can personally coach you. Either program will be specific to your goals and athletic abilities. Just click on the links for details.

Friday June 8th – Long Tempo Run

The purpose of today’s workout was to build strength. I increased the distance by a mile from my last tempo. Paces are the same, as shown in the image below. After a 1 mile warm-up, I complete 9 miles at marathon pace. As you can see, I was right on pace for the duration of the tempo.

9 mile tempo run

Run Distance, Time, & Average Pace: 11.7 miles, 1:22:48 minutes, ave pace 7:03

Saturday June 9th – short run @ easy pace

Run Distance, Time, & Average Pace: 5.1 miles, 38:32 minutes, ave pace 7:26

Sunday June 10th– Long Run @ easy + brisk

My last long run. The purpose of this run is to get time on my legs and push the pace over the last 6-8 miles. I need to get used to running on tired legs. Most plans include one last long run about 3 – 3.5 weeks from the race. This run also capped my highest mileage week of the training plan. Weekly mileage will start to decrease over the next 2 weeks before my taper the last week prior to the race.

I completed the first half of the run with friends at a very easy (8:00+/mile) pace. I picked up the pace slightly during the second half of the run. There were some hills and the weather turned cool (upper 40s) with wind and rain the last 3+ miles. I didn’t complete any of the last miles under 7:00/mile as desired, but I’m happy with the effort considering the frequent hills and the fact that I was coming off a 9 mile tempo just 2 days earlier. My legs definitely felt tired the last few miles.

Run Distance, Time, Pace: 17.1 miles, 2:18:55 minutes, ave pace 8:06

Weekly total = 57.3 Miles