Healthy eating during your marathon training will give you the boost you need to endure challenging runs and even improve your performance.
Just as your training program differs from day to day and week to week, your diet should be varied as well. Serving sizes will decrease as you taper during the final weeks of training because your body will require fewer calories. Here are a few basics of marathon nutrition.
Carbohydrates
Running usually burns around 110 calories per mile – with 75% of those calories coming from carbohydrates.
Since carbs provide the fuel for your body, you need to give it a steady supply. Healthy eating during marathon training means 60% to 70% of your caloric intake should come from carbohydrates.
Glycogen is your body’s storage form of carbohydrate. If muscle glycogen breakdown exceeds its replacement, the glycogen stores become depleted – resulting in fatigue.
Like a car puttering along on fumes, you will quickly lose momentum. In order to maintain proper glycogen stores, your diet needs to be rich in carbohydrates.
The best sources of carbohydrates are grain products – ideally whole grain. Bread, rice, pasta, and cereal are good choices, as well as fruit, vegetables and low fat dairy products. Try to eat at least 15 servings of grain product each day, along with six servings of fruit and vegetables, and five servings of low fat dairy foods.
Protein
When talking about healthy eating, we should also mention the necessary amount of protein in your diet. Protein is essential for muscle growth and repair, and should contribute at least 12% to 15% of your caloric intake.
Poultry, fish, and lean meat are all excellent sources of protein. You can also get protein from tofu, dried beans, nuts, and dairy products which contain all the essential amino acids.
Check the food labels to figure out how many grams of protein are in each serving.
You should be getting three to five servings of protein per day, but be careful you don’t eat too much. If you’re getting more protein than you need, your body will store it as fat.
Limiting your fat intake is another part of eating healthy. You should be consuming less than 30% of total calories from fat, and less than 10% from saturated fat.
Train yourself to reach for an apple instead of a candy bar, and drink water instead of soda. With a balanced attitude and proper motivation, you can enjoy the kind of diet that will help you get to the finish line.
No matter whether you are a beginning marathon runner, or a seasoned marathoner, you will definitely reap the benefits of reading my 70 tips for marathon training post.
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