2 days prior :
Do you need to Carb load ?
The key to eating the 2 days prior is to make sure that your glycogen stores are at maximum. The calorie intake should remain about the same (ie. Don’t overeat for these two days) , but shift the focus from a balance protein/carb/fat meal , to a carb heavy meal. You can also add in an extra snack to the day like a banana or 4-5 dates.
For example:
Breakfast: I would normal eat protein plus carbs – like eggs on toast, or muesli with yoghurt, but for these two days you can drop back on the protein and increase the carbs – so given I was in New York , of course I had bagels and cream cheese !!
Dinner: Instead of choosing a meal with such as Chicken or Steak with salad/ veggies (Protein + Carbs), I would choose a risotto or pasta dish that has a higher amount of carbs and small amount of protein.
My Race Day Nutrition:
2-3hours before
1 banana
200grams natural greek yoghurt (a small amount of protein is good as long as its 2-3 hrs before the event)
Coffee
1-2 hours before
2 scoops of Hammer HEED sports drink , with 500mls water.
1 Hammer energy bar
During the race: based on my estimated time (less than 3 ½ hrs)
Over the years of running I’ve worked out I perform best on about 35 grams carb per hour for this time frame : total needed approx 122grams
I use Hammer Gels which are 21gram each : approx 6 gels
I carry a gel flask with equivalent of 3 gels in it ( I fill the rest of the flask with water to make it easier to swallow)
Carry 3 more gels. (2 with caffeine)
I have the first Gel at around 45 -50 mins, then every 25-30 mins after that. Always wash down with water (not sports drink). Time your gels as you are coming towards an aid station.
For this marathon I ended up also having some of the electrolyte/carb drinks that was at the fuelling stations as it was unusually hot for NYC at this time of year. I had this 3 times , around 100mls each time , so that is about 15-20grams carb in total. (most of the sports drinks offer a similar amount of carbs if made up correctly).
Because I had the sports drink I ended up only having 5 gels , but in total my carb intake was still around 122grams ( gels x 5 = 105gms + 15 gms in sports drink).
Post race:
I had a revolting sports drink that they handed out – you need to refuel with carbs as soon as possible, due to the scale of the event, just getting out of the finishing area took about 20 mins, then I had a further 30mins to shuffle back to the hotel ! I needed to have something so I didn’t collapse.
If I was at a local event I use Hammer Recoverite – which is a 4:1 carb : protein ratio.
Right next door to my hotel we had a great bagel shop, so on my way back I stopped in a grab a pumpernickel and cream cheese bagel – I don’t usually eat much bread in Australia as I don’t really like it, but I do like a good NYC bagel !
I had a nice long bath with Magnesium salts to recover, with an electrolyte drink, and ate my bagel !
