What to Eat Before a Marathon | Week of and Morning Of Plans

We’ve spent months putting in the miles and testing out all kinds of fueling options on the run. Yet, what to eat the week of a marathon starts sending us in to a bit of a panic! And how do we change our eating the morning of a marathon?

Do we need to carbo load?

Are we supposed to do the carb depletion before the loading?

And what about all these nerves that are messing with our stomach?

Let’s break down both pieces of the puzzle and help you figure out what’s going to work best for you to enter the race feeling rested, muscle glycogen topped off and stomach happy.

Why What You Eat Before A Marathon Matters

Your race performance can absolutely be improved or derailed by nutrition. It doesn’t matter how many miles you’ve put in if your body doesn’t have enough of the right fuel to get you to the finish line.

While your appetite may drop some during taper and then be very low due to nerves before the race, it is critical that you fuel!

During a marathon, your body primarily relies on aerobic energy production, fueled mainly by carbohydrates and some fats.

Carbohydrates, stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver, provide readily available energy during prolonged exercise. This is necessary to avoid a drop in energy and mood (which then derails your focus).

As you run, your muscles break down glycogen to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of the body. The body’s glycogen stores are limited, and the rate of glycogen depletion is going to increase during a race when you are pushing harder than normal, it can also vary based on your fitness levels, age and size.

When glycogen levels become critically low, you might experience a sudden drop in energy levels, muscle fatigue, and a significant decrease in performance. This phenomenon, often referred to as “hitting the wall,” can be a significant obstacle to overcome during a half marathon.

Hence, we want to go in to the race with a body that is fully stocked and then we want to keep feeding it to keep that energy flowing!

Let’s start by looking at the overall picture of the week and then more specifically race morning.

What to Eat the Week of a Marathon

Let’s start with the idea that the majority of runners are not doing carb loading correctly and likely don’t need to make a drastic shift in their diet.

We don’t want to do new things on marathon day…why would you want to make massive changes to your normal habits the week of the race?

Eat normally until 2-3 days before the race
Continue eating fiber up to then and then still include some to keep things move
3 days before the race make sure at least 50-60% of your calories come from easy to digest carbs
2 days before the race again aim for at least 60%
1 day before the race see if you can get closer to 70-80%

I’ve seen some recommend up to 90% of your diet in those days be from carbs.

But for most runners, I find that volume has felt overwhelming or they’re just craving some actual substance through protein. So be less tied to the number and more focused on rest, recovery and not walking all day in the expo.

Carb loading has the potential to improve performance by 2-3%. That’s nearly 7 minutes for a 4-hour marathon.

MUST READ: AVOID these seven carb loading mistakes >>

What are Easy to Digest Carbohydrates?

Easy to digest carbohydrates don’t mean sugar and sweets. Though they are delicious, we don’t want to increase inflammation or cause energy swings, so those are only part of your race week plan.

Juice – one of the few times we’ll recommend it here because usually we want the fiber of a smoothie
Bagels – or I love sourdough because it often helps to calm the stomach due to the fermentation
Rice – white rice has less fiber
Potatoes – go crazy with regular potatoes or sweet potatoes, just watch the butter or heavy fats the day before the race
Oatmeal – throw in some ground flax for extra anti-inflammatory goodness
Pancakes, waffles, enjoy the muffin you might often overlook
Berries, bananas, cantaloupe

Because carbohydrates cause the body to retain water (we want well hydrated muscles for the race) it’s absolutely common to gain weight while running.

This is 2 DAYS, you are not gaining fat. It’s water.

eat before a marathon
I dig Betty Crockers style of throwing in some chocolate chips!

What Do I Eat the Night Before a Marathon?

Think about a light meal.

That’s right, I’m not a fan of the traditional pasta dinner. Unless this is what you’ve been doing with success throughout training.

Most runners report feeling groggy and weighed down in the morning after eating a massive bowl of pasta and breadsticks. eat night before marathon

Easy at home meal from Wellbeing.

You want to arrive to the race feeling light, fresh and not like your body is digesting a massive dinner after what was probably not your best night of sleep.

A few options:

A couple slices of pizza (works great if this is what you’ve done all through training)
Salmon and potatoes (personally salmon and sweet potato fries is my favorite pre-race dinner)
A sandwich – love sourdough to help the stomach, plus get in a little protein and throw in some avocado
Chicken stir fry with white rice and light on the high fiber veggies

Notice the options are low fiber, probably a little lower in fat and higher in carbs. But nothing crazy. As noted all of the things we want to eat the day before the marathon are SIMPLE.

Today is not focusing on massive high quality nutrition like all the fruits and veggies…it’s carbs that your body doesn’t need to work too hard to use.

When Should I eat Before a Marathon?

I’m going to outline a plan for you below, but ideally we are going to be eating a few times. First will be your major meal to top off glycogen stores and that will be 2-3 hours before the start time.

This meal is really critical for that last bit of energy and should not be skipped. I know you may not be feeling hungry during that 3AM wake up call, but you’re going to be so glad you ate come mile 10….and 25.

What to Eat the Morning of a Marathon?

Marathon morning is a little different than many of your long runs. You can’t simply eat and get going. Your best pre marathon meal is going to be a combination of the smart choices you made at dinner and now what you finalize on race morning.

Rather you’ll be awake and likely moving around for hours before crossing the starting line.

2-3 hours Pre-Marathon Meal

While still in your hotel or home, try having oatmeal with nut butter and berries OR a bagel with 2 tbsp nut butter. Something with a little substance to it.

This meal is likely going to be 300-500 calories and mostly carbs. You may want to have some fat or protein to help create that lasting energy and keep you full because it definitely sucks to feel hungry during a race.

Common things that work for a lot of runners:

Bagel with nut butter and a banana
Sourdough with nut butter (sourdough is often easier on the stomach it’s my go to) and some raisins
Juice + some dry cereal on the go
Bowl of oatmeal with some protein powder, berries and nut butter

On the way to the race

If you didn’t get in a ton for breakfast (and no 200 calories isn’t enough) then try eating a banana (I LOVE the banana wrapped in a tortilla idea above easy to transport and eat on the bus, at the start, etc) or a Clifbar. Again, these are still easy to digest carbs.

**Note: Bananas actually help to soothe the stomach. So not only are they a great carb for fuel, but also if you’re feeling nervous and extra bonus points for the potassium, vitamin C and other good stuff.

Starting Line

About 10 minutes before when your wave is ready to go eat a Honey Stinger Waffle or your favorite gel – you absolutely want some carbs right then because of that big time gap.

Hydration

Throughout all of this try sipping electrolytes. You don’t want to feel bloated, so just sip consistently. Remember that hydration is not only part of your energy, but helps with digestion.

How to Avoid Marathon Stomach Issues

If you’re avoiding race morning fueling because you’re worried about runner stomach issues, then my first concern is we didn’t do enough practice fueling during training. But it’s also possible that due to nerves your stomach is a little more fussy.

Stick to foods that you know
Try one’s that are easy on the stomach like toast, crackers, bananas, pretzels
Drink more juices to get in some calories and carbs without needing to digest

What Not to Eat Before a Marathon

If you are someone who tends to have stomach issues or particularly if you are traveling for a race, a few final tips:

Don’t try new foods (says the person who had fried catfish and paid for it dearly in a race)
Race morning I tend to avoid much dairy, this can be an issue as you get hot for a lot of people
Avoid a lot of heavy fried or fatty foods
Avoid a lot of high fiber foods (brussels, broccoli, etc)

Looking for additional marathon tips?

Other ways to connect with Amanda
Instagram Daily Fun: RunToTheFinish

Facebook Community Chatter: RunToTheFinish