Half marathon training and nutrition

[Anonymous]

I'm a casual runner, done a few 5Ks here and there. A friend wants me to train for a half marathon with her. The training schedule is for beginners and looks manageable. However I've been reading up on the nutrition side of things and all this talk about monitoring carb intake and glycogen and fueling is very intimidating. I like to eat...a lot...and although I mostly make healthy choices, I do have my share of indulgences and don't really like to monitor calories, etc. if my goal is just to finish, and I follow the training plan for running, how much do I really need to focus on the food related stuff? What helped you prepare nutrition-wise?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't really need to be that complicated.

Sounds like you are a "normal" eater without any food restrictions, so you can probably pretty much keep doing what you're doing, and increase your intake a bit as you increase your distances, if need be. You might want to do a nice carb-y meal (pasta, mmm) the night before your weekend long runs. Maybe take it easy on the booze the night before, too, though a couple beers are ok. (wine will dehydrate you a bit more, so drink more water with that.) I do notice that I have a harder time running on Saturday morning if I didn't eat a good meal with some carbs the night before. You might feel very hungry the day after your longest run - I like to go a little heavier on protein on those days, to feed your muscles.

Basically, your body can store about 2,000 calories. A typical 140-lb woman will burn about 100 calories a mile, so you'll burn about 1,300 calories during a half-mary. So you want to have fuel in the tank from the night before, and a small breakfast that morning, one that won't upset your stomach. Once you get into long distances, consider some sort of fuel on-the-go, like power gels or clif beans or clif blocks. (I can recommend all the Clif products, and the Honey Stinger gels.)

So essentially, if you're hungry, eat more. Try to make the majority of it healthy, but don't sweat it if you like chicken wings. I do.

[Anonymous]

I have run 4 half marathons this year. I run about a 8:20 or slightly slower mile so my finish times are around 1 hr, 50 min. for a 1/2. So I'm certainly not a champion of any sort but I tend to place in the top 20% or higher.

I don't monitor my carbs and I don't even know what glycogen is.

I try to eat "clean", foods that are not processed and are mostly in their natural state. I make sure to hydrate well in the few days before the race. The night before the race I like to eat a small amount of pasta, a protein (generally chicken breast) and cooked veggies (nothing like cruciferous because they make me gassy!).

The morning of the race I drink coffee--because it acts as a pretty quick laxative for me (sorry TMI) and I want that over with BEFORE the race, not during! I also have a slice of toast with peanut butter on it and maybe a small piece of fruit (like a clementine or a handful of grapes).
But this is really important--don't do this ONLY on race mornings. Whatever you plan to eat on race mornings, try eating the same exact thing for your training runs. You should not try out new things (foods, clothes, etc.) on race day! So if you think you are going to want to drink coffee on race day morning, makes sure you drink coffee before your training runs.

Fuel--I bring Gu gels or Sport Beans with me (again, if you are going to do this, bring them on your training runs too. Exact brand, Exact flavor, etc.--nothing new on race day!)
I take a Gu or munch on a few beans about 15 minutes before the race, while waiting in the corrals.

Good Luck in your training!

[Anonymous]

Yup, that's me! Chicken wings and beer occasionally, but fairly healthy overall. And I will try to make a conscious effort to choose healthy snacks on the weekend - thats my downfall. I appreciate the comprehensive response - thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup, that's me! Chicken wings and beer occasionally, but fairly healthy overall. And I will try to make a conscious effort to choose healthy snacks on the weekend - thats my downfall. I appreciate the comprehensive response - thanks!

Sorry..."responses." I must've cross posted with the second one. Very helpful!

[Anonymous]

Just ran my first in January. Slower than the PP - I was only at a 2:03, but I also wasn't as diligent in my training as I should have been.

But in terms of training nutrition, the only thing I consciously did was to figure out what food agreed with me on long runs (ShotBlocks). I also learned (the hard way) that doing a long run on minimal food is a bad idea, and like a PP mentioned I'd generally take it easy on booze the night before a race because I'm way too old to run hungover.

Otherwise I just ate my regular diet, but more of it when I was hungry.

[Anonymous]

I am doing the Nike Women's Half in two weeks. The only thing I have done differently is to carry water with me on my runs and some of the "sport beans." I was pretty fit before I started the training but I had never run over 7 miles. I only added a long run to my routine of boot camp 4 days and a 5 mile run one day a week.

I eat carbs and protein about 2 hours before my long run. Usually, an English muffin with PB & J. I also make sure to have lots of water for a few days before my long run.

[Anonymous]

A PP had a good point - nothing new on race day. No new clothes, no new shoes, no new foods, no new sports drinks. (this is why they post the sports drink they'll be featuring for each race, so you can try it out beforehand to know if your stomach likes it, or if it's enough to keep you fueled during races.)

I start adding nutritionals once my training runs get past about mile 7. For an 8-10 miler I'll generally bring along some Clif beans and eat a couple every couple miles. For a longer run, the Clif Blox and stinger drops have more calories - 160 to 200. Each gel pack typically has about 100 calories. On really hot days, I used to carry one water bottle and one sports drink bottle, one in each hand. (the cyclists would make fun of me for that.)

For post-run recovery, a lot of people like gatorade (especially good in hot weather), chocolate milk (protein) or coconut water. You deplete your electrolytes when you run, and straight-up water won't replace them. (bananas are a good choice, as is tomato juice - it's all about the potassium, sodium, magnesium.)

[Anonymous]

Like other posters when I train for a marathon, I simply eat what I want. My hunger is THROUGH the roof when I'm putting in major miles.

I go on a see food diet.

People who monitor these things either do so because:
a. they are trying to lose weight
b. they are OCD
c. they are a serious professional competitor

Most likely the answer is a or b.

[Anonymous]

I used to monitor my calories and still loosely do, mostly because I'm a math person and I like to sort of know how my metabolism is doing as I age. So I'll eat 2,700 calories a day with absolutely no remorse or shame, but I'll write it down, along with my exercise. (it's helpful, because if I do start gaining weight, I can look back and say, "oh, ok, I've been eating 2,700 calories and burning only 500 on exercise, maybe I should dial back the cadbury mini eggs.") As a runner, I've always kept a running log, so the food log was an extension of that.

A lot of people who track food very religiously, if they're not actively dieting or maintaining, do have some disordered eating patterns. I'm starting to think my current renter may have an eating disorder, as I've noticed she never eats in front of people, and has taken on a very restrictive paleo-type challenge (no processed foods, no sugars, no dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine...) when she was already gluten-free.

[Anonymous]

You've gotten a lot of great advice, OP. I second the notion to eat healthy and bump up the carbs a bit for a few days before the race. No need to go bonkers, and definitely don't eat anything unusual on race day. My lucky dinner the night before is spaghetti (I like whole wheat) with sauce and meatballs, plus garlic bread and a nice glass of red wine.

This article from Runners World on the topic of best foods for runners cracked me up, thought you might get a chuckle out of it, too: http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/the-real-best-foods-for-runners?page=single

FWIW, I've been running for over 20 years but only discovered the half about a year ago. Ran the race, loved it, and then promptly got pregnant with my second child (he's now almost six months old), so am eyeing some good Fall half-marathons, once we're all sleeping a bit better and I'm no longer breast-feeding. Happy running, and good luck on the half!

[Anonymous]

I'm with everyone else (though with slower HMs times, alas. I used to come in around 2:00 but now I seem to be 2:05 at best. Damn you aging process!). Don't worry about it. Experiment with how much you can eat for breakfast before long runs and with gu on the runs so you'll have nothing new on race day. Don't use your running as an excuse to over eat because people do gain weight training if they do this. Just eat what you usually do. Have fun. I love half marathons, I run about 10 a year.