Rocket Fuel for the Body…

This Sunday is the Reading Half Marathon, my biggest local event and what will be the last half-marathon distance event before the London Marathon on 26 April. A number of people also running the event have asked me similar questions about pre-race food and what is the best way of storing energy for the race so I thought I’d look at that today.

Books and books are devoted to this, so my advice is simple. I follow the traditional high carbohydrate loading diet. That does not mean pigging out and eating as much food as I can, it means from 3 days out I start to cut back on protein and fats and replace those calories with carbohydrates. You cannot eat you way into a race, but you can eat yourself out of a race. Too much food and you will feel bloated, heavy and lethargic on race day, too little and you will run out of steam!

For a half marathon, you do not really need a full carbo-loading diet, and could get round the course without taking any nutrition on the way. I find from experience, that I eat my usual calories (about 3,000Kcals) the day before the race but try to keep as many of them as carbs as I can. I do not eat any meat, fish, cheese or nuts preferring pasta, white rice or jam sandwiches (no butter). This may be boring, but I think of it as rocket fuel rather than food. Too much fibre such as cereals and vegetables and you will have too much fibre in your body and need the loo too much on race day.

Get the fuel in, the night before. On race day I don’t take in more that 600Kcals and never eat anything within 4 hours of the race. If the race starts at 8am, I get up at 4am. This is excessive, but through experience I know it works and I will always have digested my food before I start.

I will look at nutrition during the race, nearer the London Marathon, but for a half, I can run it comfortably with my stored up carbohydrates, these stores should get an average 70kg person about 20miles at race pace. So a half marathon (13.1miles) should be no problem. The amount I drink will depend on the temp on race day. But for me, on a cool day about 500ml over the whole race is usually enough.

One thing I can promise, is that this Sunday for the Reading Half Marathon, I will not be trying out anything new.