Marathoners who log calories

EliseTK1

When you're doing your taper before the race, do you eat at maintenance or more/less? How does your calorie intake affect your performance? I have been very slowly losing weight (6-ish pounds) over the last ~2-3 months of training, and this coming Saturday will be my last long run before a 3-week taper. I'm trying to decide how much I should consume to ensure optimal glycogen storage without gaining excess fat/weight. I'm leaning towards eating at maintenance and then focusing on weight loss after the race, but I don't want to sell myself short if eating more would actually benefit my performance.

janejellyroll

I have never had success running a deficit while marathon training -- I feel like my run performance suffers too much when I do. I don't eat more, I just eat to maintain.

rybo

So in order to have optimal glycogen stores, you'll likely gain a couple pounds, as glycogen stores also need water. Don't panic. Eat at maintenance or in a slight surplus and you'll be fine.

sijomial

Long distance cyclist rather than runner....

My strategy for the week before a big event is to taper down the exercise and taper up the calories to maintenance so by half way through the week I'm at maintenance and eating plenty of carbs.
And beetroot juice. (Bleugh!)

EliseTK1

Sounds like good advice to me! Thank you for the responses.

TavistockToad

I can't even maintain a deficit for a half! The runger is real!!

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Up until now, I've tried to remain at a deficit. "Try" is key because, like @janejellyroll , I don't seem to have success with losing while active. I have another factor that you probably do not need to contend with (I have type 1 diabetes and sometimes have to add calories to treat exercise-induced hypoglycemia). Most recently, as I have been trying to eliminate those last few vanity lbs., I found I couldn't be successful with both fat loss and running training.

So what I decided was to wait until after the last race of the year (last marathon was Oct.) and then to stop focusing on running and instead focus on fat loss. In January, I'll probably change focus again to running because it looks like I'm going to make my body fat goal for 2017 at my current rate.

lporter229

sijomial wrote: »

Long distance cyclist rather than runner....

My strategy for the week before a big event is to taper down the exercise and taper up the calories to maintenance so by half way through the week I'm at maintenance and eating plenty of carbs.
And beetroot juice. (Bleugh!)

Same here (minus the beetroot juice part). I would definitely not recommend a deficit heading into your marathon. I usually start my taper at maintenance (I am always at maintenance though) and then I taper up to a surplus in the two weeks before my race, mostly just by adding carbs. As @rybo said, glycogen stores need water, so I drink a lot of sports drinks to meet that need and also replenish electrolytes. Most of my surplus calories come from juice and sports drinks because too many complex carbs bothers my digestive system, but that is just a personal preference. I weigh myself daily and aim to gain 3-4 pounds the week before my race (based on my normal weight of around 100 pounds). Don't freak out about this. It will be completely gone after the race. When it comes to running the marathon distance fueling is EVERYTHING. Do not underestimate its importance.

Also remember to have a fueling strategy for race day. I try to get 100 calories every 45-50 minutes during the race. Regardless of if you are using a sports drink, gels, or something else, do not wait until you feel like you need it to fuel. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted on how it goes!

stingrayinfl

I usually don't taper like I should..i might just walk a few the day before but I try to drink more water and eat a higher percentage of good carbs

spiriteagle99

When you're in the last week, focus on carbs while cutting back on fats. Not so much for the calories as because too much fat can cause digestive issues you don't want. The last few days, go for the simple carbs: white flour instead of whole wheat, bagels, juices, etc. Avoid eating a lot of fiber.

One issue I have during taper and post race is that although I am exercising less, my body is still demanding the same calories I ate at peak. MFP is helpful there, because you know how many you should be eating. But it takes time for the appetite to decrease. Going to maintenance is a good idea.

sofchak

I’ll say in my experience with completing a marathon, a 50k ultra and an olympic triathlon this year... I wasn’t able to maintain much of a deficit to meet the necessary level of endurance for those events.

Overall, the typical sentiment is that you don’t enter into marathon training expecting to use it as a weight loss strategy. Not saying it can’t be done, but a calorie deficit is not the ideal condition to fuel a marathon training plan.

Personally, I felt blessed that I only gained 3 lbs from the start of racing season to the end of racing season - once I stopped running long distances, my body released a lot of water weight and I was back to net neutral.

Don’t underestimate runger - it is REAL.

janejellyroll

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

When you're in the last week, focus on carbs while cutting back on fats. Not so much for the calories as because too much fat can cause digestive issues you don't want. The last few days, go for the simple carbs: white flour instead of whole wheat, bagels, juices, etc. Avoid eating a lot of fiber.

One issue I have during taper and post race is that although I am exercising less, my body is still demanding the same calories I ate at peak. MFP is helpful there, because you know how many you should be eating. But it takes time for the appetite to decrease. Going to maintenance is a good idea.

This is so true -- the hunger I feel during a taper is truly otherworldly. If I wasn't logging and focusing on a specific calorie goal, I probably could eat at least double what I actually need.

EliseTK1

I agree that marathon training is not a good weight loss strategy. I started pushing hard for weight loss because I had gained too much while training from April to September and wanted my clothes to stop being so snug. (Yep, I'm really familiar with that runger.) At this point I can pretty much run a half marathon on any given day without preparing or eating more, but when I get to ~15 miles I can tell whether I've fueled appropriately (which for me has meant switching from restriction to maintenance for a few days prior.) If not, my muscles cramp up in brutal ways and make me question why I'm doing this to myself. I also find that I get a really nice energy boost at my next run after a few higher calorie days. Based on all this evidence, I'm guessing I should err on the side of eating a bit more rather than maintaining during the taper, especially that last week.

Side note- if I don't log religiously, I tend to eat 500+ kcal over my maintenance. That applies whether I've been running or not. This is why I so easily gain weight.

tess5036

I'm loosing weight, and did a marathon back in September. In the couple of weeks before I ate at maintance, a few hours before I carb loaded with no consideration of calories.
If I remember correctly, I think it burned about 4.5 k calories for me.

I ached a lot, and the week following it gained quite a few pounds in water weight. Two weeks after (I weigh weekly) had a whoosh and lost 7.5 lbs in one go.