My First Marathon

frankieV3

Hey all. I’m blowing the dust off MyFitnessPal and getting back into the healthy swing.
I’ve signed up for my first marathon coming up in March of 2019. I have a running schedule worked out but I need some help working on the diet. Any tips on dietary goals and %s is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

SteveTries

I am a serial yo-yo'er, going back and forth between a high of 105kgs and 90kgs for 20+ years. I really consider myself an expert on what works for me for dropping fat and one day I hope to figure out how to stick at a good place and prevent it slowly creeping back.

But I've no idea if what works for me will work for anyone else. I do firmly believe you have to find your own motivation and most importantly of all, a method that enables you to stick to it. Finding some amazing regime that enables you to make huge strides for a month, but which has such an extreme approach you can't stick with it all the way to your goal is, I feel, a common mistake.

So here's what works for me:

Goals
I'll sign up to a race several months in the future and set myself a time objective for that event. If I need extra motivation, then raising some charity sponsorship will do.

I'll set a weight goal and a target date.

Hitting a 15kgs goal 4 months in the future seems a hell of a long way away, so I like sub-goals too. More on that later

Plan
To hit your goals, you have to have a plan. For the race, I'll set a training plan and from that I'll derive a sub-goal - typically a target for a certain number of kms per month.
When you hit that sub-goal, it's a huge confidence boost and a feeling of achievement.

For the weight goal, I'll draw up a burn-down chart with what I am targeting weekly. I'll set the weekly fat loss target a bit less than I think I can achieve because it's disheartening to not hit your targets and it only takes an unexpected business trip for a week to send you off track Here's my current one below.




I have this chart printed up inside the bathroom cabinet and I cross off each target weight when I reach it. It's awesome to see a red line through a weight ahead of time!

Method
Really really simple. 500kcal goal below maintenance.
If I burn extra cal's on a run, I'll eat that back, though I may err on the side of caution and not eat quite as much back as sometimes the estimated burn seems optimistic to me (particularly when I'm bicycling).

I go 50% carbs 20% protein and 30% fat but honestly I don't get too hung up on this at all. Its the calories that matter most.

I get the best success when I skip breakfast. This is because i have a huge weakness for evening snacking and I really struggle to resist the lure of the snack cupboard whilst on the sofa for an hour before bed. Whereas skipping breakfast seems easy.

On long run day, I will always have breakfast though and indeed, when the long runs are up there over half marathon distance, I'll tend to not eat a deficit the day before and I'll take fuel with me.



I hope there's something there that's useful to you. Good luck with the race and the training. I hope you stay injury free and really enjoy the event!

I'm training for an April marathon so if you want to share motivation, do feel free to add me!

One other thing...
On the advice of a runner friend turned ironman, who swears cycling has helped with his running, I've recently started riding too. So far I think it's helping the running (despite doing less miles on my feet) and the weight loss. I assume this if from more time spent doing a non-impact activity in the aerobic heart rate zone

dewd2

If you have any weight to lose, now is the time. Once your weekly distances increase you need to properly fuel. Doing this does not generally allow for weight loss (I sometimes even gain).

As your mileage increases, carbs are your friend (no matter what the latest fad diet know it alls tell you). Also make sure you get adequate protein.

MobyCarp

dewd2 wrote: »

If you have any weight to lose, now is the time. Once your weekly distances increase you need to properly fuel. Doing this does not generally allow for weight loss (I sometimes even gain).

As your mileage increases, carbs are your friend (no matter what the latest fad diet know it alls tell you). Also make sure you get adequate protein.

This. Weight loss and endurance training work against each other to some extent. Seek to maintain weight during training; I typically lose a pound or two during a marathon training cycle, and gain it back on the See Food diet after crossing the finish line.

In addition to needing carbs to fuel the run, you need a lot of protein to build/repair the muscles you beat up in training. And you need to totally ignore the common wisdom of limiting sodium; you may even need to supplement sodium during long runs. As a runner, you will sweat out an awful lot of sodium and that needs to be replaced.

tmccutcheon

First off, good luck with your training. I tend to gain weight as my weekly mileage goes up while in training for 50K trail races. I agree with earlier post about planning and goals. I track my weight and have goals set up for the next 9 months as I train for a very difficult long trail race and I find when I track against goals that I tend to do better losing weight.

lizmcvey

Curious which race you've selected, lots of great ones on March, especially Shamrock at VA Beach.

sheltondq

I’m doing the Richmond half in 2 weeks and the shamrock half in March. Shamrock is definitely a fun race.