How do YOU fuel for marathon training?

RunnerGirl238

Are you sensing a theme here?

I am planning to train for my first full marathon (after this Saturday's half), but I am a little lost on how to fuel.

I eat about 1,400-1,500 a day (1,800-2,000 on the weekend with long runs thrown in) and generally don't eat my exercise. (Can't out run the fork, etc.)

I am a faithful follower of 80/20 and try to eat pretty unprocessed, whole foods.

Do you up your calorie intake a lot for marathon training? What does a day in your fueling life look like?

Truth be told, I'm terrified of eating higher cal (age old standard issue) but will if it helps my mileage and recovery.

Thanks yall.

spiriteagle99

I eat back all my exercise calories. For walking and running, the numbers are pretty accurate. I am in maintenance, not trying to lose ATM. When I ramp up the miles, if I don't eat more, I am starving all the time. Extra calories for me come from ice cream and beer - treats I don't get all the time. I usually do our weekly dinner out on the night after a long run, which pretty much uses up all the calories. I'll eat pizza more often during marathon training. It would probably be better to eat more healthy food, but that's not my way.

dewd2

I eat back all my calories as well (I have things setup fairly accurately so I don't gain weight). As your runs get longer you really have no choice or your training and health will suffer.

I don't follow any particular diet other than attempting to keep my protein intake around 80-100 grams (I have to do this or I fall short). Pasta rules when the runs get longer.

Good luck with the training.

cap1214

I have only trained for a half marathon, but I kept my small 500 calorie deficit during the 4 month duration, but ate almost all my "earned" calories from my running. Again like other comments I found myself hungry the day after the long run so I tended to not eat them on the day I earned them, but within a day or so after as my hunger dictated. I also would move my calories to maintenance for the 2-3 days before the race so my body had a little extra fuel.

In the few weeks where I tried to not eat back my burned calories I could definitely tell the difference in my exhaustion while running. I totally took the training weeks and trialed a few different things until I found what worked best for me (don't forget to practice fueling while running too).

collectingblues

You need to eat back at least *some* of your exercise calories. That mileage you're doing is going to create a significant calorie drain, and if you don't want your training to suffer, you need to fuel it.

yukfoo

I'm in training for the "Game of thrones" marathon this weekend ...wahoo!

MikePTY

You can't outrun the fork, but you also can certainly under fuel your body. 1400-1500 a day is likely not enough if you are running consistently.

VioletRojo

I use TDEE which uses exercise to calculate the calorie number to be eaten. I can't imagine doing any real volume of running without properly fueling my runs.

More directly to your question, before a long run I calculate how many calories over my usual TDEE I'm going to expend on my run and I make sure to eat up to that amount. For shorter runs, I keep to my usuall TDEE.

My favorite recovery meal is In n Out burger. It's just the right amount of protein, carbs, and salt.

RunnerGirl238

I will do all the long runs for In n Out...we don't have them in the East coast.

firef1y72

I start to fuel a couple days before, increasing my carbs while eating as much of a whole food diet as possible. Then the night before I like to have spaghetti and quorn meatballs in a homemade tomato sauce (simply passata with equal amounts of soy sauce and maple syrup and a pinch of chilli flakes)

The morning of a long training run I'll have overnight oats with honey, nuts and seeds. During the actual run I take nakd bars with me, but tbh I don't really eat anything even during an actual marathon.

Just as important as the food is fluids and I do make sure I drink lots the day before a long run

jjpptt2

You'll have to increase calories at some point - the training volume will simply become too great. How and when is kind of up to you... but if you wait to long or increase too slowly, you increase the risk of negative side effects. Fortunately, running is one of the easier exercises to estimate calories burned. Sounds like the bigger hurdle for you will be mental moreso than physical.