Forums >Running 101>pre race (half marathon) meal
Hi, doing a half marathon in may, training going well, i'm coming back to running after a year or so off. Not done a half marathon before. I'm interested in any advice on pre race meal that will help with energy delivery.
Thanks in advance.
OLY
Just eat what you normally eat. The half marathon is well within your body's fuel window as long as you don't do anything unusual. In the mean time you best get crackin' on your training. May is only a couple of months away.
Runners run
Hi Oly,
I would suggest that you eat plenty of carbs in the 2 days before the race, but over many meals, not just one big pasta meal before the race!
I personally have found that I perform really well if I eat an Asda oat flapjack about 2 hours before the race. I did this at the Helsby Half this year and ran a PB at the age of 40. I would advise you to experiment with different foods before the race, so you can get it right on the day. All you need to do now is get some miles of training in. Good luck
Ian
Like Mikey said, nothing unusual. I usually eat a piece of toast with some PB and honey and a cup of coffee. Make sure you try and eat whatever you plan to eat on race day prior to one of your long training runs. I've found that oatmeal didn't do well for me before a long run...gave me the runs literally. Problem was, I found that out on race day.
not bad for mile 25
Malt-o-meal, fruit juice, yogurt, water works for me if it's two or more hours before the race, but Mikey's right on. you gotta do what works for you.
Good Bad & The Monkey
I would suggest that you eat plenty of carbs in the 2 days before the race
Why?
Asda oat flapjack
A what?
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I've heard about trying to do 6 big macs for a 10K. Wait, maybe that wasn't optimal.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Right on Hereford...
Trent, how low do glycogen stores have to go before performance is affected, even by a small amount like 1 or 2 percent?
I am not aware of any data that would answer the question. Clearly, when they drop very low, performance goes south fast. But I do not think there is any linear decline before that. Given a middlin' glycogen store and a submaximal effort (e.g., HM effort), you should be able to go well over 13 miles on stored glycogen.
I eat just enough about 2 hours before the race to not be hungry before the start, most likely some wheat toast with orange juice. The race day meal probably does not matter to our performance in distances of Half Marathon or less. Just don't eat anything that will upset your stomach (any milk products for me) or anything that will sit in your stomach a long time. Or do what you'd normally do before your long run day.
I eat just enough about 2 before the race to not be hungry before the start, most likely some wheat toast with orange juice. The race day meal probably does not matter to our performance in distances of Half Marathon or less. Just don't eat anything that will upset your stomach (any milk products for me) or anything that will sit in your stomach a long time. Or do what you'd normally do before your long run day.
+1. Don't eat eggs. Just trust me on that one. You only make that mistake once in your life.
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You say performance drops off quickly. I would argue, based on my own experience, that it drops off gradually for quite a while, and then drops off quickly.
The unanswered question is, at what point does performance start to suffer? Since we don't know that point, wouldn't it make sense to try to keep glycogen levels as high as possible before and during a half marathon?
Remember, we're not talking about simply finishing. I agree with you that just about any runner should be able to go 13+ miles on stored glycogen alone. But at maximum effort for the distance, and without any decrease in performance? I'm not so sure.
You say performance drops off quickly. I would argue, based on my own experience, that it drops off gradually for quite a while, and then drops off quickly. The unanswered question is, at what point does performance start to suffer? Since we don't know that point, wouldn't it make sense to try to keep glycogen levels as high as possible before and during a half marathon?
I also ponder questions like this. The quick drop off, presumably, is when hypoglycemia sets in, when the liver runs out of glycogen. And presumably the rate of muscular glucose uptake is a function of muscle glycogen levels -- when they run too low, they suck up blood glucose faster than the liver can provide it. Question is, is there also some intra-muscular glycostat that, e.g., informs the hypothalamus that we should be tired? If so, then that does argue for topping off glycogen stores for maximum performance. OTOH, there is the weight penalty of that strategy.
So much that just seems not to be known about fatigue.
There is also the potential problem (for me at least) that pre-race topping off causes digestive and/or pee-related issues and that associated penalty.