What to Eat Before, During, and After a Running Marathon?

When running a marathon or a half-marathon, in addition to proper training preparation, nutrition is an important part of your race-day strategy.

In terms of nutrition before, during and after a marathon, it comes down to three essential nutritional strategies: carb-loading, fuelling, and muscle recovery.

In this blog, you'll learn all you need to know about proper nutrition for a running marathon.

What to eat before a marathon?

Before a marathon, you should eat plenty of carbohydrate-rich foods. This nutritional strategy, commonly known as carb-loading, involves increasing carbohydrate intake ahead of prolonged endurance exercise.

There are plenty of different approaches you can take to your carb-loading strategy, but we believe, as also confirmed by renowned nutritionist Dr Tim Podlogar, that a 1-day carb-loading strategy should be enough.

When carb-loading, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Consume a high quantity of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as white rice, white pasta, white bread or even gummy bears.
• Go easy on high-fat foods, so you have more room for carbs.
  
• Consider cutting back on high-fibre foods, especially if you know they don't sit well with you before a race.
  
• Don't suddenly change your usual training routine the day before the marathon.
  
• On the other hand, Dr Tim Podlogar recommends a fasted training session before you begin to carb-load.

Before a marathon, focus on getting plenty of carbs from foods you know and tolerate well.

What to eat during a marathon?

The nutritional strategy used during a marathon is called fuelling. In simple terms, it's about taking in carbohydrates during the race.

Here are a few quick tips:

• During a marathon, simple carbohydrates are a practical choice and are easy to consume on the move.
• A combination of glucose and fructose is commonly used in endurance fuelling. Our products use either a 1:0.8 or a 2:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio. 
• Don't forget about hydration, either. Along with fluids, electrolytes are commonly part of a marathon fuelling strategy.
• Before you attempt any fuelling strategy at a marathon, be sure to prepare your digestive system and test it during training.

Two convenient fuelling options during a marathon are a sports drink and an energy gel.

Later on in this blog, we recommend using the energy gel 2:1 Gel and the isotonic sports drink 2:1 Drink. 

Marathon nutrition goals

Before we look at our specific recommendations on what to eat during a marathon and a half-marathon, let's look at your nutrition goals.

There are three things to think about during a marathon:

• Carbohydrates
• Water
• Minerals, aka electrolytes

In terms of carbohydrates, it makes the most sense to talk about your hourly intake, as the length of your run may vary greatly.

Top-level runners consume up to 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour (in extreme cases, even more). But this is a very high intake that requires both physical preparation and gut training.

For many runners, 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour can be a practical starting point. Depending on the brand you use, this equates roughly to 1 serving of an isotonic sports drink and 1 to 2 energy gels.

Also, depending on your carb-loading strategy, we recommend consuming 1 energy gel within 30 minutes before the marathon.

With that in mind, let's look at what exactly you should consume during a marathon and a half-marathon.

What to eat during a marathon?

A marathon is a demanding endurance event, so having a fuelling and hydration plan is important.

Consume 1 serving of 2:1 Drink per hour. Each serving provides 30 grams of carbohydrates from glucose and fructose in a 2:1 ratio, plus 100 mg of sodium.

Supplement your carbohydrate intake with 2:1 Gel. Each gel provides 30 grams of carbohydrates from glucose and fructose in a 2:1 ratio, plus 100 mg of sodium.

If your strategy is to consume 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour and your estimated time is 3:30 hours, you need to consume 210 grams of carbohydrates in total.

Carbohydrate intake chart

Source	Servings	Total carbohydrates
Sports drink	3	90 grams
Energy gel	4	120 grams
Total:	7	210 grams

You could distribute the 4 energy gels throughout the race at approximately the following intervals:

• 1:05 h
• 1:45 h
• 2:25 h
• 3:05 h
  

For a 4:00-hour marathon, increase the total to approximately 240 grams, or 8 servings of 2:1 Gel and/or 2:1 Drink.

For a 3:00-hour marathon, aim for approximately 180 grams, or 6 servings in total.

The exact combination of gels and drink can be adjusted according to your individual fuelling and hydration strategy.

Nduranz's products have a different carbohydrate content per serving, so make sure to take that into account when planning your fuelling.

What to eat during a half-marathon?

Since a half-marathon is shorter, your overall carbohydrate intake during the race will usually be lower than during a marathon.

If your estimated time is 1:30 h, consume around 1.5 servings of 2:1 Drink throughout the race and 1 energy gel at approximately the 1:05 h mark.

If your estimated time is 2:00 h, consume 2 servings of 2:1 Drink throughout the race and 2 energy gels, at approximately the 1:05 h and 1:35 h marks.

Adjust your intake according to your individual fuelling and hydration strategy, and practise your race-day nutrition during training.

What to eat after a marathon?

Once you've crossed the finish line, it's time to focus on recovery.

Your post-marathon nutrition should include:

• Carbohydrates
• Protein
• Fluids and electrolytes
  

This is what we call recovery nutrition. And after 42 kilometres of running, you probably don't feel like preparing a full meal straight away.

That's where a recovery drink comes in. It's a convenient way to get carbohydrates, protein and other nutrients in one go.

Conclusion

Getting your marathon nutrition right comes down to three main strategies: carb-loading, fuelling and recovery.

For a marathon, our example fuelling plan includes 1 serving of sports drink per hour and 4 energy gels spread throughout the race.

For a half-marathon, you can still use 1 serving of sports drink per hour, plus 1 to 2 energy gels depending on your estimated finish time.

Whatever fuelling strategy you choose, make sure you test it in training first and see how your body handles it.

And don't forget the bigger picture. Consistent training, everyday nutrition, recovery and managing stress are all part of preparing for your next race.