Marathon Preparation

Summer is coming around and so many people are preparing for marathons, now if its your first time it might be a bit daunting of how you can prepare for it. There is the obvious training which should of probably started and be well into it, slowly building your miles and increasing your pace. The question i have is how do you prepare for the last two weeks; nutrition, hydration and rest.

We will start on nutrition, throughout your training you have been putting carbohydrates into your body before you go running, this is essential for glycogen production and in turn energy. Your body is used to consuming the carbs and turning them into energy, two weeks out from the big day you're going to begin to cut down these intakes. This is going to teach your body to work more efficiently in finding the carbs to turn into energy, therefore in replace of these carbs you are going to eat fats. This isn't the time to go and get yourself a McDonalds; we are going to replace the carbs with good fats. These can be found in sources like, greek yoghurt, eggs, nuts, salmon, cheeses and olive oil. These sort of foods are going to become your main source of energy (60-70%) for the next 11 days until you are 2 days away from race day. Once your body is used to this sort of diet you're going to hit the carbohydrates hard for the next couple of days up and till your race changing the ratios around. This will then allow your body to turn this carbohydrates into glycogen a lot more efficiently giving you the energy to run that extra mile. Night before you go don't over indulge eat at the same time you have been eating throughout training and roughly the same portions. Don't allow yourself to go hungry but keep some high carb snacks at hand.

Now hydration is essential to long distance running and dehydration is going to affect performance, as soon as your body slips into dehydration your time is going to run away from you. Starting a couple of days before the race make sure you are constantly hydrating, with at least 4-8 ounces each hour, don't leave it till the day of the race to do it. Night before drink a high electrolyte beverage along with the water. Morning of the race drink when thirsty and two hours before drink around 8 ounces of water and this should allow you not to need a toilet break while running but keep hydrated enough to perform.

Rest this is another part of performing your best on the day, not running 2-3 days before is not going to affect your fitness, some light stuff to keep you ticking over is all well but don't go out trying to beat times in some long distance runs. Believe in your preparation up to know and trust your fitness.

Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail.

@AReecePT