Nutritional preparation for marathon runners 
     
    Proper preparation for a marathon must take into account recovery, which involves sleep and treatments but 
    also nutrition before, during and after the race. 
    And that's true whatever your objective – whether it’s performing well, beating your personal best or crossing 
    the finish line and sharing the experience with thousands of others. Everyone has his or her own personal 
    criteria for success. 
    And you needn't think that a runner aiming for a place on the podium with a time of 2:06 needs to manage 
    nutrition better than you. If you're running at 10 km/h, you'll be asking your body to work for twice as long. 
    This means more than twice the amount of energy, twice the number of times your feet hit the asphalt, twice 
    the amount of gastric effort and therefore greater risk of exercise-related problems (hypoglycaemia, cramp, 
    acceleration of bowel movements, vomiting). It also means twice as much time needed to hydrate and cope 
    with  the  body's  energy  requirements  to  make  sure  that  you  don’t  hit  the  wall  or  suffer  the  effects  of 
    dehydration.   
         Food alone won't help you "win" a marathon but it can contribute to you losing it. 
    Each athlete is unique and so each nutrition plan must be adapted to that person's tastes and habits. 
    The principal roles that nutrition plays for marathon runners:  
     ❖  Optimising body composition: with every stride, the body is supporting almost 4 times its weight. 
       So the lighter a runner is, the less effort the joints will have to make, thus reducing the risk of injury.  
                A 75 kg runner supports a 300 kg load at each stride. 
       Losing 2 kg is like having the equivalent of a pack of water less at each impact on the ground. 
     ❖  Reducing the risk of injuries such as inflammation (tendinitis), muscular (cramps, torn muscles) or 
       bone (stress fracture) problems that are too often the consequence of a nutritional imbalance. 
     ❖  Optimising fitness, reducing the risk of overtraining, linked to nutritional deficiency, or a weakened 
       immune system, particularly after an imbalance in the gut bacteria during preparation. 
     ❖  Reducing muscle wastage, given that the fuel consumed by a marathon runner, known as glycogen, 
       is mostly contained in the muscles. So it’s yes to tapering, but not to the detriment of the muscle mass 
       that is essential during lengthy exercise sessions. 
     ❖  Maintaining good hydration, this plays a number of essential roles for the body including regulating 
       body temperature, storing glycogen (to store 1 g of glycogen, you need 3 g of water). Allowing mineral 
       intake  and  regulating  the  body's  acid  levels  with  mineral  water  (calcium,  magnesium,  sodium, 
       bicarbonates, etc.)  
     ❖  Limiting the loss of energy, of micro-nutrition in glycogen, mineral salts and vitamins and of liquids 
       during the race to ensure your reserves are not depleted before the finish line. 
                 
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            1. HYDRATION: THE NUMBER ONE REQUIREMENT:  
        Our bodies consist of around 60-70% water. Don't underestimate the power of water! 
        Calculate your liquid requirements:  
        DAILY:  
        You should drink 35 ml of water per kg of body weight per day, every day: 
        A sportsperson who weighs 75 kg should therefore drink 75 x 35 = 2,625 ml = 2.6 litres per day. 
        To get yourself into the habit, draw up your own liquids plan that covers your needs  
                                         DEVELOPING A DAILY LIQUID PLAN 
        For a sportsperson weighing 75 kg:  
        1 large glass of water when you get up       250 ml 
        1 mug of hot drink for breakfast             350 ml 
        1 small bottle of water in the morning       500 ml 
        2 glasses of water with lunch                400 ml  
        1 small bottle of water in the afternoon     500 ml 
        2 glasses of water with dinner               400 ml 
        1 glass of water in the evening              200 ml                         
                DAILY HYDRATION                      2.6 litres  
         
        DURING TRAINING:  
        This particular sportsperson doing a two-hour long session should regularly drink 500 to 800 ml of water per 
        hour of exercise:  
        500 x 2 = 1,000 ml to 800 x 2 = 1,600 ml = 1 litre to 1.6 litres of drink for a two-hour session. 
         
        AFTER TRAINING:  
        Your body continues to lose water to get back to the right temperature. 
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    This is known as thermoregulation. Try it: weigh yourself before training, then immediately after training.  
    You should regularly drink 1.5 times the weight lost after your session. 
    The sportsperson weighs himself and is 75 kg before his session. After training, he immediately weighs 
    himself again and is 73 kg. 
    75 kg – 73 kg = 2 kg x 1.5 = 3 litres of liquid to consume regularly in the hours after exercise 
    He should therefore regularly drink 3 litres in the post-exercise hours. This calculation works even if he has 
    taken on liquids during the exercise. 
     
                 
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