Runner Insight

Marathon Training: Nutrition and Hydration The Day Before the Race

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Over the course of the 6 months I had been training for the marathon, I had heard and read a lot about this thing called carb-loading.  The idea is to eat a whole lot of carbohydrates the week before the big race.  This is supposed to increase your glycogen stores to give your muscles the energy they need during the test of endurance and fitness that a marathon presents.  However it is controversial and there’s a debate as to whether it’s worthwhile or not. 

Since I didn’t know enough about it, and hadn’t ever used a method of carb-loading in any other races, I figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to start experimenting with my diet now. So I had my pre-race meal of “Tuna Spaghetti” Check out how to make it here:Marathon Training Program Diet and Nutrition   Now I realize the name of it sounds horrible, but if you read it, you’ll see it’s not what it sounds like.

I had eaten this meal several times before my long marathon training runs, and it seemed to work well for me. So I chose to have that as my pre-race meal the night before the race.

I was also trying to take in more water than I usually did, but I found it hard to do.  I was drinking a lot of water already due to the record-breaking heat we were experiencing that summer, so I’m not sure how well I actually did with this. 

But the marathon was the next morning, and all in all, I thought I had done everything in my marathon training program that I could to prepare, and I was ready for the big day.  I really just treated it as if it were another one of my long run training days.  I mean after all that was what they were for, and this was my first marathon …. What did I really know?

Only time would tell…

How ’bout it?

-Vision Runner

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Title:  Marathon Training: Nutrition and Hydration The Day Before the Race
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