How To Fuel For Your Marathonā£
ā£There is a common misunderstanding about fueling for your half or full marathon.⣠⣠Most runners only think about what to eat before and during their race.⣠⣠But the reality is thatās only 10% of it.⣠⣠The other 90% is what you eat Monday through Sunday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.⣠⣠And thatās what I want to talk about today.⣠⣠Food is fuel.⣠⣠If you arenāt well fueled, then you will crash and burn at the end of your race.⣠⣠Think of running a marathon like getting in your car and driving to a different state.⣠⣠The first thing you do when you get into your car is you check to see how much gasoline you have.⣠⣠If you are out of gas, then you will only be able to drive down the street or to a different city.⣠⣠Itās the same thing with running a marathon.⣠⣠If you arenāt well fueled, then you will run out of āGasā before you cross the finish line.⣠⣠Also known as Hitting The Wall.⣠⣠So what should you eat throughout the week?⣠⣠I break down foods into two groups, empty calories and high-performing foods.⣠⣠Empty calories are food that provide no nutritional value. ⣠⣠Like cereal, pop tarts, desserts, bread, etc.⣠⣠High performing foods are nutrient dense.⣠⣠Like eggs, oatmeal, fish, chicken, potatoes, etc.⣠⣠You want 80% of your meals to be high-performing foods.⣠⣠So if you eat 21 meals a week, 17 of those meals are clean and healthy.⣠⣠Which then leads us to how much to eat.⣠⣠And that can be broken down into four separate numbers.⣠⣠#1 - The amount of protein⣠#2- Number of carbs⣠#3 - Healthy Fats⣠#4 - And calories⣠⣠The two numbers I focus on the most is #1 - the amount of protein and #4 - the number of calories.⣠⣠Now youāre probably wondering why I donāt track carbs, even though they are your primary source of fuel.⣠⣠Itās because of the way I construct my meals.⣠⣠Every meal I have contains a quality source of protein and carbs.⣠⣠And what I have found over the years is that having a source of carbs for each meal is enough to fuel your body for a workout.ā£