Marathon Training Diet

earnyourturns

Okay so I'm training for my second marathon, following the Hal Higdon Intermediate plan, and cycling to and from college everyday.

Here's the thing: whenever I'm in the marathon training cycle I eat a HUGE amount of food. Like, duh. Porridge and banana for breakfast, wholemeal bread, five fruit and veg a day, plenty of wholegrains the whole thing. Nonetheless, I find I'm still hungry on top of this and tend to supplement this with homebaked goodies (cookies, squares, anything chocolately mmm etc) as well. Even though my weight is stable and I'm obviously burning it all off I still get a twinge of guilt whenever I'm having one of those fat and sugar laden treats.

Should I be concerned? I simply don't know where else I'd get the energy if I didn't eat these: broccoli or carrot sticks just aren't that calorie-dense.

Anyone else?

ecoli

earnyourturns wrote: »

Okay so I'm training for my second marathon, following the Hal Higdon Intermediate plan, and cycling to and from college everyday.

Here's the thing: whenever I'm in the marathon training cycle I eat a HUGE amount of food. Like, duh. Porridge and banana for breakfast, wholemeal bread, five fruit and veg a day, plenty of wholegrains the whole thing. Nonetheless, I find I'm still hungry on top of this and tend to supplement this with homebaked goodies (cookies, squares, anything chocolately mmm etc) as well. Even though my weight is stable and I'm obviously burning it all off I still get a twinge of guilt whenever I'm having one of those fat and sugar laden treats.

Should I be concerned? I simply don't know where else I'd get the energy if I didn't eat these: broccoli or carrot sticks just aren't that calorie-dense.


Anyone else?

I wouldnt worry too much though if you wanted to try subbing the sweet stuff with dried fruits or mixed nuts. Also alot of runners try to have 5-6 small meals rather than 3 big meals a day. This prevents the metabolism from slowing down while still holding off the hunger

TFBubendorfer

As long as your weight remains stable, I would not worry the slightest.

Pointless guilt, eh? Must be the Irish genes.

dario28

Ya need more protein , that will keep you feeling fuller, eggs and nuts , even get the nuts baked into your cookies !

Wouldnt worry bout over eating though , always do my LSR on a friday evening and come home to a pizza and bottle of wine...

Once you are feeling full of energy and not fluctuating weight then its all good

I find a bowl of muesli is a good inbetweener , perfect mix of carbs protein fats...just get sugar free one and add a little if needed

NEDDURC

I've only been running a few months and have been wondering about the same things as earnyourturns.

I've lost half a stone since the start of the year but have been eating more than I used to.

I would be grateful if some of the more experienced runners would put up an idea of their daily / weekly food intake. This would probably help give me some suggestions of things I could eat differently.

dario28

NEDDURC wrote: »

I've only been running a few months and have been wondering about the same things as earnyourturns.

I've lost half a stone since the start of the year but have been eating more than I used to.

I would be grateful if some of the more experienced runners would put up an idea of their daily / weekly food intake. This would probably help give me some suggestions of things I could eat differently.

Experienced as in good race times or as in years running , they dont equate though.....

NEDDURC

Ok forget experienced - just anyone who would like to share this information really!

My daily routine would be get up at 7
Breakfast of porridge, banana and tiny amount of honey at 7.30

Find myself snacking on the odd biscuit in work but try drink quiet a few glasses of water throughout the day. Sometime have a piece of fruit also.

Lunch I usually go for whatever is hot in the work canteen which is a proper dinner though not a huge portion (say ham, mash and cabbage)

Get home approx 6.30 and eat something again by 7 (this varys quite alot from soup and sandwich to pizza and chips or scramled egg or pasta)

Help get my child down to bed by 8 then head out for a run around half 8 for about 45mins - 1 hour.
Don't usally eat too much when I get home, normally some glenisk yougurt and drink some milk and water sometimes some fruit

Would be open to any suggestions of things I should add in here or ideas of snacks I could have that would be helpful

dario28

Heres mine for yesterday

7am - scoop and half of whey
15km cycle
8.30 porridge with spoon of nutella
10.30 Apple & Orange
12 homemade tomato soup
1.30pm Subway footlong healthy one with every salad option choc milk
15km cycle
5pm rivita and nutella
Whey protein shake
weights session
7.30pm scoop and half of whey
8pm - grilled salmon / 2 slices brown bread , 2 eggs half tin of beans
8.30 - small ice cream

water 2l in work 1 in gym

Rest of week will include

Tonight weights Wed duathlon Thurs sailing & gym Fri weights Sat Running Sun prob run or swim or both

running aims
Current times - 88 half @ 1mth focused training 2 runs a week
Aim sub 85 included intervals for pace

3:36 full
Aim sub 3:30 @ 3mths training 2 runs a week 1 fast 1 long slow

Weights 80kgs b/f 10% or less