The Taper

village runner

For an experienced runner(fairly) although only running 3.5 years I was wondering what everyone does in the last 2 weeks regards food.
I was always one to put up nearly half a stone as I thought I could eat what I wanted fro the last two week. In Paris 08 on the friday night 2 quarter pounders 2 largw fries followed by a visit to haggan daz....Those days are gone.
This time its different for some reason. Maybe its because my stomach wont allow it and in a previous marathon my tummy fCuked me up. Maybe it because I dont want to be 10 min behind Krusty and he has used all the hot water up.
Do people cut back on the food for the last two weeks as the running cuts down and we dont burn as many cals ?? And for the last 2 days eat plenty.

My marathon is 10 days away. I am afraid of eating really healthily and dropping weight in case i lose strength although 2 ibs wouldnt go amiss for a big boy.

I know what to eat but am wondering portion size etc........

Krusty_Clown

From my perspective, during a typical training week, if I had a run that evening, I would eat something in work before heading home. Usually it'd be a bagel and a banana.

Now that I'm in taper (and finished all the hard runs), I'm cutting out all the extra meals/snacks/pre-run food that were necessary when the mileage was high.

I'm not going to go down the carb-depletion route, as I haven't done it before, I generally cook for four people (who wouldn't appreciate the carb-free diet!), and it hasn't affected me in the past. So I'm just going to keep eating the same main meals, same amount of fruit, cut out the in between snacks and drink lots of water.

Friday evening (next week), I'll probably have two main means: Pizza and pasta, and a big lunch on Saturday afternoon, but won't eat a huge amount on Saturday night (so I can try and get a half decent night's sleep). Normal pre-race brekkie (porridge + bagel).

By the way, I would'n eat a single quarter pounder, not to mind two, and no chips. It's carb loading, not fat loading! Plenty of time to catch up on the fat after the race. Currywurst and Weisbier ftw!

kennyb3

village runner wrote: »

Do people cut back on the food for the last two weeks as the running cuts down and we dont burn as many cals ?? And for the last 2 days eat plenty.

My marathon is 10 days away. I am afraid of eating really healthily and dropping weight in case i lose strength although 2 ibs wouldnt go amiss for a big boy.

I know what to eat but am wondering portion size etc........

I would say to eat so as not to gain weight or lose it - just a plain balanced diet - no **** but 3 square meals a day plus fruit. Then carb load the day before hand and have a decent breakfast. This should be plenty. If you gain or lose a lb either way doing this it will make feck all difference.

Unless you literally starve yourself you wont lose strenght so dont even give yourself that as an excuse to stuff your face.

Peckham

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Now that I'm in taper (and finished all the hard runs), I'm cutting out all the extra meals/snacks/pre-run food that were necessary when the mileage was high.

This is also my approach. I've cut out the late afternoon, pre-run snacks and have also cut back on the lunch/dinner portions a bit. Most crucially I have cut (most of) the rubbish out. No guilt free chocolate bars!

Krusty_Clown

One thing I've done over the last couple of weeks is make batches of flap-jacks, so I eat these as a healthy alternative to crap. They're very tasty and quite filling, so you're less likely to reach for anything else (and wheat free!). I stick in loads of seeds, crushed almonds, dried fruit (raisins and cranberrys). Will be bringing a batch to Berlin for my carb-loading!

RubyK

I'm dreading the taper tbh! My appetite has gone through the roof lately, and I find that on my rest days I'm constantly hungry :eek: What with the tapering madness I've read about, and trying not to eat rings around myself I'm guessing I'm going be a delight to live with for those two weeks :pac:

ecoli

The advice that i was given by a marathon coach before who took the nutrition of his athletes quite seriously was to have a high protein intake in the early stages of the taper. The idea here was to promote growth and repair of muscles which have been broken down over the course of intense training in a marathon plan.
With about five days or so to go the emphasis should switch to higher carb intake and very little protein (mainly in the form of fish and chicken)

Red meats should not be high on the agenda in the last week as it takes days to digest properly which can cause stomach problems on the day.

At the same time you should try avoid foods which are foreign to your usual eating habits if you can try to keep to similar foods you usually eat while shifting the emphasis of protein and carbs during the different phases of the taper

woodchopper

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Friday evening (next week), I'll probably have two main means: Pizza and pasta, and a big lunch on Saturday afternoon, but won't eat a huge amount on Saturday night (so I can try and get a half decent night's sleep). Normal pre-race brekkie (porridge + bagel).

By the way, I would'n eat a single quarter pounder, not to mind two, and no chips. It's carb loading, not fat loading! Plenty of time to catch up on the fat after the race. Currywurst and Weisbier ftw!

Perhaps I am wrong but would pizza not be closer to fat loading than carbo loading. Also as Irish people perhaps it would be easier for some to eat potatoes rather than pasta

seanynova

ecoli wrote: »

With about five days or so to go the emphasis should switch to higher carb intake and very little protein (mainly in the form of fish and chicken)

am i reading this worng ecoli, are you saying cut out fish and chicken or increase intake of these?
cos chicken and fish have high protein values not carbs right(?)...

Krusty_Clown

woodchopper wrote: »

Perhaps I am wrong but would pizza not be closer to fat loading than carbo loading. Also as Irish people perhaps it would be easier for some to eat potatoes rather than pasta

Absolutely right, if it's your Goodfellas, Domino's, Four star, Pizza Hut or frozen variety of pizza. A homemade or thin crust pizza base is made from flour, water, yeast and olive oil. Pizza sauce is made from tomatoes, onion, garlic and herbs. Top it with some vegetables, and you have the perfect carb-loading foodstuff. But yes, it needs to be either home made pizza, or pizza from a genuine italian restaurant. Also avoid the cheese-heavy varieties (four cheese, etc).

Last year in Berlin the day before the race we stopped off for lunch in a German-style restaurant. I ordered the only pasta dish on the menu, which turned out to be deep-fried pasta. Skipped it and ate some large pretzels instead (a perfect German carb-rich foodstuff!). It can be hard to find healthy/non-fried potatoes in Berlin.

Krusty_Clown

seanynova wrote: »

am i reading this worng ecoli, are you saying cut out fish and chicken or increase intake of these?
cos chicken and fish have high protein values not carbs right(?)...

The traditional school of thought is that you should precede your 2-3 day carb-loading phase with a carb-depletion phase, and try to avoid any intake of carbohydrates, so high protein low-carb foods (fish, eggs, etc). Then your muscles will take on more glycogen when you do finally switch back to a high-carb diet.

These days the carb-depletion process tends to be eschewed for your typical runner, as the benefits aren't really worth the risks (chance of getting it wrong, and chance of getting ill while your immune system is running low). You just need to watch your diet carefully when your mileage drops. As Tunney frequently goes to great lengths to point out, for most runners you really don't need to carb-load, as the reduced effort levels during taper and a consistent carb-biased diet will mean that you are storing more glycogen than during your typical training week.

ecoli

seanynova wrote: »

am i reading this worng ecoli, are you saying cut out fish and chicken or increase intake of these?
cos chicken and fish have high protein values not carbs right(?)...

Sorry to clarify i meant that these should be your sources. The emphasis should change but not be cut out completely