If you’re running a half-marathon, you’ll need a fuelling and hydration plan to ensure optimal performance in the event and stave off fatigue. This means working out what, how much and when to eat and drink in the weeks before your race as well as stocking up on carbohydrate in the days leading up to the event. Carbohydrate is an important fuel for half-marathon. However, your body can store only about 500g (as glycogen), enough to sustain about 90 minutes of running at half-marathon pace. Consuming carbohydrate during the event will therefore help you maintain your pace and delay fatigue. Everyone’s needs are slightly different. However, there are a few general rules that will help you devise your individual fuelling plan.
Training Runs: early preparation
Use your long training runs to practice taking in carbohydrate and fluid. Doing so will help maintain blood sugar levels, provide your muscles with extra fuel and delay the development of fatigue.
For your training runs of 1 – 2 hours, 30g carbohydrate per hour is enough. Start consuming them 30 – 45 minutes into your run. If you normally run on an empty stomach, eating and drinking may feel uncomfortable initially. But getting used to the feeling of having food and drink in your gut while running will ultimately benefit your performance.
Gut problems are common during long runs, but it is possible to ‘train’ your gut to digest food on the move. Start with small amounts then increase gradually the amount and frequency so your gut becomes better at digesting and absorbing food while running.
Practice makes perfect
Once you have a rough idea of which foods and drinks to consume, aim to do two or three long runs using the same fuelling schedule you plan to use in the race. Simulate race-day conditions as far as possible, running at the same time of day as your half-marathon, consuming the same foods and drinks at the same frequency you plan to take them during the race. Making it as realistic as possible will help ensure there won’t be any surprises on the big day. Fuelling on the move can be tricky so you’ll need to practise drinking out of bottles or cups (whichever you plan to use on race day) and eating foods while running.
In the weeks leading up to the event
Now is the time to experiment with different foods, drinks and sports nutrition products during runs of 1 – 2 hours. You’ll find that certain products sit better in your stomach and make you perform better (or worse) than others. The difficulty is knowing the right carbs to choose. In general, whole foods, such as bananas, dried fruit, rice cakes or oat bars, take longer to digest than sports drinks, bars and gels. Some runners favour whole foods at the start of a long event and sports nutrition products in the latter stages.
In the days leading up to the event
Full carbohydrate-loading isn’t necessary for a half-marathon, but it’s a good idea to begin the race with full glycogen stores. Even if you anticipate a sub-90-minute finish time, you’ll likely reach a point when your glycogen stores run low and cause fatigue. Taper your training (reducing your training volume) the few days before your race and increase your carbohydrate intake during the final 24 – 48 hours. Include larger-than-usual servings of rice, oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta or bread in each of your meals. Add a couple of extra carbohydrate-rich snacks, such as bananas, oat bars or bagels.
The day before the event
The carbohydrate you consume the day before your race will be stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver, and then used to fuel your muscles during the race.
Consuming most of your carbohydrate in the early part of the day is a more effective way of filling glycogen stores than consuming a big meal in the evening.
Over-eating carbohydrate the evening before a race can make you feel heavy, bloated and lethargic on race day, as well as disrupt your sleep.
Avoid anything that may cause stomach problems or irritate the bowel in the 24 hours before the race. You may already have a good idea of what disagrees with you. Common culprits include certain spicy and high-fibre foods. On the other hand, if you’re normally fine with these foods, then there’s no need to avoid them.
What to eat on the morning of the event
Plan to have a high-carbohydrate, low-fat breakfast 2 – 4 hours before your race start time. This helps top up liver glycogen stores, sustain blood sugar levels during the race and ward off hunger. Good options include porridge, muesli, granola or bagels with jam.
Ensure that you are properly hydrated by drinking 5 – 10 ml fluid/ kg of body weight in the 4 hours before the race. After that, sip just enough to quench your thirst, but don’t overdrink otherwise you’ll be forced to make an early pitstop!
What to eat 15 – 30 minutes before the start
Some runners like to consume an additional 20 – 30 g carbs 15 – 30 minutes before the start. The idea is to raise blood sugar levels and provide fuel for the first part of the race. Suitable options include a banana, sports drink or gel. However, if you don’t feel like consuming anything just before the race, then do not force yourself to eat!
Nutrition for during the event
Start fuelling about 30 – 45 minutes into your event. Use the same fuelling and hydration strategy you practiced during training.
Take your own fuel – always stick with what you trained with. Check the location of water stations on the course beforehand so you can plan where and when to hydrate. Some race organisers provide food at feeding stations on the route but only consume what’s provided if you have practiced with it in training.
You should have a good idea how much you need to drink from your training runs: drinking between 400 – 800 ml fluid per hour will likely prevent dehydration as well as over-hydration.
Post-event nutrition: recovery
Hydration:
After your race, prioritise rehydration. Water will replace fluid losses while sports and recovery drinks also provide carbohydrate to replenish depleted glycogen stores, and electrolytes to aid fluid retention.
Food:
You’ll also need to include carbohydrate and protein in your post-race meals to replace fuel stores and repair muscle damage – plus plenty of fruit and veg for their antioxidant benefits. Good options include milk-based drinks, smoothies, yogurt with granola and berries, a colourful stir-fry with tofu, noodles and peppers or a spinach frittata with potatoes.
Summary: Your race strategy
Every runner has different nutritional needs, so it is essential to try different fuelling options during training and practice your race strategy before your half-marathon.
Ensure you begin your race fully stocked with glycogen and properly hydrated.
Take the fuel you plan to consume in a belt or in your pockets.
Follow the same fuelling and hydration plan you trained with but be prepared to change if conditions change (things don’t always go to plan!).
Some runners like to add caffeine to their race-day schedule – studies show caffeine may reduce the perception of fatigue and enhance endurance – but not everyone is a ‘responder’. Use it only if you’ve trained with it and noticed its benefits. It takes about 45 minutes to peak in your body and its effects last several hours.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about running nutrition, then check out my book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
What you put into your body is vital for running performance. If you fuel your body with healthy, nutritious food and drink, you will ensure you have plenty of energy to complete your runs and recover efficiently between each run. Good nutrition is also key to your overall health, keeping you free from illness and injury. Food provides you with the building blocks needed for muscle recovery after running, making you fitter and stronger, all the way through your training.
Running Nutrition Basics
To get the most out of your running, focus on nourishing your body with nutrient-packed foods that will support your training plan.
Understanding your needs
There are three macronutrients that provide energy for your body: protein, carbohydrate and fat.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate from potatoes, pasta, rice, oats and fruit is your muscles’ preferred fuel source and is essential for high-intensity exercise. As a rule of thumb, the longer and harder you train the more carbohydrate your body burns. It is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles, but stores are limited, approximately 500g or enough to fuel 90 – 120 minutes of high-intensity exercise. When glycogen depletes during exercise, fatigue develops.
Fat
Fat is crucial for energy, brain function, the production of sex hormones and for absorbing vitamins A, D, E and K. The healthiest types are unsaturated fats, found in nuts, seeds, oily fish, avocados and olive oil. Our bodies rely more on fat for energy during longer events.
Protein
Protein isn’t used as a fuel source for exercise, unless glycogen stores are depleted. Instead, it helps your muscles repair and adapt to training and is therefore very important in terms of recovery. It’s found in meat, fish, legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas and peas), dairy products, eggs, nuts and seeds.
Building a Balanced Plate
As a general rule, fill half your plate with colourful vegetables, a quarter with healthy carbohydrate-rich foods, a quarter with lean protein foods, and a smaller serving of healthy fats. Throughout the day, snack on fruit, nuts or plain yogurt and sip on mostly water. When you approach each meal with this mindset then you will be able to build a healthy, balanced meal.
What to eat before you run
It’s generally beneficial to eat before a run – this will provide you with energy to help sustain your running. Your pre-run meal should be easy to digest, high in carbohydrate and low in fat and fibre.
Plan to have a meal 2 – 4 hours before you run: a combination of carbohydrate and protein produces sustained energy release. For example, if you’re planning to run at midday, have porridge, milk and bananas for breakfast. If you’re planning an evening run, opt for a baked potato with hummus or chicken with veg for lunch.
If the interval between your last meal and your run is longer than 4 hours, then have a healthy high-carbohydrate snack 30 – 60 minutes beforehand to maintain blood glucose and keep hunger at bay. Suitable options include a banana or a fruit and nut bar.
If you prefer to run fasted, then do so only for low-moderate intensity runs or higher-intensity runs less than one hour duration. Anything longer than this will likely deplete your glycogen stores and lead to a loss of muscle.
Ensure you start your run hydrated. The simplest and most practical way to assess hydration is checking the colour, volume and odour of your urine – it should be a pale straw colour. Anything darker suggests underhydration and that you need to drink more. As a guide, consume 5 – 10 ml/ kg body weight in the 4-hour period before exercise.
During
If you’re running for less than an hour, you won’t need to consume additional fuel during exercise. Your energy needs can be supported by your glycogen stores.
If you’re running for longer than an hour, consuming carbohydrate (in liquid or solid form) during exercise will help maintain your blood glucose levels and running pace as glycogen stores get depleted. Start fuelling after about 45 minutes (depending on your pace) and aim to consume 30 – 60g carbs/ hour. Fuelling during running may cause nausea or gut problems initially, especially if you haven’t done so before. Begin with small amounts and build up gradually. Options that supply 30g carbohydrate include 500ml sports drink, 1 – 2 bananas, 2 Medjool dates or 1 – 2 fruit and nut bars (check the label).
Hydration
There are no strict rules about how much you should drink – it depends on your sweat rate. Be guided by your thirst or calculate your sweat rate by weighing yourself before and after running than add on the weight of any fluid consumed.
Recovery
Eating the right macronutrients along with replacing fluid losses is essential for building endurance and strength and helping you recover from running. There are three goals of recovery nutrition:
Rehydration – aim to replace each 1 kg of weight loss with 1.25 – 1.5 l fluid. This may include water, milk, sports drinks or recovery drinks.
Refuelling – replenish glycogen stores by including carbohydrate in your meals. This will help you refuel and prepare for your next session. For rapid refuelling, for example when training twice a day, consume 1 – 1.2g carb per kg of body weight within 2 hours of your run.
Repair – protein provides the building blocks to repair damaged muscle fibres and build stronger muscles. Include 0.25 – 0.4g protein per kg body weight, or approximately 20 – 30g protein per meal. Include protein in all your meals and snacks so it is distributed fairly evenly throughout the day.
Summary
Fuelling your body properly will ensure you have plenty of energy to progress in your running. A balance of carbohydrate; protein and healthy fats as well as colourful plant foods will keep your body heathy and in top running condition. Try to keep ultra-processed foods to a minimum as they are generally high in sugar, salt or fat and low in fibre. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and for longer runs consider consuming carbohydrate to sustain your performance. If you’re training for a race, rehearse your fuelling and hydration plan during training. You’ll need to practice drinking on the move and try different types of foods and drinks to find out what works for you.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about running nutrition, then check out my book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
With less than three weeks to go before the 2021 London Marathon, here are nine evidence-backed nutrition tips to help you get the most out of your marathon training.
ALWAYS EAT CARBS PRIOR TO A LONG RUN
A good rule of thumb is to eat a good source of carbohydrate with a smaller amount of protein and healthy (unsaturated) fat two to four hours before a run. This combination of macronutrients will provide sustained energy to help you through a longer run. For long runs, avoid too much fibre within 30 minutes of exercise, especially if you are prone to tummy issues.
The carbs in your pre-run meal will help maintain blood sugar levels during your run and prevent fatigue, while a small amount of protein and unsaturated fat will slow the digestion of carbs, resulting in a more sustained rise in blood sugar – exactly what you need when running. Good pre-run meals include a jacket potato with beans, cheese or tuna; rice with beans; chicken stew with couscous; or pasta with tomato sauce.
THINK ABOUT THE NIGHT BEFORE
Many runners prefer doing their long runs early in the morning, especially on the weekend. If this is you, prioritise carbs in your meals the day before to ensure you have plenty of glycogen in your muscles. Then have a small pre-run snack 30-60 minutes before you set off – good options include a banana, a handful of dried fruit, or a couple of Medjool dates. If you cannot stomach anything before your run, ensure you’re properly hydrated before you set off and plan to run for less than 90 minutes.
REFUEL AS YOU RUN
For any run or race longer than 60-90 minutes, it’s worth thinking about taking extra carbs on board while you run. This will help maintain blood glucose levels and supply a quick source of energy to your muscles, which means you’ll be able to keep up your pace for longer. Start fuelling 30-45 minutes into your run and don’t wait until you’re depleted. Aim for 15-30g of carbs every 30 minutes depending on your pace; the key is little and often. Good options that serve up 30g of carbs include one large banana, one 50g energy gel, 500ml isotonic sports drink, or two Medjool dates.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT PROTEIN
There are three main goals of nutrition recovery: rehydrate, refuel and repair. Your post-run meal needs to supply carbs to replace glycogen but also protein to repair muscle. Aim for around 20-25g of protein post-run. Milk and soya milk alternative are near-perfect recovery drinks as they not only aid rehydration but also contain carbs and good-quality proteins to promote rapid post-run recovery. Great recovery meal options include a berry, yoghurt and almond smoothie; falafel and hummus wrap; chicken and prawn paella; bean and sweet potato curry; or a lentil, chickpea and cauliflower dahl.
MAKE SURE YOU EAT ENOUGH
One of the most common mistakes I see runners make when training for a marathon is under-fuelling. Marathon training should never be seen as a way to lose weight. Running long distances places a great deal of stress on the body and doing this without adequate fuel can harm your body. A consistent mismatch between your energy intake and output will almost certainly result in chronic fatigue, frequent illnesses and injuries and poor recovery. It can cause women to lose their period, which increases the risk of bone loss and stress fractures. Prevent under-fuelling by fuelling for the work required, ensuring you eat more carbs before hard sessions, and prioritising your post-run recovery nutrition.
CARB UP BEFORE A MARATHON
Carb loading – maximising your glycogen stores – may help delay fatigue and reduce your chances of hitting the dreaded wall. You can achieve this by increasing your carbohydrate intake for the final two days as well as tapering your training. This allows the carbs that you would have burned in your long runs to get stored as glycogen in your muscles instead. Don’t overload, though – aim to keep overall calories the same by cutting fat while upping carbs. Opt for easy-to-digest carbs (e.g. potatoes, rice and pasta), aim to eat most of your carbs at breakfast and lunch and avoid too much fibre.
MAKE A FUEL PLAN
Everyone’s different so you will need to work out what works for you by practising your fuelling and hydration strategy a few times during your long runs. Simulate race-day conditions as far as possible, using the same foods and drinks and practise taking them at the frequency you plan to during the race. Making it as realistic as possible will help ensure there won’t be any surprises on the big day. You’ll also need to practise drinking on the move from cups or bottles. This may feel tricky or uncomfortable to start with but start with small amounts and gradually build up. Check in advance where feeding and drinks stations are on the route so you can plan when to refuel.
STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW
It may sound obvious but don’t do anything new on race day. I’ve seen so many first-timers make the mistake of consuming energy gels or products for the first time during their marathon experience stomach problems. If you want to use these products, trial them during your long runs. Similarly, don’t make the mistake of eating anything different for breakfast on race day – if you normally have porridge with honey before your long runs then eat porridge with honey before your marathon.
DON’T OVER-HYDRATE
If you’ve practiced a drinking strategy in training, then you should have a good idea how much to drink. But if the temperature is higher or lower on race day then you will need to adjust your plan. Dehydration can increase fatigue, slow your pace and cause a drop in performance. Equally, drinking more than you’ve lost in sweat – over-hydration – can be just as harmful. If you feel bloated, swollen and fatigued, then you’re probably over-hydrated so should stop drinking.
If you enjoyed this article and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, then my new book, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook is now available to pre-order
Exciting, healthy and tasty vegan recipes with the nutrients you need to train, recover and perform.
Whether you already live a vegan lifestyle, embrace a meat-free day each week or you simply want to try some amazing flavour combinations, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook will help you create easy, nutrient-packed meals to support your training goals.
With a focus on performance, every recipe has been created to provide a high level of nutrients that will fuel your body. All the main meal recipes supply at least 20g protein per serving, the optimal amount needed for muscle recovery.
One of the most common questions I get asked by runners is why they can’t lose weight despite running regularly. Some runners find that they actually gain weight; a phenomenon dubbed ‘marathon weight gain’. Although this may seem counterintuitive, it is also very frustrating for those aiming to lose weight. But there are a number of explanations, which may help you understand why you may not be losing weight.
Its all too easy to overestimate how many calories you’re burning running and overcompensate by eating too many calories. The truth is you may not be burning as many calories as you think. For example, if you weigh 60kg and run for 30 minutes three times a week, you’re burning 933 kcal. That’s equivalent to weight loss of less than 0.2kg, barely enough to register on the scales. You’ll need to create a deficit of 7,700 kcal to lose 1kg.
When you’re running regularly, it’s tempting to see a workout as a free pass to eat what you like, and easy to over consume treats. A couple of biscuits with your morning coffee? Another slice of cake? Why not – after all you just did a long run. But all those extra calories here and there can soon add up if you’re not mindful of your food intake. Unless you’re blessed with a fast metabolism or an ability to self-regulate your appetite, you may need to keep a more careful check on portion sizes and daily calories. If you want to lose weight running, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you’re burning.
You may be very active while you run but do you then sit for long periods during the day? Many people may not be aware of it but, on days when they run, they tend to do less spontaneous activity, like walking or just getting up from their chair and moving around (known catchily as ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ or NEAT). This means you could be burning fewer calories throughout the day, and so your overall daily burn may not be much different from what it was before you took up running. A study in 2015 found that people who exercised vigorously but sat most of the time were 1.65 times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome – type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Do you consume too many sports nutrition products? Energy gels, bars and drinks contain a lot more calories than many people realise. A 500ml bottle of sports drink typically contains 140 calories; a gel 90 calories and a bar 200 calories. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype around these products but unless you’re exercising for longer than 90 minutes you don’t need extra carbohydrate during your run. You should have enough fuel (glycogen) in your muscles to keep you going to the end of your workout.
Here are 6 tips on how to avoid running weight gain
Be realistic about how many calories you are burning during a run – activity trackers and heart-rate monitors can give you a reasonable idea (although, being based on predictive equations and standard algorithms, they are not super accurate).
Be honest about your food intake – it can be helpful to log your food intake with an app such as MyFitness Pal (or just write everything down) for a few days.
Sit less – Try to incorporate more movement into your daily routine and break up long periods of sitting with short walks or pacing while talking on the phone.
Schedule your workout just before a main meal – this does away with the requirement for a post-run snack, and means you won’t be ravenous before your meal (leaving too long a gap can make you feel more hungry).
Don’t reward your workout with unhealthy snacks– refuel instead with nutrient-rich foods like milk, yogurt, nuts, fruit and veg
Save sports drinks, gels and bars for your long runs (more than 90 minutes)
In summary, running regularly has countless health benefits but, unless you also look at what you’re eating, it won’t automatically result in weight loss. It’s easy to overestimate your energy needs and overeat. If you want to lose weight running, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you’re burning (about 10 – 15% less than before) and that means choosing nutrient-rich foods over calorie-dense snacks.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my latest book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
With so many diet trends out there, it’s hard to know which ones help or hinder your performance. One trend that’s recently become popular among endurance athletes is the low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet. The idea behind it is that training with low glycogen (carbohydrate) stores trains your body to burn fat more efficiently and increases muscle adaptations to endurance exercise. Theoretically, this should allow you to keep going longer before reaching fatigue and may even help you avoid ‘bonking’ or ‘hitting the wall’ in a marathon (running out of stored carbohydrate).
Indeed, studies have found that ‘training low’ (i.e. with low glycogen stores) increases the number of mitochondria – the fat-burning powerhouses – in the muscle cells. Others have also shown that ‘training low’ enhances cell signalling proteins, gene expression and fat burning enzyme activity.
However, despite these cellular changes, there’s a lack of evidence that chronically training on a LCHF diet improves performance. What’s more, it has been shown to hamper the muscles’ ability to break down glycogen during high intensity exercise and hinder power output during sprinting. You literally lose your top gear.
The most definitive evidence comes from the ‘Supernova’ study of 21 elite race walkers who followed either a high carbohydrate, a periodised carbohydrate or a LCHF diet for 3 weeks. The researchers found that
Although the LCHF diet increased the body’s ability to burn greater amounts of fat during exercise, it also reduced exercise efficiency i.e. the athletes required MORE oxygen to exercise at the same speed
the LCHF diet impaired race performance
High carb and periodised carb diets improved exercise economy and race performance
In practice, many athletes find that training low feels harder, especially when they want to pick up the pace. Think hills, intervals, tempo runs, breakaways or sprinting for the finish line in a race. The truth is high intensity exercise (such as running fast) feels easier when you eat carbohydrate (such as potatoes, rice, pasta and bananas).
Another downside of ‘training low’ is that it can deplete your immune function and increase the risk of infection. The key to preventing this is to avoid high intensity sessions when your glycogen stores are low.
Body fat may be available in abundance (compared with carbohydrate) but it is a ‘slow’ fuel, which means it converts to energy comparatively very slowly. You can produce up to 25–30 kcal per minute from carbohydrate but only 6 kcal per minute from fat. Train above 85% VO2max, and you’ll be burning almost exclusively carbs.
A LCHF diet may suit those doing mostly low intensity workouts, like long slow runs or ultras. It means you won’t need to carry as many high carb snacks with you! But if you want to train hard and fast, then you’re better off with carbs.
If you want to get the best of both worlds – maximum fat-burning plus maximum performance – then ‘flexible fuelling’ could be the way to go. It’s backed by cutting edge science and is used by some top endurance athletes to give them a competitive edge. It involves matching your fuel (carbs) to your workout. The advantage of this approach is that you get the dual benefits of ‘training low’ – namely an increased ability to burn fat – as well as the performance benefits of high intensity training.
Here’s how it works:
Before your easy or low intensity workouts (e.g. long, easy runs), minimise carbohydrate beforehand. This will encourage the muscles to become more efficient at using fat as fuel. Suitable pre-workout meals or snacks include an omelette or poached eggs, an avocado salad, or hummus with vegetables.
Before harder or high intensity workouts, eat carbohydrate-based meals or snacks. This will help you train at a higher intensity for longer. Good options include porridge, rice and beans, or potatoes with cheese.
The simplest way to ‘train low’ is to run before breakfast but other protocols may be used.
If you struggle with ‘training low’, try taking caffeine approximately 45 – 60 min before your session. The optimal ergogenic dose is around 3mg/ kg body weight. This can reduce perceived effort and fatigue.
What’s the evidence? The best evidence for this flexible fuelling comes from two recent studies. One study with 21 triathletes , found that those who cut carbs around selected training sessions (a ‘sleeping low’ protocol) for three weeks improved their cycling economy (power output per calorie) by 11 per cent, 10km running performance by 2.9 per cent, time to exhaustion during high intensity exercise by 12.5 per cent, compared with those who did all their training with high glycogen stores.
The second study with 11 cyclists found that the same ‘sleeping low’ protocol followed for just 6 days resulted in a similar (3.2%) performance improvement.
In summary, there may be small advantages to gained from ‘training low’ before specific workouts. The research is fairly limited and there’s no definitive proof that it leads to big performance improvements. If you do decide to try it, pick just one or two low-intensity sessions a week alongside your normal training when you are fully fuelled. Keep a training log and see whether it helps your performance or not. If you suffer gut problems when consuming food during running, then ‘training low’ may suit you. Also, not having to carry bars and gels during long runs may be helpful from a practical point of view.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
While a healthy diet is central to optimal performance, for some athletes the quest to eat only the ‘right’ foods can morph into orthorexia, an unhealthy fixation with ‘eating correctly’. What starts as a health kick or desire to shed surplus pounds can spiral into obsessive behaviour. One recent study suggests that as many as 28% of athletes are affected by orthorexia.
If you have ever experienced extreme anxiety after eating a slice of cake, declined a dinner invitation for fear of its impact on your training gains or had to exercise after eating a certain food because you felt so guilty, then you may be affected by orthorexia.
You’re probably familiar with the more commonly known eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but most people don’t know about another serious eating disorder: orthorexia. It is not defined simply by weight loss or eating too little but rather by an obsession with healthy eating. It differs from anorexia nervosa in that the goal isn’t necessarily thinness or limiting calories but a desire to be pure, clean and healthy.
A defining feature of orthorexia is an obsessive adherence to an increasingly restrictive ‘clean’ diet. Sufferers have a strong desire to maximise their health and will focus on food ‘quality’ and ‘purity’, rather than calories. They have an intense fear of eating anything perceived as unhealthy or ‘unclean’.
Blurred lines
Many athletes weigh their food religiously, track their macros and adhere to self-imposed food rules. However, such strict control can often mask a dysfunctional relationship with food.
Today it is trendy to ‘eat clean’, that is, to follow a ‘food lifestyle’ like low-carb, paleo or vegan. On the surface this seems harmless but it can easily mask an obsession with food. The problem is, in sports where body weight is closely linked to performance, there’s a blurred line between healthy eating and unhealthy obsession.
Unhealthy obsession
Some people are more vulnerable than others. One study published in Eating and Weight Disorders Journal in 2017 found that people with higher orthorexia tendencies scored more highly for body dissatisfaction and perfectionism.
Of course, just because you’ve decided to ‘eat clean’ doesn’t mean you have orthorexia. Problems arise when your eating becomes increasingly restrictive and starts to negatively impact your social life, relationships, self-worth, happiness and wellbeing.
Social Media to blame?
Some blame the rise of social media celebrities who, despite no formal training in nutrition, espouse an ‘eat like me, look like me’ approach. The ‘clean eating’ movement encourages restriction and self-prescribed ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Research published in 2017 found a strong correlation between time people spent on Instagram and symptoms of orthorexia.
Warning signs and symptoms of orthorexia
Compulsive checking of ingredient lists and nutrition labels
Cutting out an increasing number of foods (e.g. sugar, carbs, dairy)
Eating only foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’
Afraid to eat anything ‘unhealthy’
Refusing to eat foods that you don’t know what’s in them or how they were prepared
How to maintain a healthy relationship with food
Identify your triggers e.g. social media and unfollow people who make you feel bad.
Resist the temptation to compare on social media
Spend less time reading health news – it may do more harm than good
Don’t live in a bubble – spend time with people outside of your sport, with other interests
Food should not make you scared or anxious – it’s something to be enjoyed and celebrated!
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked by runners after a talk is how to prevent or cope with gastro-intestinal (GI) problems and transit troubles during training and races. It’s not an issue many like to talk about openly but it’s one that’s surprisingly common among endurance athletes.
It is estimated that 30 to 50% of endurance athletes experience GI problems related to exercise. The most debilitating and annoying of these GI issues? The sudden and overwhelming need to evacuate your bowels. In cases of extreme frequency or discomfort, this is known as runner’s diarrhoea or ‘runners’ trots’. Other common symptoms include abdominal pain and cramping, belching, bloating, nausea, heartburn, flatulence and vomiting. In a study at Maastrict University, The Netherlands, 93% of triathletes had at least one GI symptom, of which 29% were serious enough to affect performance (Jeukendrup et al, 2000).
GI problems are more common in running-type sports possibly due to the physical ‘jostling’ of the intestines during running. All the food inside your GI tract gets shaken and loosened. The reduced blood flow in the intestines and increased levels of stress hormones (due to anxiety before competitions) affect gut motility and this can further exacerbate the condition. And some people’s guts are simply more sensitive than others.
Certain foods may irritate the gut, for example high intakes of fibre, fat, protein or fructose. Dehydration or consuming a drink that is too concentrated in carbohydrate, can also add to the stress on the GI tract
Exercise – specifically more exercise than your body is used to doing – increases intestinal activity.
Solutions
To help alleviate the problem, try doing a short run before the race or doing a warm-up loop around your house before a training run. Alternatively, having a little food before a morning run can help get things moving to enable you to empty your bowels before you head off. Experiment with training at different times of the day.
Reduce your intake of high fibre and gas-producing foods the day before as well as the day of the race. Common culprit foods include bran cereals, cruciferous vegetables (such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli), beans, lentils and caffeine. For some people, energy gels and bars can cause problems as can high-fructose foods and drinks. Fructose is absorbed relatively slowly from the gut and, in high concentrations (especially in the form of a drink) can cause GI symptoms.
Start your workout or race fully hydrated. Some athletes avoid drinking in the misguided belief that it causes GI symptoms whereas, in fact, dehydration may be the culprit.
Make your sports drink more dilute. Some people find anything above 5g/ 100g sits in their stomach and causes discomfort.
Train your gut by regularly consuming carbohydrate foods or drinks during training. Start with very small amounts then gradually increase the amount and frequency. It is possible to increase the number of carbohydrate transporters in your gut so that you become better able to digest and absorb carbohydrate during exercise.
Find what works for you. It may take quite a bit of ‘trial and ‘error’ but by practising your race fuelling and hydration strategy during training there will be less risk of problems on race day.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out the new edition of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition , the definitive practical handbook for anyone wanting a performance advantage. It’s the 8th edition (the 1st edition came out in 1993!) and it has been fully updated and revised to bring together the latest research and information on sport and exercise nutrition. It covers topics such as
Maximizing endurance, strength and performance
Carbohydrate, protein and fat requirements
Sports supplements
Improving body composition
Eating plans to cut body fat, gain muscle and prepare for competition
One of the most common questions I get asked by runners is how to fuel during long runs when you don’t feel like eating anything. Many find that drinking a sports drink or eating food makes them feel like throwing it straight back up. Do you also struggle fuelling during races? Well, you’re not alone – fuelling on the move can prove tricky for many. It can make you feel bloated, uncomfortable, queasy and even trigger vomiting or diarrhoea.
As result, many endurance athletes prefer training on ‘empty’, shunning fluid at aid stations and forgoing fuel during races for fear of unplanned toilet stops. But when you’re exercising at high intensities and competing for longer than 60 – 90 minutes, this strategy can quickly lead to dehydration, reduced endurance and perhaps not even finishing the race. Quite a conundrum.
Fortunately, there is a solution: ‘gut training’. Sports scientists say that the gut is very adaptable. This means that it can respond to nutritional training during exercise. In other words, you can literally train your gut – much like any other muscle in your body – to tolerate and absorb more carbohydrate while exercising. There’s not been a great deal of research on the topic but this excellent review by Asker Jeukendrup provides a neat summary.
What’s required is a gradual and consistent approach to fuelling and drinking on the move. The idea is to start with small quantities and increase slowly over time. With practice, your stomach will learn to accommodate a greater volume of fluid and food and empty faster so you start to feel less full and uncomfortable whilst exercising.
By focusing on carb-rich foods and drinks, you’ll also train your gut to absorb carbohydrates more efficiently. This increases the number and activity of glucose transporters in the gut, allowing greater carbohydrate absorption and utilisation during exercise.
Normally the gut can only absorb a maximum of 60g per hour. Any more than this just sits ‘heavy’ in the stomach. But by gradually increasing the amount of carbs you consume during exercise and by consuming a mixture of glucose (or maltodextrin) and fructose (such as an energy drink), you can train your gut to absorb up to 90g per hour. This would be beneficial when you’re exercising at high intensities for longer than 2 hours.
How long will it take to train your gut? Like most things in nutrition, it’s very individual. Some people adapt quicker than others but you can expect a significant improvement within a few weeks. Here’s how to train your gut for workouts longer than 60 – 90 minutes
Gradually increase the amount of fluid you consume during exercise – little and often works best. Start with just a couple of sips pre- and mid-workout, then increase gradually as you become accustomed to the sensation of fluid in your stomach.
Experiment with different food options to discover which foods or products your body can tolerate. Try a couple of bites of banana, a Medjool date, an energy ball (such as these Energy Balls) or a bite of energy bar. Other options include fruit bars, jelly babies, energy gels, plain biscuits, rice cakes or fig rolls.
Begin refuelling after 30 or 60 minutes, then aim for 10 – 15g carbs every 30 minutes. Do this for each long workout (> 90 minutes). Once this feels okay, up the quantity or add another mid-workout ‘feed’. Over time your stomach will learn to accept bigger volumes and empty faster, so instead of feeling full and bloated, you’ll feel comfortable.
When preparing for a big race, it’s important to practise your fuelling plan during training. Take the same foods and drinks that you plan to use in the race. It may take quite a bit of trial and error so try to do this early in your race preparation programme. Don’t leave it to race day!
Being able to train your gut this way will give you a huge advantage for training and races longer than two hours. It means that you’ll be able to stay fuelled, cut the risk of getting gut problems and ultimately improve your performance.
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
Periodised carbohydrate training has become the latest buzzword among endurance athletes. Essentially it means matching your diet to your workload and new research suggests it may improve endurance performance and make you a more efficient fat burner.
The idea behind training with low glycogen stores (‘training low’) is that it forces the muscles to burn more fat for fuel and rely less on carbohydrate. By teaching your body to tap into its fat stores, you should in theory be able to keep exercising for longer before reaching fatigue.
Indeed, studies (here and here) have shown that when you ‘train low’ you increase the muscle’s adaptive response to training. It increases mitochondrial biogenesis, so you get an increase in the number and volume of mitochondria – the fat-burning powerhouses – in the muscle cells. The more mitochondria you possess, the greater your muscles’ ability to use fat as fuel, sparing your glycogen stores.
High-intensity exercise feels much harder. Your performance, rather than improving, may drop. Your immune system may become depressed, increasing the risk of infection. And you could lose muscle.
But with periodised carbohydrate training you get the dual benefits of ‘training low’ – namely fat adaptation – as well as the performance benefits of high intensity training. Also, it’s a more sustainable approach. Essentially, it means doing some of your low-intensity sessions in a carb-depleted state, and your higher intensity sessions with high glycogen stores.
The simplest way to ‘train low’ is to train in the morning before breakfast. However, this should be done before an easy session, nothing too long or too intense. Alternatively, if you want to train low in the evening, cut carbohydrate at breakfast and lunchtime (keeping to mainly high-protein foods and vegetables). Another method is ‘sleeping low’. This means doing a tough session before sleep, eating a low carb dinner then doing a low-intensity session the next morning.
This method looks more promising in terms of performance improvement. A multi-centre 2016 study with triathletes found that those who followed a ‘sleeping low’ protocol for three weeks improved their cycling efficiency (power output per calorie) by 11%, 10km running performance by 2.9%, time to exhaustion during high intensity exercise by 12.5%, and also reduced their body fat compared with those who did all their training with high glycogen stores.
A follow-up study with cyclists by the same team found that using a ‘sleeping low’ strategy for just six days resulted in a 3.2 percent improvement in a 20K time trial.
Most recently, a study at the Australian Institute of Sport compared the performance effects of a high-carb diet (60 – 65% carb), a periodised carb diet (same macro’s but periodised within or between days) and a LCHF diet (<50g carbs) in a group of 21 elite race-walkers. After 3-weeks on each diet, all athletes improved their aerobic fitness (VO2 max) but only those on the high carb or periodised carb diet improved their 10k race performance. The athletes on the LCHF diet did not make any improvement. Although they were burning a higher proportion of fat during exercise, their muscles became less efficient at producing energy, requiring more oxygen at any given speed. All of which suggests that fat adaptation incurs an efficiency penalty.
To date, this is the highest quality study on low carb vs high carb that we have. Although It makes a pretty damning case against chronic low carb diets, it also provides good evidence for a periodised carbohydrate approach.
In summary, eating low carb all the time is unlikely to benefit your performance unless you’re exercising at a relatively low intensity for long periods, such as ultra-distance events. For other endurance activities, it may be worth trying a periodised low carb approach.
Pick just one or two short low-intensity sessions a week alongside your normal training when you are fully fuelled. Keep a training log and see whether it helps your training or not. If you suffer gut problems when consuming carbs during running, then ‘training low’ may suit you. Also, not having to carry bars and gels during long runs may be helpful from a practical point of view. Remember, whatever the research says, a good nutrition strategy boils down to doing whatever works for you as an individual.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about vegetarian diets, then read my new book, The Vegetarian Athlete’s Cookbook – More than 100 recipes for active living (Bloomsbury, 2016)
It features:
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
If you enjoyed this article and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, then my new book, 
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my latest book, 
If you’re looking for some easy and tasty inspiration on how to include more plant foods in your diet, then 
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.