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…
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.
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
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’.
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…
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…
17th February 2016 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…
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…
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…
