Helen's Race-Week Nutrition Strategy (sub-4:30)

Age: 33 Job activity level: Lecturer and mother of two small children; active during the day, with little time spent sitting down. Marathon history: One marathon (2008) Goal: sub-4:30 Current PB: 5:08:28 Height: 1.73m Current Weight: 73kg

Helen's Profile | Helen's Training Schedule | Helen's Training Thread | Helen's Food Diary Analysis

Individual Areas For Emphasis

Helen’s initial dietary analysis recommended a slight increase to her daily calorie intake. At the time Helen was trying to maintain an energy intake deficit to reach her weight-loss goal, which has now been achieved.

Helen already eats a good variety of food groups throughout the day and does not need to implement drastic changes. However, as the training load is reaching its most intensive period before beginning the taper, increasing her energy intake in the form of carbohydrate will help make sure her glycogen stores are being adequately replenished. Simply adding a banana to her breakfast cereal would be beneficial.

At present Helen has a resting metabolic rate (RMR) of 1512 kcals, but when taking into account the intensity and regularity of her training, her total daily requirement is actually 2608 kcals. This equates to a daily requirement of:

Three Days Before The Marathon: Carb-Loading Period

Race-Day Plan

Breakfast (three to four hours before the race)

Current guidelines suggest you should eat 1 - 4g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight three to four hours before the race. Helen therefore needs to consume between 73 - 292 g of carbohydrate for breakfast.

Examples of breakfasts containing approximately 140g of carbohydrate include:

• 100g cereal with 300ml milk and a large banana
• 100g muesli with 200ml milk and 100g raisins
• Four thick slices of bread with honey or jam and 400ml fruit juice
• Two bagels, large banana and 500ml Lucozade Sport Body Fuel
• 125g cous cous with 130g sweetcorn and 175ml fruit juice

The Race

Helen currently consumes caffeine before exercise, usually in the form of Lucozade Sport Caffeine Boost. This will boost her fluid intake, top up her muscle glycogen and reduce her rate of perceived exertion (PE).

Helen is planning to use a combination of gels and Lucozade Sport during the race and needs to take on board around 30 – 60g of carbohydrate per hour. With her target time of 4:29, this equates to around 220g of carbohydrate in total:

Each 330ml bottle of Lucozade Sport contains 20g of carbohydrate. Helen should look to drink this over a period of time rather than in one go, as drip-feeding your body is most efficient. This particular strategy for Helen shows that after the Lucozade Sport stations, she only needs to wait another 20 minutes before taking on more carbohydrate.

Each carb gel contains 30g of carbohydrate so our strategy suggests Helen leaves 30 minutes for the digestion and absorption of each gel. We have suggested half a gel at Miles 17 and 21 so that Helen's carbohydrate consumption does not surpass 60g within 60 minutes. One final gel at Mile 25 will provide Helen with a final surge of carbohydrate to fuel her across the finish line, and help with her recovery. While her heart rate is high, she will have an increased ability to deliver carbohydrate to her muscles.

Recovery

Immediately after the race, Helen should eat 75 - 90g of carbohydrate and 10 - 20g of protein. This will stimulate protein synthesis and aid carbohydrate delivery to her muscles. She should also aim to eat 78 - 107g of protein throughout the rest of the day.

Of course, for a few days after the race, Helen will also need to keep consuming high levels of carbohydrate to help replenish her glycogen stores.