Eating immediately before a marathon

3 watchers

Johnny Blaze Apr 2012 11:01pm, 3 Apr 2012 14,388 posts	0 Johnny Blaze I have heard that it's recommended to eat 2 hours before the start. But it occurs to me that if it was, say, 4 hours after that - ie at mile 13 for me - that I'd already be peckish if i wasn't even running 26 miles. So I'm thinking i should neck something down just before the start -like4 a sugar boost of a snickers or summat - I did 18 miles tother day and started an hour after my breakfast and didn't run out of puff too much. Has anyone played with eating just before the start? Any thoughts on pros and cons?
Caterpillar Apr 2012 11:09pm, 3 Apr 2012 6,776 posts	0 Caterpillar I like the idea, but not sugar with an extra dollop of sugar. Cayke! Starch for me please.
RichHL Apr 2012 11:09pm, 3 Apr 2012 3,630 posts	0 RichHL If you need the boost and you're not going to be running too hard in the first half an hour, go for it. I had a flapjack half an hour before mine last year. Worked like a charm for the first couple of hours, like solid porridge with golden syrup.
Dvorak Apr 2012 11:46pm, 3 Apr 2012 5,174 posts	0 Dvorak I always thought that two hours sounds like an awful long time. But maybe as I only do halves, I only need an hour. I've eaten various things right before the start, cereal bars, mars bars, jam doughnuts - I don't think any have had a bad effect, in fact I think I'd quite like jam doughnuts at the start of every race.
Johnny Blaze Apr 2012 11:52pm, 3 Apr 2012 14,389 posts	0 Johnny Blaze Hmm mars bar sounds more digestible than a snickers. I used to have two weetabix and two pieces of wholemeal toast before a marathon but I gradually twigged that a lot of high fibre food just before might not be that good an idea. Normally races are so far away that breakfast is effectively 2 hours before the start anyway, but I'm thinking that a couple of sugary treats an hour before the start could give a good old sugar boost of 500 or 600 calories. Which is about 4 miles of running cals. By the 20th mile of a marathon i'm usually gagging at the thought of another jelly baby (only 20 cals per JB).
Cavey Apr 2012 12:15am, 4 Apr 2012 10,611 posts	0 Cavey I had a vanilla slice immediately before the Windermere Marathon in 2009. I DNF'd. I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn, but further research would involve me having to run another marathon and I refuse!!!
Ria Apr 2012 12:27am, 4 Apr 2012 53 posts	0 Ria 4 small cheese baps around 2 hours before.....Couple of cerial bars on the way round.....Works for me....And I'm out there a loooooong time...:) Def avoid bran cerials!! I'm slow enough without having to stop for a poop.......:P
hellen Apr 2012 7:44am, 4 Apr 2012 12,799 posts	0 hellen Ideally i have breaky 90 min before but if I have to have it earlier than I have a banana at some point in the 30 minbefore the start
plodding hippo Apr 2012 7:50am, 4 Apr 2012 40,990 posts	0 plodding hippo Im a two hour girl if I tried to eat just before, id see the stuff again, i am sure
clairevmc Apr 2012 8:22am, 4 Apr 2012 1,797 posts	0 clairevmc I'll usually have something sugary about 30-45 mins before the start - fudge or tablet, something small but high in calories. If you're finding though that you're really hungry by half way then you maybe want to consider eating a bit more than usual the day before as well. You'll never be able to fuel for a marathon on just a bigger breakfast.