3-4 days to go

What you eat in the 3-4 days before the race makes a real difference to how well prepared you are to cover 26.2 miles without running out of fuel. By eating a carbohydrate-rich diet you can maximise the amount of glycogen (stored carbohydrate) in your muscles. Because you should be taking it easy with your training by now, there’s no need to eat at lot more than you have been in your training, as you won’t be burning it all off. But do try to ensure that you eat regularly, get most of your energy from carbohydrate, and have some lean protein at most meals. It’s best to avoid fatty foods such as crisps, chocolate and fried foods.

Example day
Breakfast: Cereal with milk, raisins, fruit juice
Snack: Granola bar and a nectarine
Lunch: Baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn, salad, yoghurt
Snack: Banana smoothie
Dinner: Large bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and vegetables
Snack: Toast with honey

Also, keep an eye on the colour of your urine – it should be clear and pale. If it is dark, you need to drink more fluids. Drinking small amounts (water, fruit juice, tea, coffee and sports drinks are all fine) regularly throughout the day is better for keeping you hydrated than drinking large amounts in one go.

Hopefully by now you’ll have practiced running with the drink or gel that you’ll be using during the race.  If not, make sure you do at least one trial run this week. It’s also a good idea to practice running after the same breakfast that you plan to have on race day.

The evening before

Choose a meal that you’re used to eating. Between now and the race, don’t eat or drink anything you haven’t tried before a training run. Good, high carbohydrate choices include:

• Large baked potato with beans and salad
• Pasta with tomato sauce, chicken and vegetables
• Vegetable stir-fry with large portion of rice
• Fish pie with potatoes and vegetables
• Lentil soup with lots of bread

If you don’t want to have a big breakfast in the morning, or aren’t sure if you’ll have time, have a snack later in the evening, e.g. a slice of toast and a fruit yoghurt.

Drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol/caffeine.

Marathon morning

The aim is to start the race hydrated, so you should regularly sip fluids in the hours before (again, keep an eye on the colour of your urine and try to make sure it’s pale and clear). Have as big a breakfast as you can manage, ideally 3-4 hours before the race. Again, the most important thing is that the breakfast is something you’re used to eating before you run. For example, whatever you usually eat before you do your long training runs.

Good choices include:
• Large bowl of cereal with skimmed milk, banana, apple juice
• 2 toasted bagels with jam, yoghurt
• 500ml milkshake (if you find it difficult to run with food in your stomach)
• Porridge with honey and banana

Caffeine can help boost running performance, but don’t be tempted to take an energy drink/gel that contains caffeine unless you’re already used to it. If you normally have tea or coffee in the morning, have one or two cups. But give yourself plenty of time after breakfast to go to the loo before you need to set off!

During the race

During the marathon aim to drink mainly sports drink (e.g. the Lucozade Sport provided at the hydration stations around the course) as this will keep you hydrated but will also provide carbohydrate to help maintain your energy levels and electrolytes to replace the sodium you lose in sweat. Around 400-800ml/hour is generally recommended, but focus on drinking regularly, just as much as you need to quench your thirst, rather than trying to drink a specific amount. Drinking too much can be just as dangerous as not drinking enough.

What’s available during the Edinburgh Marathon?

Tips for the Edinburgh Marathon hydration stations:
Energy drinks are not provided until mile 11.4, so it’s important that you have enough carbohydrate in your blood and muscles when you start the race. Take a sports drink to the start line with you and drink it in the 15 minutes before the start (if you have tried this in training). Unless you are a very fast runner, consider taking a gel or something like jelly babies with you to top up your energy levels after an hour or so. If you start taking on extra fuel early on, you’re less likely to struggle towards the end of the race, when your muscle fuel stores run low. At the first three water stations, take a bottle and sip as much as you feel you need – there’s no need to down the whole bottle. At the stations where Lucozade Sport is offered, take that rather than plain water, as it’s really important to top up your carbohydrate and electrolyte levels. Only take the water if you are bringing energy gels with you and need something to wash those down with. Again, just sip as much as you feel you need. One 300ml bottle at each station is probably more than enough to keep you hydrated.

After the race

To help you recover, have another drink or a banana, energy bar or gel as soon as you finish. If you can eat some protein too, that will also help your body recover – something like chocolate milkshake, an energy bar that contains protein, or a yoghurt, is ideal. Try to have a meal as soon as possible after that – whatever you fancy, you deserve a treat. And again sip water regularly to re-hydrate your body. This is especially important if you’re planning to celebrate with a drink later on. It’s really important to re-hydrate before you go near alcohol!

I set about creating a warming drink with similar properties to recovery sports drinks (e.g. For Goodness Shakes and Recovermax).  These are forumlated with a 3:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio; thought to be optimal for refuelling after sport.  Most research suggests that athletes should begin replenishing their carbohydrate stores within half an hour of training, consuming at least 1g for each kg body weight. High glycaemic index foods (such as simple sugars) are best immediately after sport because they enter the bloodstream quickly.  The addition of some protein provides the amino acids necessary for repairing muscle damage sustained in training.

I’ve recently been looking at studies on milk as part of my sports nutrition course, and my lecturer is a fan of homemade chocolate milk.  Milk is a useful post-exercise drink, for both rehydration and muscle recovery, and studies have shown that chocolate milk can be as effective as commercial recovery products.  Here’s the winter version that I came up with; ideal for warming up immediately after an hour or more of intense cycling or running:

Spiced hot chocolate

Ingredients (for one large mug):

2 tablespoons skimmed milk powder

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

275ml skimmed milk

A pinch each of salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (leave the spices out if you prefer)

1. Mix the milk powder, sugar, cocoa powder and spices with a little hot water in a mug to form a paste
2. Warm the milk in a pan (or microwave it)
3. Pout the milk into the mug
4. Stir well and enjoy!

There are lots of different variations – you could swap the spices for a drop of peppermint or vanilla essence, or leave out some of the sugar and add a spoonful of hazelnut syrup.  If you find it too sweet, you could use maltodextrin (available from sports supplement suppliers) in place of some of the sugar.  And if you haven’t actually done any training, just leave out the milk powder and most of the sugar.

Nutritional information (per portion):

Energy – 294kcal

Protein – 17.3g

Fat – 2.4g  (1.4g saturates)

Carbohdrate – 54g

The hot chocolate is rich in calcium and a good source of B vitamins (riboflavin, B12, B6), iodine, magnesium, zinc and potassium, providing at leat 15% of the recommended daily amount of each.

If you can’t make your own, it’s still okay to go for a cafe-bought version.  I looked at Starbucks nutritional information (just because they happen to put it on their website) and think that if you skip the whipped cream, a grande-skimmed-milk-hot-chocolate-with-a-shot-of-syrup would do the job almost as well.

Yum.

Ingredients (for 4 large portions)

1 medium butternut squash

1 x 400g can chickpeas (240g drained weight)

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon oil (I used rapeseed)

1 red chilli (or 1 teaspoon chilli flakes)

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon coriander (seeds or ground)

700ml vegetable stock (I used Marigold)

Juice of half a lime

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds (save them and roast them later for a healthy snack).
2. Bake the squash in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees / Gas mark 5.
3. Saute the onion, garlic and spices in the oil for a few minutes.
4. Remove the skin from the squash (it peels much more easily when cooked than raw) and add it, along with half the chickpeas and the stock, to the onion and spices.
5. Bring to the boil then gently simmer for 5-10 mins.
6. Blitz with a hand blender then add the lime juice and the remaining chickpeas and serve.

Nutritional information (per portion):

Energy – 188kcal

Protein – 7.3g

Fat – 5.4g  (0.4g saturates)

Carbohdrate – 27.8g

Fibre – 6.2g

Sodium – 0.6g

The soup is also a good source of vitamins A, C, E, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Magnesium, providing at leat 15% of the recommended daily amount of each.

The article begins with a bold statement: “beetroot juice can help keep dementia at bay, as it contains nitrate, which helps open blood vessels, boosting blood supply to the brain.” A quick look at the actual research paper showed me that, yes, blood flow to one area of of the brain (the frontal lobe) did increase in a small group of older adults who consumed 500ml of beetroot juice a day for 2 days, compared to on a control diet. It wasn’t just beetroot juice – the diets were completely different. The link between these finding and dementia risk is tenuous at best. Even the study authors state that it’s still just a theory that a diet high in nitrate could help compensate for age-related damage to the blood vessels in the brain. Nothing in the study suggests that beetroot juice will keep dementia “at bay”. Dementia is a serious condition that develops over years, not something that can be fixed with a two-day diet. On another note, there is some evidence, again from small studies, that dietary nitrate can reduce blood pressure and increase tolerance to high-intensity exercise, but definitely not enough evidence to recommend that people drink half a litre of beetroot juice a day. And have you tasted it? It’s not that bad, but delicious isn’t the first word that springs to my mind.

Next up is an overview of various other juices, their health benefits and recommended brands. Here’s my take on a few of them:

Pomegranate juice

The article mentions one study on 50 men with prostate cancer – levels of a protein linked to the cancer rose more slowly in those who drank a glass of pomegranate juice each day. But recent reviews suggest that, while there is a potential role for pomegranate in the prevention of prostate cancer, evidence from human clinical trials is still lacking.

Cranberry juice

As the article states, cranberry contains a substance that can stop bacteria sticking on the walls of the bladder. This is potentially helpful in preventing, but not treating, conditions such as cystitis. A recent Cochrane Review concluded that the juice may prevent recurrent infections in women, but that the required dose is still unclear.

Cherry juice

This one’s a classic: “drinking a glass of cherry juice a day offers the same health benefits as eating 23 portions of fruit and vegetables.” Really? Yes, it appears to have a very high ORAC score (a scale that measures the antioxidant capacity of a food) but there are other benefits to eating whole fruit, namely fibre, which fills you up and helps improve digestive and heart health. And at around £1.30 for the recommended daily serving, Cherry Active is not exactly cheap. One study did show that runners who drank Montmorency cherry juice twice a day in the seven days before the London marathon experienced less muscle pain afterwards. But it didn’t get rid of the pain completely, just made it a little less severe.

The journalist rightly states that although a couple of glasses of juice can be good for you (because of the high concentration of antioxidants) too much isn’t so good for your teeth or waistline. If you have your own juicer, you’ll see that a big proportion of the fruit is spat out the other end of the machine – that’s the fibre. Studies have shown that people are more likely to ‘overeat’ if they drink their fruit rather than eat it, in part because of the lower fibre content. Smoothies contain more fibre because the whole fruit is blended. But the process of whizzing the fruit to make juice or a smoothie breaks down cell walls, releasing simple sugars (not great for your teeth).

The table below shows a quick comparision of some of the nutrients in a 250ml glass of orange or apple juice compared to a piece of the whole fruit.

The bottom line… juices and smoothies can be a good way to boost your antioxidant and vitamin intake, especially if you’re not a huge fan of chomping fruit. A quick glass of orange juice is a lot less messy than peeling and eating a whole fruit, but stick to one glass a day, especially if you’re watching your weight. Try to get your antioxidants along with your fibre by eating a range of different fruits and vegetables. The evidence out there in the scientific research isn’t strong enough to state that downing vats of a range of different juices will have a beneficial impact on your long-term health.