Tuesday, September 28, 2010

5 Days to Go: Nutrition Strategy

I'm going to divide my marathon strategy into two posts.  The first regards nutrition, the second about pacing and general strategy.  I think this is important because nutrition is just as important as pacing, and requires just as much fretting (maybe even more).

Last year, my nutrition plan was as follows:
  • Carb load starting 2-3 days before the race.
  • At each water stop, drink 1 cup of water and 1 cup of Powerade.
  • I ate drank ingested a Gu at miles 5, 9, 15, 21, and 23.  Instead of water and Powerade at these rest stops, I did 2 cups of water to help me digest the Gu.
  • A salt packet at 11 and 24, but this failed miserably because the salt got all wet from my sweat (ironic, eh?) at mile 11 so it was tough to eat, and I dropped the second one at 24.
It seemed to work fairly well, but I'm modifying it a bit this year to ensure that I stay fueled.
  • I'm already carb loading.  I've started increasing the proportion of carbs in my diet by eating more fruit, veggies, rice, and pasta.  I've also cut out sugary snack foods (sad face), and tried to keep my protein and fat content about constant.
  • About 45 minutes before the race, I plan to have 1 salt packet.  With about 15-20 minutes to go, I'll eat drink consume a Gu.
  • I plan on drinking only Powerade at the rest stops.  This is the way I trained all summer, and I was really pleased at how much Powerade keeps my energy up.  It's almost a Gu-like effect, but spread out over a longer period of time.  Depending on how full the cups are, I'll take 1 or 2 cups, aiming for about 4oz at each aid station.
  • I'll consume Gu at miles 7, 11, 15, and 19.  I was thinking about shifting these forward to (5, 9, 13, 17, and 21), but I wanted to reduce the amount of Gu I was carrying.  Also, on one of my runs I had a Gu at Franklin and E. River (the mile 19 water stop on the course), and I was REALLY pleased with my energy level on the hill near St. Thomas.  I may take an extra Gu with me in case I want it on Summit, but I'll probably stick with Powerade there.  Oh, and at these aid stations I'll only drink water, about 6-8oz.
  • I'm going to do a 2nd salt packet near the halfway point.
  • With about 20 minutes left in the race (about 2-3 miles), I'm not going to stop for anything.  20 minutes isn't enough time for the calories to make themselves useful, and I don't want any excuses to stop moving.  Walking is ok, but once I do, the temptation to keep doing it gets greater and greater.  The one exception to this rule is that if it's hot out (it probably won't be), I'll grab water at the last couple aid stations and dump it on my head to cool off.  I don't see this happening though.
So that's my liquid diet for the race.  One sad part is that they've discontinued Orange Burst Gu, so I'll be using my second favorite flavor—Tri-Berry.  It's ok, but it's just not the same as Orange Burst.

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