What to eat before running has been on my mind a lot for the past few months. I’ve been training for the New York City Marathon—and I know that nutrition is one of the biggest factors that can make or break my success in training and on race day. I’ve run marathons in the past, so I’m familiar with the basics, but I wanted to know what’s changed since I last ran 26.2 (six years ago) and how I could optimize my nutrition this time around. So, I turned to three nutrition pros in the space for their insight.
Meet the experts: Brian St. Pierre, RD, CSCS, is the director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition and is based in Portland, Maine. Molly Kimball, RD, CSSD, is the founder and director of Ochsner Eat Fit nonprofit initiative in New Orleans, and host of the podcast FUELED Wellness + Nutrition. Kathleen Garcia-Benson, RDN, CSSD, NASM-CPT, is an El Paso, Texas-based registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching specializing in PCOS/women’s wealth, sports nutrition, and digestive health.
The Most Important Nutrients For Runners
Now, if you’re running (or exercising in general) for an hour or less per day, a “regular” healthy diet should be sufficient to support your needs, per Brian St. Pierre, RD, CSCS, director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition. “If you’re running the occasional three to five miles per week, or training for a 10K, there’s no special nutrition protocols necessary, other than focusing on mostly minimally processed whole foods, eating plenty of lean protein, veggies and fruits, quality carbs like whole grains, beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and including healthy fats like nuts, seeds, and avocados,” he says.
The tipping point seems to be at about 13.1 miles: “Once you are doing half-marathon training, your carb needs go up to about two to three grams per pound of bodyweight,” St. Pierre says, adding that lighter people will want to be at the higher end of that range, and heavier people towards the lower end. And once you get into marathon training (hi!) your carbs needs go up even higher to 2.5 to 4.5 grams per pound of body weight.
Now, this assumes you’re running (and/or cross training) 10 hours a week so it doesn’t apply to the entirety of the marathon training cycle—and for some, might not apply at all. If you’re training closer to five to 10 hours a week, you can stick to the half marathon recco’s and if you’re running less than five hours a week, 1.5 to two grams of carbs per pound would be just fine, St. Pierre says.
As an example, for a 150-pound person running between five and 10 hours a week, that comes out to 300 to 450 grams of carbs per day.
“Protein is also critical for proper recovery, and should be about 0.75 grams per pound on most days, and up to one gram per pound after your longest marathon training runs,” St. Pierre says. I’m easily hitting that target mostly thanks to WH’s focus on getting the word out on protein! (For more on post-run nutrition, check out this article.) So, that’d be ~112 grams of protein on most days and 150 grams of protein on long run days for a 150-pound person.
A word on fat: “It’s important to get enough healthy fats, such as nuts, seeds, avocados, [and] fish oil, but you don’t need to consume a lot of fat to help with endurance activities,” says St. Pierre. Emphasize protein and carbs (and most protein sources will provide some fat, too), get plenty of veggies, and add small amounts of healthy fats to make meals more enjoyable (think: chopped walnuts in your oatmeal, dressing on your salad, 1/4 of a sliced avocado with your chicken and rice).
Should you ever fast before a run?
The experts agree that, for most people, if you’re running for 30 minutes or less, a fasted workout is a totally viable option. So, if you’re like me and work out first thing in the morning, it’s A-okay to just roll out of bed, perhaps caffeinate, and hit the ground running—literally. As you get into longer distances, though, you’re going to want to put something in your stomach. Keep reading for how to fuel for various running distances.
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What To Eat Before Running
Up To 30 Minutes
Again, for a short run like this, you have the experts’ blessing to skip a pre-run snack, so long as you’re well hydrated. If you feel like you need (or just want) a snack, Garcia-Benson suggests an applesauce pouch, a couple of dried apricots, or a small handful of pretzels. Kimball adds that you may find that a piece of cheese or a few spoonfuls of nut butter works better for you.
A word on hydration: “[Before your run] aim to hydrate with one ounce of water for every 10 pounds of body weight (for someone 150 pounds, this would be 15 ounces), and increase if you are in more extreme conditions, like temperature extremes, humidity, or high elevation,” St. Pierre says.
Up To One Hour
“Because of the increased time and distance, it’s recommended to have an easy-to-digest carbohydrate food source roughly 30 minutes before your run,” explains Garcia-Benson. “Protein is slower to digest and not as well-tolerated in some [people] while running, and isn’t necessary in runs less than two hours.” However, if you want a snack that’s a little more satisfying, consider adding seven to 10 grams of protein in addition to about 30 grams of carbs. That might be some Greek yogurt with fresh fruit or a slice of bread with honey, jam, or a little peanut butter.
A word on caffeine: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention caffeine in this article! “Caffeine is a popular supplement for increasing endurance and delaying fatigue,” per Garcia-Benson, who says having one cup of coffee about 60 minutes before a long-distance run is enough to see benefits. Personally, I like a Super Coffee which gets me 10 grams of protein in addition to 200 mg of caffeine about an hour pre-run.
One To Two Hours
St. Pierre suggests sticking to about 10 grams of protein (which becomes more important the longer you’ll be running) and upping your carbs to 45 grams. That might be a half cup of oats with a banana and a hard boiled egg.
Garcia-Benson suggests a granola bar and a yogurt or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (light on peanut butter). “I find a lot of people like something like a turkey and cheese wrap or sandwich, which has [the electrolytes] potassium, calcium, and sodium,” per Kimball.
“Once you cross the 90-minute threshold, especially if in the heat, you may want to consider a sports drink during running as well, where you get in about 30 grams of carbs in 20 ounces of fluid per hour of running (a normal Gatorade bottle),” St. Pierre adds.
Two-Plus Hours
At this point, you can up your protein to 15 to 20 grams and your carbs can go as high as 60 to 90 grams, per St. Pierre. Garcia-Benson’s suggestion: a bowl of oatmeal with berries and a scoop of protein powder, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And remember: Intra-run fuel becomes critical at this point: “For runs exceeding two hours you will also want to consume 30 to 45 grams of carbs per hour from sports drinks, gels, etcetera,” St. Pierre says.
A word on sodium: Plain H20 will usually suffice for runs lasting under 90 minutes, per St. Pierre. For runs over 90 minutes, aim for 300 to 420 mg of sodium every hour. (These numbers may go up if you’re dealing with extreme heat and/or humidity, FYI.) That could be 20 ounces of Gatorade with ½ to one full GU gel to get both the carbs and sodium you need. This was a big learning for me—I’ve been training with plain H20 and GU gels with 125mg of sodium. Knowing I should be getting about double that amount per hour, I’m going to add two Nuun Sport tablets (300mg of sodium each) to my water during the race.
Race Day: 26.2 Miles
Luckily, you can pretty much run the same play on race day as you do for training runs two hours or longer. The key with race day is to remember NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY! On long-distance training days, experiment with a full meal, with an emphasis on carbohydrates, moderate protein, and low fiber and fats. You can try any of the above options or some of Kimball’s suggestions, including a whole grain toaster waffle, whole grain bagel, a sweet potato, or something more “lunch” like such as a whole grain or chickpea pasta.
St. Pierre notes your intra-run nutrition should go up to 45 to 60 grams of carbs per hour, though, in addition to sipping eight to 16 ounces of fluid with electrolytes.
Race Week Nutrition Tips
What you eat in the 48 to 72 hours—and even full week—before your race could actually impact your performance. “Carb-loading is not just a single-day process,” says Garcia-Benson. “It’s a strategic approach to maximize glycogen stores in your muscles in the days leading up to a marathon or half-marathon.” By consuming a higher percentage of calories from carbohydrates, you ensure your muscles have the energy they need during the race, she adds. And the focus is on quantity and quality here: “Choose high-quality carbohydrate sources like whole grains, fruits, and legumes,” she says.
In the two to three days before a half marathon, she suggests upping your carb intake to four to five grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day. (That’s 272 to 340 grams of carbs for a 150-pound person.) The day before you can go up to eight to 12 grams of carbs per kilogram. (That’s 544 to 816 grams of carbs for a 150-pound person.) For a full marathon, she ups her suggestion to five to seven grams of carbs per kilogram of bodyweight per day in the two to three days pre-race (so, 340 to 476 grams of carbs for the 150-pound person) and sticks with the up to eight to 12 grams per kilogram the day beforehand.
Fun fact: “A trending topic recently has been ‘train low, compete high,’ where athletes train with low glycogen stores [read: fewer carbs] but compete with them fully loaded,” Garcia-Benson says. “This is believed by some to boost performance but is still debated and not typically recommended.”
What *Not* To Eat Before A Run
I leave you with some things to avoid before a run because it is unfortunately possible to do more harm than good with pre-run nutrition! here’s the obvious things to avoid like fatty and/or fried foods and there are less obvious ones, like vegetables.
“Excessively fiber-rich foods could cause stomach discomfort,” says Garcia-Benson. So save those for post-run. Also, sugar alcohols found in many packaged bars and such could also lead to gas or even diarrhea, per Kimball. Lastly, Kimball adds that you may want to avoid anything garlicky, oniony, or with a very distinct taste that you might continue to taste during your run.