Eating for marathon training

How many extra calories do you think you need when training for a marathon. Say for a basic get you round the course schedule for 16 weeks, how much extra do you need ?

Comments

  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭
    Rough rule of thumb is that you burn about 100 calories per mile you run (or walk). But running early in the day increases your metabolism for a few hours, so you will burn a bit extra over and above that.
  • I think its a good idea to eat a little more before a long training run and replenish reserves a bit after it, but otherwise I've always stuck with my normal food intake.

    It's quite normal to lose a little weight during marathon training, and that will help you to run faster. If you start eating more, you might end up putting on weight, which won't help at all.
  • This is so individual, an 8 stone woman would burn far fewer calories than a 14 stone man running the same mileage for example.
    If you normally eat to hunger, and eat plenty of carbohydrates you will naturally increase the amount you eat by the right amount. I've noticed over the past few weeks when I've upped my training that I seem to be a lot more hungry. So I just eat more!

    Like donutto says many people don't mind losing a bit of weight for the marathon but even then this should be gradual or you may lose muscle as well as fat, and not have enough energy to train effectively.
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