Fueling your fastest half marathon

As always, fueling is an integral part of you training and race planning. Half marathon fueling isn’t quite as complicated as marathon training, but it does matter and appropriate fueling can be the key to a strong performance.

So what does this look like?

The day or two leading up to the race – Add additional carbs for two days and the day before. This may mean just shifting some of the your food from either fat or protein to carbs. The goal here is to top off your glycogen stores to be race ready at the start line.

Some examples would be substituting a bagel sandwich for breakfast instead of eggs and sausage; for lunch a sandwich with a bagel or thick bread rather than a salad; pretzels, dried fruit, or even candy for snacks; pasta with a red sauce and garlic bread for dinner.

For these days, you should also be increasing your water intake. First, this will help to ensure that you are adequately hydrated for race day. Second, the increase carb consumption will require some additional water because carbohydrates increase your water retention (this is a good thing for racing purposes!).

The morning of your race – Breakfast for race day is another opportunity to get some good carbs in. If you are able to eat 3-4 hours before the race, you can have some more complex carbs and fat such as toast with peanut or almond butter. If you are eating breakfast around two hours before your race, focus on simple carbs that are easy to digest. This may look like oatmeal with fruit; a couple slices of toast with honey; or, my personal favorite: sourdough banana pancakes with honey.

With all of these, hydration is still key. Make sure to drink water or your hydration mix with your breakfast.

10-15 minutes or so before the race, especially if it’s been 3 hours since you’ve eaten, you can take a gel, chews, or other energy fuel with some water to get ready for the start line

During the race – Depending how long your race is going to be, you should plan to take some intra race fueling. If your race is under 80 minutes, you can get by with one gel, especially if you have topped off the glycogen stores and fueled well the morning of. If your race is going to last 2 hours or less, plan on at least 2 gels (or fuel of your choice) during the race. For runners that will be out on the course longer, you will want to add one additional gel for each additional 30 minutes. This is another place to ensure you are drinking water regularly. Most gels or chews require water to aid digestion.

Post race – Eat your finish line banana! Or anything else that you have on offer right after the race. Replacing some of the energy you expended right away is really important. Ideally, it would be something with a ratio of 3:1 carbs to protein. After a few hours, focus on having a meal with both protein and carbs to facilitate recovery. Rehydrate with plenty of water. Enjoy something delicious and fun!