Las vegas Rock N Roll marathon has a 4 pm start and I am tossing back and forth what I should try and eat.
The best plan would have been go for a few long runs in the evening and practice, well, due to a two year old, injuries, peronaly life, that just hasn’t happened. My normal pre-long run breakfast is usually anything from cereal to english muffins with pb&j. During IM and marathons I can pretty much handle anything, powerbars, clif bars, bananas etc.
I was considering something like waffles/pancakes with syrup for breakfast (7 am), then not sure if I should just try and consume about 100 calories an hour (via bars/gels half sandwiches) with no meal for lunch or just maybe a light morning snack, light lunch/brunch and a light afternoon snack.
Is there any science on what approcah would be better here? less meals with more calories each meal, or more meals with less calories?
Does it even make a difference?
FWIW - 3:45 open marathon, 11:41 IM, 30-35 mi a week running, seats slightly too high, I raise both arms at the finish line, hate vibram 5 fingers and got race wheels before a power meter
4pm wtf! i’d struggle at that time to know what to do as well, maybe plain pasta or porridge n honey or toast banana n honey. don’t go mental though its not an IM you need to be able to run at pace. weird start time though.
Well, the idea is to run the srtip at night, which is kind of cool in theory I guess.
The full starts at 4 pm and the half starts at 5:30 p.m. (I hope they at least have the course divided so I do not have to weave through 12,000 half marathoners through the last 13 miles.
I usually don’t eat big meals anyway, so I guess some instant oatmeal with some fresh blueberries would be a good midday option. I need to take something to make sure I “clean the pipes” before the race, but I want to make sure it doesn’t just sit in my stomach.
Well before any race that starts in the morning, you would normally have dinner anywhere from 10-12 hours before start time. I suggest maybe waking up early (4AM) and having a carb filled breakfast. This could be pasta just like dinner. Then 2-3 hours befor race have something similar to what you would eat before a race. Muffin, bagel, banana… You get the idea. This is what I would do. Also, make sure you take a nap an hour or so after the breakfast.
Las vegas Rock N Roll marathon has a 4 pm start and I am tossing back and forth what I should try and eat.
The best plan would have been go for a few long runs in the evening and practice, well, due to a two year old, injuries, peronaly life, that just hasn’t happened. My normal pre-long run breakfast is usually anything from cereal to english muffins with pb&j. During IM and marathons I can pretty much handle anything, powerbars, clif bars, bananas etc.
I was considering something like waffles/pancakes with syrup for breakfast (7 am), then not sure if I should just try and consume about 100 calories an hour (via bars/gels half sandwiches) with no meal for lunch or just maybe a light morning snack, light lunch/brunch and a light afternoon snack.
Is there any science on what approcah would be better here? less meals with more calories each meal, or more meals with less calories?
Does it even make a difference?
FWIW - 3:45 open marathon, 11:41 IM, 30-35 mi a week running, seats slightly too high, I raise both arms at the finish line, hate vibram 5 fingers and got race wheels before a power meter
I ran a midnight half-marathon and had the same dilemma. I decided to go with three huge helpings of lasgna for dinner. My race was crap-tastic. Here’s the race report if you’re interested:
I’ll be there with you and was wondering the same thing. I’m doing the half but I’m pacing my girlfriend to a 1:45 so I haven’t really given much thought to it as that’s a fairly easy effort for me.
I just wonder what the best thing to do is to keep energy up throughout the day. When I lay around during the day, I tend to get tired and sleepy…not refreshed.
It’s a tough one for sure. I think just eat normal and you should be fine. Solid breakfast, Good lunch and a solid snack around 2pm and then maybe something before you start?
Same issue at Boise 70.3. The first year I did it my wave went off at lie 3:30 PM and this year it was more like 2:00 PM. First year I ate too much. This time it was better. Oatmeal and an egg for breakfast and a peanut butter on a bagel at 11:00 AM or so.
I’ll be there as well to run the Mary. I don’t normally have any GI issues so I was planning to have a normal breakfast and then a light lunch. If I eat lunch at 1200 that is still 4 hrs to digest the food which is normally not an issue. I haven’t decided what lunch will consist of but I am leaning towards a sandwich probably turkey or chicken from Subway. I think the biggest issue will be to make sure that you are well hydrated throughout the day.
I did Boise last year and I thought there would be a lot of anxiety but it was actually an enjoyable experience having a race later in the day.
i’ll be running the 1/2, more worried about post race refueling than pre race fueling… My wife will be on the sidelines (stress fracture) so she’ll meet me at the end with my recovery drink…
I’ll be there also the strip is gonna be awesome. I’m sleeping in since I will be up gambling and partying night before. Big breakfast then oatmeal a couple hours before with ensure. Then snacking on bars. Post race. Everything plus after party all night!!! Don’t worry about time and weaving. Just have fun enjoy the strip the bands!!!
