Sports Nutrition during the Marathon Taper

Fueling for the Marathon: Two Weeks to Race Day

Over the past several months you’ve been diligently training and building up your mileage week by week. You’ve improved your cardiovascular fitness, your muscle strength and endurance, in the process you’ve depleted your muscle glycogen stores and caused micro-damage to muscle fibers and connective tissue. Race day is fast approaching and on this day, you will likely demand more of your body on that day than you did on any of your training runs. Therefore, these final two weeks of “tapering” are vital to how you will perform on race day. You are reducing your weekly mileage now, in order to give your body more time to recover, replenish and heal. It is not uncommon to feel as though you are losing fitness and/or gaining weight – do not worry it is only an illusion. Your fitness level will be maintain through the taper training and any weight gain you may experience if not illusionary will be a result of your body filling up the glycogen stores (the carbohydrates stored in your muscles along with water do weigh something). Now is not the time to cut back on calories, nor is it the time to over consume. Smart fueling now through race day will greatly increase the likelihood of a fabulous race experience.

The following are some guidelines for proper fueling during “Taper”:

Low levels of muscle glycogen will result in early energy depletion and fatigue. In order to keep glycogen stores full for race day your daily intake should be as follows:

Daily Carbohydrate Intake = 60-70% of total caloric intake
Or use the following calculations:
o 6-7gm/kg body weight for 1 hour training daily
o 8 gm/kg for 2 hr training daily
o 10 gm/kg for 3hr training daily
o 12-13 gm/kg for 4+ hr training daily

Carbohydrates are your body’s favorite energy source and the primary fuels source during exercise.

Recommended Carbohydrate Rich Foods: whole grain cereals, whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, winter squash, oats, barley, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables

Daily Protein Intake = 12-15% of total caloric intake
Protein requirement can also be calculate using 1.3 x kg body weight (there are 2.2 lbs per kg)

Lean Animal Protein &/or Plant-based proteins are important for muscle repair and growth, regular physical training tends to reduce muscle protein breakdown and protein loss from the body.

Protein Rich Foods: lean beef, chicken, fish/seafood, pork, beans and legumes such as lentils and split peas, tofu, tempeh, eggs, low fat cottage cheese, low fat cheese, nonfat/low fat milk and yogurt.

Daily Fat Intake = 20-25% of total caloric intake

In general, no less than 15% of your daily caloric intake should come from fat. Women of reproductive age need at least 20% of total calories to come from fat. Don’t exceed 25% of your total calories from fat, as the body prefers muscle glycogen for fuel over fat, also fat takes longer to digest than carbohydrates. Note: much of your fat intake will come through the meat, dairy and nut-based products you eat.

Healthiest Fat Sources: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. Olive oil, plant-based oil, coconut oil, avocados, olives, raw nuts & seeds, all-natural peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, flax and fish oils (i.e. the fat in salmon).

Foods to Limit or Avoid During Taper:
Limit high-fat protein foods like hamburgers, fried chicken, extra cheese because these foods take longer to empty from your stomach and can contribute to sluggishness. Limit sugary sweets like candy, cookies, candy bars, cakes, ice cream, candy bars, doughnuts, pastries, etc. Limit overall junky foods like French fries, onion rings, potato chips, most crackers, all fried foods, and alcohol.

The final two days before the race your intake should shift to:
75-80% of calories from Carbohydrates
10% of calories from Protein
10-15% of calories from Fat




To Your Success!

Melissa Guthrie
BSc Nutritional Science, BSc Exercise Physiology
ACE Certified Personal Trainer/Group Fitness Instructor
New Leaf Certified Metabolic Technician
Triathlete/Runner
Healthy Cooking Enthusiast