Marathon Race Week: What to Do and When to Do It
by Jonas Holdeman
McMillanRunning.com Coach
Confused as to just how to get fully prepared for a peak marathon performance? You’re not alone. In this article, coach Jonas Holdeman, himself a former marathon champion, tells you what he tells his athletes prior to their marathon.
(1) RACE WEEK
Sleep
Do your best to get to bed early the two to three nights before your target event. If you get adequate sleep these two nights, you won’t have to worry about losing sleep the night before the marathon (and you will because you’ll likely be restless the night before the race). I typically climb into bed at 9:00 PM and read until I doze off. I never worry about whether or not I get good sleep the night before a race: chances are I
won't, due to nerves. And, from a physiological standpoint, if you’re used to seven hours of sleep and you get ten, you’ll probably feel more sluggish on race morning. So, don’t worry about the night before the race. Focus on the night before the night before.
By the way, if you find it hard to sleep, just do the following. Lie on your back and focus on taking long, deep nasal breaths. Try to make the inhale and the exhale match in terms of length. (I usually count the inhale and the exhale – in two, three, four: out two, three, four). This will do two things: 1) free your mind from the anxiety of thinking “Oh my! I can’t sleep! I have a race in the morning! I’ll be too tired to run!” etc., etc. and 2) relax your body so that you actually fall asleep.
Hydration
In the three days prior to your race, you'll need to consume 0.5-0.7 ounces of fluid per day per pound of body weight. Shoot for 75-100 ounces daily, consuming an 8 ounce glass at regular intervals. The way I do it is to set the timer function on my sports watch for 1:00:00; and, every time the alarm sounds, I drink 8 ounces.
This strategy: 1) ensures that you drink enough without having to really think about it and 2) provides constant intake instead of realizing you are behind and chugging to catch up. What the latter means is that you will not have to jump up and take a leak every 20 minutes. If you drink more water less frequently (i.e., chug a 16 ounce glass every two hours), you'll be forcing the body to "pass" on the available fluid because it cannot absorb it. If you need an analogy, it's like what a farmer wants when his crops are dry: six hours of light, steady rain that provides a gallon per square meter rather than a 15 minute downpour of the same volume that ends up washing into the lake. Stop drinking water about two (2) hours before you hit the sack to reduce the need to whiz during the night.
Carbohydrate Intake
In the two days prior to your race, you'll want to focus on carbohydrate consumption: it will be 70% of your diet. Even 5K racers need to focus on this, as training can leave the body in a carbohydrate-depleted state that may take a few days to fully re-stock. Research shows that the optimal intake is four to five grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight per day. For me, at 150 pounds, that’s 600 or so grams of carbohydrates.
NOTICE: That’s almost 2500 calories in carbohydrates alone! So, you have to be careful to not just eat more. You are changing the composition of your diet, not the quantity. You’ll need to pay attention to keeping your “bad” fat intake moderate to prevent unwanted weight gain. I recommend you keep a food diary of some sort to make sure you a) eat enough carbohydrates and b) don't over-eat. I typically eat at 7:00 AM, (9:30 AM snack), NOON, (2:30PM snack), 5:00PM, and (7:30PM snack) the days preceding a marathon. That way, I can evenly distribute the intake over the course of the day. If you try to consume the volume of carbohydrates you need at only three meals, you'll barf (or at least feel like it). Your in-between meal snacks (times in parentheses) are a good time for a shake, smoothie or some other liquid carbohydrate source. Also, stock up on healthy nutrition bars and fruits that you know will not cause you gastrointestinal problems. Bananas are usually a safe bet; plus, they have lots of good potassium.
Our rule is that in the last three days prior to a marathon, you should never get hungry. This would indicate low blood sugar and your carbohydrate stores would be used to replace this blood sugar. This is not what we want when we’re trying to store--not immediately use--carbohydrates. In the last three days, keep food with you at all times. You may get stuck in traffic or have delays in your travel to the race. This will make sure that you don’t get stuck without food. And, the same goes for fluids!
Stretching
All week prior to the marathon, focus on two areas: your hamstrings and your calves. Secondary focus should be on hip flexors and IT bands. Conduct 3 x 20-second stretches per muscle group per leg twice daily from Tuesday until the race. When fatigued and under-hydrated, muscles tend to shorten as elasticity is lost. For a visual, think of how elastic a dry rubber band tends to be (that is, not very elastic).
(2) THE NIGHT BEFORE
Eat well at least 12 hours before race time, consuming 1.5 to 2 grams of carbohydrates per pound (3 to 4 grams per kilogram) of body weight. Eat foods you are very familiar with, consisting of mainly complex carbohydrates like pastas, breads, rice, potatoes, cooked vegetables, etc. Go easy on the dessert. Add lean meats (preferably poultry or fish). Keep rich sauces to a minimum. Don’t try Thai food for the first time tonight (unless you want to risk having stomach upset or flames shooting out of your fanny as you warm-up!). If you are Thai or eat Thai food daily, have at it! You’ll need to make sure you consume plenty of water with this meal, as this high-carbohydrate meal will require plenty of fluid to digest properly.
After dinner, go for a short walk to help with digestion and walk off some of the butterflies. Think happy thoughts and celebrate all the hard work you’ve done and the support group that helped you get to this point.
(3) RACE MORNING
What follows is the optimal schedule for pre-race eating to ensure you are absolutely loaded before the race. As with any race-day routine, you’ll want to “practice” this beforehand: I suggest that before your last 3-4 long runs (especially prior to a fast-finish long run), you follow the guidelines below. At first blush, this will seem like a lot of food; however, there is a lot of research to back up this methodology. So, you're going to have to trust me on this.
3 to 4-Hours Prior to the Start
Ingest 1.5 to 2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of your body weight. This is your real pre-race meal. I suggest taking in half of it via a liquid carbohydrate drink (shake, smoothie, etc.) and the rest in bagels or bread, cereal, raisins, or whatever works for you. Make certain nothing you eat is new to you: now is not the time to find out that dried apricots turn your bowels to liquid. Drink AT LEAST 32 ounces of plain old water with this meal. Otherwise, the carbohydrate-laden foods will simply sit in your gut until they have enough fluid to begin the digestion process.
Now, since this will be 4:00 AM (assuming an 8:00 AM start), if you can get back to sleep, go for it; but, if not, don't fret. Just read or stretch until your next feeding.
Two Hours Prior to the Start
Ingest 0.5 up to 1 gram of carbohydrate and AT LEAST 24 oz. of water. In our sample scenario, it's 6:00 AM; so, better get up and start preparing yourself to get going. Make sure you've got your race number on your outfit, the timing chip on your shoe, all your clothes are laid out and you're ready to get to the race staging area.
Note: If you are doing a race where you will have to be on a bus to the start or in a staging area at this time, then plan ahead to take your food and fluid along with you. There is nothing wrong with eating on the bus or in the staging area. In fact, others around you will be looking with envy as they begin to get hungry and you are properly fueling yourself for the start!
One Hour Prior to the Start
Ingest a small carbohydrate snack and at least 16 ounces of water. A sports bar, well-tolerated fruit, and carbohydrate-rich beverages or supplements are a good choice. You should be at the race site by now and getting into the spirit of the event. If you have been carbohydrate-loading for the past few days, you'll also be feeling a bit bloated right now; but, don't worry: it's normal.
Just Prior (10 minutes) To the Start
Drink 10 ounces of sports drink. You should have completed your running warm-up and most of your dynamic warm-up by now; so, just stay warm and loose as you wait in the starting area.
(4) DURING THE RACE
Beginning at the three mile mark, drink three to four good swallows of sports drink every 15 to 20 minutes (or every two to three miles). This will keep you well-hydrated and delay the onset of glycogen depletion that will occur toward the end of the race. By following this strategy, you will be amazed at how many people you will pass in the last 6 miles of the race--people who look very fit and well-trained. Why? A Buick will beat a Porsche every time if the Porsche has no gas in the tank (not that you are a Buick . . .).
(5) AFTER THE RACE
Within 30 minutes of finishing, consume about 100 grams of carbohydrates and 25 grams of protein. Two cans of Slim-Fast are an ideal way to accomplish this but any food/fluid will work as long as it matches the nutritional requirements. You won’t feel much like eating; but, you’ll need the immediate consumption of carbohydrate and protein to feed your starving muscles. Then, eat a well-balanced meal two to three hours after finishing. Obviously, you'll need to drink PLENTY of water. This will help you recover faster and minimize the post-race muscular distress common after a marathon. And, of course, don’t forget to celebrate your success with a tasty treat or frosty beverage!
Jonas Holdeman is an accomplished runner and coach. He was the winner of the inaugural Memphis Marathon and is a USA Track & Field certified coach and instructor. He coaches runners at www.mcmillanrunning.com.
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