If you want to perform well in the marathon, you need to train and condition your body to perform in its peak state at the time of the competition.
To condition the muscles in your body, you must fuel the muscles with the right nutrients to prepare the body for the marathon training workouts, exercises, drills, and intensity that’s required to excel in the race.
You want to get as many nutrients from food and drinks that you would normally consume throughout the day.
However, since the training is so intense, your body will burn through the calories and macros needed to fuel the muscles. This intensity might see the body actually burn the fat and even start feeding off the muscles in your body. You don’t want the muscles to be affected, which is where taking additional supplements to keep your nutrients at a surplus will help you with your marathon training.
How many calories burned in a marathon?
Expect to burn around 2600 calories in a marathon.
How many calories will you burn per minute?
As a rule of thumb, you will be able to burn at least 10 calories per minute when running at a moderate pace (6-8km per hour). The more intense and longer you run, the more calories you will burn per minute.
If you run for longer than 30 minutes, your body will typically go into an afterburn state, where more calories will be burned after doing the exercise.
What calorie intake should you maintain?
- Men – Neutral at 3000 calories per day.
- Women — Neutral at 2000 calories per day.
Use a diet tracker like Easy Diet Diary to keep track of your nutritional intake.
Aim to consume at least 45% carbs, 30% protein, and 15% fats.
Also note that you should consume 2g of protein per kg of your body’s mass per day. If you weigh 60kg, you should consume at least 120g of protein.
Tweak and adjust your macros so you find the combination that works best for you.
What supplements should you consume?
Protein powder
If you need to boost your protein consumption, it is easy to take a protein shake. This shouldn’t be a meal replacement. It should just be used to quickly add more protein to your daily consumption if you find that you aren’t on track to hit your protein consumption goal.
Optimum Nutrition provide a high-quality protein at a decent price. The protein also has good flavour and mixes well.
Prices start from $49.
