Watch any major endurance event today - a marathon, an Ironman, a cycling grand tour, a gravel race, an ultra run - and you’ll notice something has changed. The athletes at the front aren’t just fitter. They’re fueling and hydrating smarter. For a long time, race day nutrition was treated like an afterthought. If you were fit, you could be competitive with a haphazard fueling plan. But that strategy doesn't work any more because everyone arrives fit and prepared. These days, those who perform at the top approach fueling with the same intention as their training: structured, tested, and personalized. As a sport dietitian, I am loving this because athletes are finally recognizing the value of personalized fueling and hydration (and we have dozens of sport nutrition companies who are making it easier for athletes to fuel and hydrate). Dialing in what to eat, when to eat, and how to hydrate must become part of the training process. Every long run, every ride, every brick run, ev...
The Boston Marathon is unlike any other marathon race. You board a bus to Hopkinton and spend several hours anxiously waiting at Athletes' Village alongside thousands of other excited and nervous runners. Although running 26.2 miles is the familiar part, the Boston Marathon (similar to a few other events like the London Marathon) has a logistical component with the wave starts and needing to arrive 2-3 hours before the race start. Most runners will begin running between 10:15-11:30am. That gap between the morning "pre race" meal and the start is where many runners get it wrong. Despite being physically prepared, there's a chance of either under-fueling and hitting the wall early on, or over-eating and fighting GI distress through the Newton Hills. If you are running the Boston marathon and you have concerns about how to fuel and hydrate on race morning, this blog gives you a simple timeline for breakfast, village fueling, and pre-race hydration so that you can perfor...