4 Tips to Combat Marathon (Or Half Marathon!) Training Hunger

Right before running my first marathon, I wrote a post about why I was gaining weight during my training. I didn’t sign up for a marathon to necessarily lose weight, but I sure as heck didn’t think I would gain weight, especially since I was running so much. In the end, I was consuming more calories than my body needed, so I was about 10 pounds heavier on marathon day. When I trained for my second marathon, I didn’t quite gain 10 pounds, but it was pretty close. By the time I ran the Boston Marathon, my third marathon, I finally figured things out. Apparently, third time’s a charm, so be sure to check out what worked for me and why I didn’t gain any weight.

On the recent CNC survey, a number of people made comments and asked questions about how to combat hunger while training for a marathon or half marathon. Hunger (or “runger”) is REAL when it comes to training for endurance events, but “combat” probably isn’t the right word. When you are spending so much time on your feet, logging mile after mile, you need to FEED your body.

Without proper nutrition, your body will not recover properly, you’ll feel like garbage, and you can even mess up your hormones. I mean, how many women do you know who have lost their periods when training for an endurance event? I’m getting a little sidetracked here, but I’m taking a hormone certification in mid-November, so I’ll be sure to write a blog post about this in the future. (If you haven’t noticed already, I’m obsessed with all things hormones.) In the meantime, check out the Well-Fed Women Podcast for a lot of awesome information on exercise and hormones.

Anyway… here are some tips for dealing with #ALLTHEHUNGER when you’re training for an endurance event!

1. EAT. No, seriously. If you’re hungry and your body is telling you to eat, EAT! But, go for the WHOLE foods first. Eat as much of the good stuff as you want – just keep an eye on the “fun” foods. Those can definitely add up, and they’re likely not giving your body the macro and micronutrients that it really needs to fuel and refuel from your training.

No idea how much to eat? I always went with the 100 calories per mile estimate for refueling after any long run more than 60 minutes. (You don’t need to do anything extra to refuel for runs less than 60 minutes.) Sure, I could have grabbed a couple of slices of pizza and a beer to refuel and hit my calorie goal, but I finally wised-up to proper recovery nutrition. For best results, the calories should come from a combo of carbohydrates and protein in approximately a 3:1 ratio.

Some favorites: Chicken and sweet potatoes, protein smoothie made with banana and yogurt, eggs and toast/home fries, rice bowl with meat or fish.

2. Take the time to truly balance your meals and snacks. Every meal you eat should have a combination of protein, carbs, and fat to fill you up and keep you satisfied. My go-to trick for a quick balanced meal is envisioning my plate cut into quarters:

• 1 quarter is protein (3-4 ounces)
• 1 quarter is startch-y deliciousness (sweet potatoes, rice, pasta, parsnip fries, squash, etc.)
• 1/2 is whatever veggies I want (usually, I pick 2-3 different ones). After that, I’ll add a serving or two of fat – a dressing or sauce, avocado, cheese, or straight up butter.

I find if I really balance out my food choices, I feel much more satisfied and less likely to want a zillion snacks.

Still feel like an eating machine?

3. Make sure you’re properly hydrated. Dehydration can mask itself as hunger, so chug some water before you reach for snacks.

4. When all else fails: protein, protein, protein. Protein was so important to my training, obviously for recovery, but also for keeping my hunger and cravings at bay. After almost every workout (both runs and KFIT/CrossFit workouts), I drank a protein shake (made with SFH Recovery) within 30-60 minutes. I also made sure that all of my meals and snacks had some sort of protein in them. I absolutely think this helped my body recover more quickly and helped me build muscle, which we all know is important to boosting metabolism and burning calories.

Question of the Day

What are your tricks for fighting the training hunger?

 

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