What to eat before a marathon - Olympian vs Amateur

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In this video we talk through what an amateur vs olympic marathoner eat in a day. What I eat for a race against the nutrition of a an olympian marathon diet. Running nutrition can help you run faster and carb loading can lead to better times. Marathon running is all about the details and this is an example of one person's best diet for marathon training. Hope this helps!
Have a great week guys! Cheers.

[@hayezflyest]

Take a shot everytime Kerry says "Carbo-Pro"

[@louie.lenard5795]

Make sure its a shot of carbo-pro though...

[@speedracer77]

I took a shot every time he said Carbo Pro and I'm completely wasted now

[@wesleytwiggs7687]

I just wanna say, I come back to this video time and time again, just to remember why this diet works. I pretty much have it memorized, even down to each guys’ pauses in their sentences. I’ve seen it probably over a dozen times and it’s helped me stick to a diet that has made me a consistent sub 2:50 marathoner.

[@mouvementtarte711]

"He now runs a store"

[@Georg89]

"...runs a RUNNING store"

[@ashrafibrahim3601]

I know you guys probably wont see this, but I really enjoy your videos. It's really educational and has pushed me to work out properly. Thank you guys.

[@liamwadman2828]

Love the video, It’s always cool getting behind the scenes with real world class pros. Also I appreciate the Canadian angle, made me read up on Carey and the 96 olympics!

[@MisterPol]

Love the advice. It's so important to keep improving yourself. And you inspired me to start a self-improvement channel during this pandemic too!!

[@na6089]

Thanks guys for all the quality content you make, signing up to blinkist! Cheers from Ireland

[@Jochemster]

Question coming from a nutritionist: why would you carbo-load and run your marathon on carbohydrates, while the total storage of glycogen in your body is limited? You do this and you would constantly need to replenish the carbohydrates by having sport-drinks or energybars. It is possible to run on mostly fats, look for ultra runners for example.

[@nym49]

This. Also let's keep in mind that this will cause a significant weight gain. Say you are a 70kg long distance runner with an average glycogen uptake you'll end up with about 500g of glycogen stored in muscles, liver and a few grams in your blood. Glycogen is bound to water to be stored in your body at a ratio of about 1:3. So on top of the 500g glycogen you'll retain 1.5kg of water. That's a 3% weight increase. Comparable to go for a run, while carrying 18 sticks of butter with you. All while the 500g of carbs result in just about 2000 calories of energy. Not even accounting for your bodies inefficiencies in the process of conversion, you will run out of "carbs" before the race is over (Marathon = ~2600 calories). Despite the fact that refueling seems almost to be a requirement - not only is this the reason for runners consuming copious amounts of sugar gels, which in turn has a negative short and long term impact on your digestion, teeth and blood glucose and insulin balance - you will also experience a serious crash once your stores are depleted and your body relies on metabolizing glucose, instead of fat. If you would run on ATP coming from breaking down body fat you'll end up with just about 300g of body fat being used in the process. Considering that even a 70kg trained marathon runner will still have 8% body fat, which is around 5.5kg of fat. Obviously you won't be able to utilize all of it, but you surely won't run out of energy.

[@avigetsbored]

I think for most average people running 3-5hr marathons or those running ultras it would make sense to be "fat-adapted" and to not have to keep refueling but for elite marathoners who weigh very little and will be running 4:30-5:20min splits, with extremely efficient running form, it might make more sense to use carbs just because you're running on only fats you aren't going to start actually burning the fat for energy until a good bit into the run leaving you without the same boost at the beginning of the race, and even if you reach a thud at the end it won't be for that long.

[@pedrothevenard]

Because carbs are slightly more efficient if you keep replenishing it, you can for sure lead a healthy life, with very good results in training and you can keep efficiency high without constant replenishment running on fats, eventually it will be more effective to be used to fat if you don't have enough points to replenish since carrying too much weight can be detrimental, and still many of the top ultra runners will prefer to run on carbs just because of how efficient glycogen is and how enjoyable eating carbs is and mental health is also key, but for a marathon with enough stations to get your carbs and not needing to carry that much weight, carbs are a no brainner, the fast absorption and incredible efficiency of glycogen will give you an edge that will shave quite a few minutes in the end, and a couple minutes might be the difference between first and third or fifth or even worst on a competitive race, ultras don't have enough stop points or else they would always run on carbs for performance, and again many still prefer it, carbs just perform better and you should know that as a nutritionist, the downside is that they need to be constantly replenished, but if you can replenish, nothing will perform better, specially when you need to sprint in the end, again something not that usual on ultra marathons but very common in regular marathons.

[@pedrothevenard]

@@nym49 8% fat? 70kg? You are talking recreational runners, eliud Kipchoge has way less fat and weights 50 kg, and all his serious competitors are very like him, carbs will not impact digestion that much or have any negative impact really that a couple days eating ok won't solve, and if you want to PEFORM nothing beats glycogen.

[@nym49]

​@@pedrothevenard This is using outliers in both genetics and circumstances as a prototype to base your conclusions for everyone on. This is false. You try to take what seemingly is done in a professional high-performance sport on Olympic athlete levels by a few outliers, who stout and rout know that this is their full-time job for which they are willing to take any health risk and who have full access to an entire support team of people - those are the 0.01% of the 0.01% (read: 1 out of 100 million people or 80 out of the entire 8 billion population) - as something that (keep in mind this is a video not target to those 80, this is a video target to average Joes) even a laymen should apply in his hobby or amateur sport. The example you used, Eliud Kipchoge, allegedly (acc. to Wikipedia) weighs in at a competition weight of 52kg on 1.67m. The BMI, as critical as this value has to be seen, would be at 18.6. Not even many elite ski jumpers, for whom a lower bodyweight often directly correlates with a larger distances jumped in comp., got to that level. From the latter you know that many of them are suffering of the consequences of anorexia they developed even decades after their elite-level careers ended. Any western man (yes, I'm only taking males as an example for the sake of simplicity and in relation to the video) of a decent average body size, say 1.75m (about 5'9"), who is a trained runner, but not on the aforementioned almost unobtainable 0.0001% elite-level, 70kg is a pretty decent low yet standard body weight, if running is not your full-time profession. If you do any kind of additional physical activity that does not entirely neglect your upper body - as running does - you'll find 70kg even hard to attain and maintain. 8% body fat is low, no doubt. Yet, not unrealistic for a runner. Take Brendan from the Goalguys himself. After his 30 day challenge he ended up at 70kg with 10.5% body fat. (We are not talking Dexa scan measurement accuracy, more so what your physician, a good qualified nutritionist or personal trainer can measure.) At that trained state he was far from being an overtrained muscle monster (since you find 70kg to be a lot ... hint: it is not). Even his 10.5% is far from what many hobbyists can achieve and do achieve nowadays. I'm not saying he was chubby, but he was also not as defined (= low body fat) as many people are even in the endurance sport. Every weekend you can find tens of thousands of hobbyist runners competing in local 5k, 10k, half or full marathons, ultra marathons or triathlons and more. At every single of those competitions you can find people at even sub-8% body fat. Sadly carb-loading, pasta parties, the sales of sugar gels or high-carb bars at the events themselves (or/and often them being sponsors of said event), the framing of it being a necessity to do the sport, including detailed instructions in running magazines, as well as easy to find posts about how to increase your carb uptake (to get it closer or above 10g/kg) in all sorts of running communities. Neither are those people close to the elite levels that you want to compare them (and maybe yourself?) to, nor does your body require it. All this is a measure of justification. Your muscles don't need carbs. They need ATP to "PERFORM". Your muscles absolutely do not care whether it comes from breaking down sugars or breaking down fats. (Actually you might be better off with the latter, since breaking down of fats does result in a lower level of lactate, which you might have heard is quite beneficial for endurance sports.) As I've said before, the person interviewed failed to deliver a proper frame of reference and so do you. Compare high-carb to a SAD and you might feel better. Give proper adaptation to utilizing your body's fat metabolism a chance (hint: no, testing it for 2 weeks is not sufficient, because your mitochondria need to develop accordingly, especially if your goal is to get to a level to run a marathon) and you'll be surprised. Furthermore, if you've ever talked to emergency physicians on call at such an hobbyist running events or those events for even more ambitious amateurs you'll know how many people ask for something against acute diarrhea or other gastrointestinal issues. And another hint: Eating "ok" won't do the trick, if you regularly carb-load and eat high-carb to "sustain" your training in the state of continuous glucose metabolism that you force your body to be in. The SAD is too flawed to even be an "okay" diet.

[@trepidati0n533]

Running a marathon in sub 2:30 is bucket load different than sub 3 hour and a lifetime away for 4:00 hours. I do not think you diet was wrong for that day. I doubt you are ever at the glycogen depletion level most pro's are at continuously where you need to fuel that hard before a race. I would check your resting metabolic rate and load from there. If your resting rate is 2k per day then 6k makes no sense.

[@BradMalickBeltran]

I totally agree, also marathon runners are really lean and running 100 miles a week so they need that to continually fuel themselves. A normal overweight human being would be gain weight and just feel ridiculously full if he tried that. I think the research and just knowledge in general in these videos is not great and wrong a large majority of the time.

[@FearlessDreams]

Guys, I just love your perspective on every video!

[@VictorRegouin]

I always tell myself to eat healthy and than do it for a while and fall back to my old eating habits. I know habits take time to creat so will give it a other go!

[@brendan8356]

Good luck

[@zhishan1601]

nice video couldn't wait for it!

[@priscila5612]

This is very helpful. Thank you!

[@eddyelniño]

Wow, I just saw that marathon video yesterday! Y’all have inspired me to make a video of my own. I’m going to be walking + dancing for half an hour each for 30 days!

[@Mdlrtrombon]

Eddy Fun Time did you?

[@eddyelniño]

Michelle De Los Rios I did, but didn’t end up documenting the progress. I found it difficult, but I’m glad I just did it in the moment. There wasn’t really change with my body shape, but I knew I felt wayyy healthier compared to the start of that month.

[@tmosest]

Thank you for this video! I’m about to run my first marathon on the 28th and this will help!

[@yardsale781]

How did you do?

[@jaybeatty7854]

Do tell

[@myredslurpee]

Thank you for all of the videos you create. They are always interesting and thoughtful! It would be great to see another take on this video, speaking to an endurance runner who doesn’t supplement with processed protein powder and sports bars, but instead uses plant based whole foods to power their running. Just a thought!

[@user-tx4oi7dl2n]

a great video! an very intresting topic, very good edit, and very good channel! keep like that and do more of of these nutrition style videos. its very intresting!

[@NeafusSammich]

My best marathon was 2 hours 52 minutes and I'm definitely limited by my diet. I would not want to try that diet out though, that's i n t e n s e.

[@speedracer77]

For the amount of calories he eats and the amount of exercise he does, I wonder why his protein intake is so low (5958 calories but only 87 grams of protein per day). Why is that? Wouldn't his working muscles need more protein? Obviously it's not body-building, but it's still an enormous amount of work for the muscles to exercise for that long.

[@4pd759]

I believe it is because the metabolic rate it breaks down is different between protein/fat/carbs but im not 100%

[@benegesserit9836]

no clue but may it be that protein is required to *build* muscle which in that stage is not required?

[@artysm7]

Lentils are protein

[@justmeemi6350]

You don’t need half as much protein as the diet industry wants you to believe. A „low“ protein diet is actually associated with many health benefits (50-70gr/ day). And yes that is for athletes too. So getting about 10% of your calories from protein and 5-10% from fats. There are a lot of studies about this published on pubMed :)

[@exiledknight3961]

Chicken and rice has never failed me

[@SeanGriffin-h2r]

great video thank you.

[@adrianlawrence9921]

Both runners are trying to carb load but you are counting calories when you should be counting carbs. The protein and fats that you eat for those 3 days are essentially irrelevant. I track my carbs and target 600 g / day for the 3 days before a race.

[@mtgmight353]

try eat like this for ~2 weeks and then try the marathon again, see if the better diet affects your time, that would be a really interesting video!

[@Dreamlink91]

need whole freaking corn field just to feed this dude

[@MG-ro6pj]

Love your videos 😍❤️

[@wandersofeljamed8634]

Just right on time, my first ever marathon will be 3 days from now. Thank you so much for a very informative video. Carbo loading starts now. 🎉

[@Lennon6412]

How did it go?

[@blackshadow228]

I’m 30, started running at 24 when I did my local 10k, then year on year adding more runs, my local weekly park-run on weekends, my furthest runs being only half marathons Running my first Marathon tomorrow (the Yorkshire Marathon, England) Very nervous 😅

[@kwekuj641]

How’d it go man?

[@blackshadow228]

@@kwekuj641 Did it in 05:54:51 It became tedious after the first half, but finished strong Was very sore for a couple days after lol Would definitely do another one

[@harlangleeson9496]

thanks so much! very helpful!

[@joshlp]

Great video!!

[@auroraleegm]

Why the gluten free pasta/bread if you are looking to improve your protein intake?

[@gavinmaboeta6401]

Many thanks. Great and very informative... Please advise why Gluten free toast... Etc.? Thanks

[@jessruns123]

Currently Carb loading for a Marathon and looking for tips to make sure I'm doing it right. Thanks!

[@2013Ragnarok]

Double your caloric intake? From 3,000 to 6,000 kcals?!? X for doubt

[@saintcityriot1]

Just for 3 days before the race, and most of that comes through the liquid supplements.

[@mrluigicp7132]

Doctor Doucette would scream at this man for this diet

[@nym49]

Adding to my comment below as a reply to the user JB: The statement "it made me feel better during my runs and helped me improve my times" lacks a frame of reference. If you compare it to the standard American diet (SAD), which per se is high in carbs already, you might see an improvement in mood, when you push you body to it's limits ramping up your glycogen storing capabilities to 10 or even 15g/kg (serious carb loading), which is seemingly the range of the upper possible limit. With 70kg bodyweight that would mean 700g to 1050g of glycogen stored, with an uptake of additional 2.1kg to 3.15kg of water. Or a relative weight gain of 4% to 6%. This is an equivalent of eating 770g (~0.3lbs) to 1155g (~0.5lbs) of white sugar in the 3 days before the race. The equivalent of drinking 20 to 30 cans (12oz) of coke. - Your physician and dentist will be proud.

[@dail135]

Very entertaining

[@boulychou]

Very interesting

[@texas3257]

psh this is so easy so the day before, breakfast 3 scrambled eggs 2 slice of bacon, lunch tuna with spinach, dinner white rice with grilled chicken and 2 glazed donuts nothing more nothing less. Morning before the race 3 scrambled eggs 2 slices of bacon and we are off!! my time 3:15.

[@MattSamson83]

The biggest myth out there is believing "calories in, calories out" and forgetting that the body is a biological system which has many different forms of stored energy to tap into and use. For a fat adapted or flexible person, they have an almost unlimited supply of energy which means they can carb load before a marathon and not worry about hitting a wall.

[@jcgarcia5977]

Where the vegetables at.

[@dan-312]

Alternative title: What to eat to be a diabetic early in life

[@MrLangam]

If you want to grow old fast, go right on, eat these carbs!

[@Namster05]

* Keto dieters have left the chat *

[@padmabharani6122]

Increasing the carb that much won’t it weigh you down?

[@Alexsthenicss]

Can you please make a video on how to be more social

[@youngrevival9715]

I eat very spicy nachos with lots of meat and cheese and a long drag of a cigarette. I’m joking I don’t smoke but last run I certainly didn’t eat well haha

[@justmeemi6350]

Guys… I missed what that drink is called… 😬 was it smth with carbs? 😂😂😂

[@singlemotherRespector]

So basically a lot of empty calories?

[@jaxx-inspiregrowcreate2862]

Plant-based FTW!

[@eminem2637]

I eat rice and drink coconit oil

[@Rascal157]

THAT’S A LOT OF RICE LENTILS AND OIL - can’t wait for B-dawg’s skipping viddy :)

[@watvid1]

My favourite book is Winnie the Pooh does a poo

[@Bongo4611]

Us vegans are taking over!

[@iftomatosareafruitwhyisntk4038]

🌱🙌

[@Ravenousyouth]

he seems to be low on protein , for someone exercising so much

[@pato20995]

No you should not eat more the day before the race

[@careyberendsen]

Hey my name is Carey and I run 🏃‍♀️ distance I did not know this so cool I am named after a runner I love running Sooo cool 😎

[@AthleteExpress1]

This is one of my favorite KZbinrs, I've been watching him for years and he's really helped me progress with my training and my confidence. I've now started a youtube channel showing my transformation from 2 years ago to where I am now. I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my channel and support my journey. Thanks a lot!!

[@joeyodonnell123]

canada rules !!

[@surojitpal3948]

Hair back?

[@rhodriilewiss]

Does this bloke hate chicken or something? He doesn’t seem very qualified

[@marieblackbird89]

Why do you think he hates chicken? What exactly makes he seem not qualified?

[@Wendys_Youtube]

get better

[@johnreeves3876]

Drink sprite