This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of traveling to Memphis to participate in the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. My sister is a nurse practitioner who works at St. Jude and this year would mark the 10th in a row that she’s run the full marathon. To celebrate the occasion, my aunt, cousin and I flew down there to join in the festivities. My aunt ran the half (her first!), my cousin ran the full (her first!), my sister ran the full (her 10th St. Jude!) and I went down there with only one goal – to break 1:30 in the half.
A lot of you know that I’ve been struggling since about March 2023 with covid-induced (we think) lung issues. After going undiagnosed and dealing with symptoms for almost a full year, I finally saw a specialist and was diagnosed with reactive airways and exercise induced bronchospasms/asthma. Now, thanks to two inhalers and a daily pill, my lungs feel normal again and running feels good. As I started to feel better and see my fitness improve, I resurrected a goal that had died with my lung function sometime around April of 2023 – to run sub 90 in the half.
My training cycle went great – about as good as can be expected when you have a 3 and a 5 year old and it’s cold/flu season. By the time race week came, we thought it was possible that I’d run sub 90, but it would take a really, really good day. So with training behind me, I turned my focus to the last thing I could control: my nutrition.
THE CARB LOAD:
WHAT! A carb load? For a half? If this was your first thought, you’re not alone. But, research shows us that carb loading is beneficial for endurance events lasting 90+ minutes. So, for many of us, a 3-day carb load may be appropriate before a half marathon. We also know that our muscles work better at high intensity when we have sufficient glycogen stores so if you goal is to run around 90 min, a 3 day carb load may not be necessary, but try a 1 day. If it could help, why wouldn’t you? So that’s what I did:
Day 1: Pre-run Skratch, graham crackers Breakfast 2 packets of maple/brown sugar oatmeal Snack Nature’s Bakery fig bar, gogo squeeze applesauce Lunch 2 large bagels with peanut butter Snack Natures Bakery fig bar, gogo squeeze applesauce Dinner Pasta with red sauce, bread Total: 513g
RACE MORNING:
Race morning was an early one. I had a start time of 8am and a wakeup time of 4:45am.
5am: One scoop Skratch (25g) in 16 ounces waterand 4 full graham crackers (50g), coffee
6:45am: 2 full graham crackers
Total: 100g carbs + 20ish ounces fluid
GELS:
10 min pre-race: Maurten 100
3 miles: Maurten 100
6.5 miles Maurten 100
10.5 miles: Maurten 100
Total: 100 g carbs or 67 g carbs/hour
HYDRATION:
The temperature at the start line was in the low 30s. By the time I finished, it was maaaybe 40 max. I am not a heavy sweater, especially in those conditions. I know this after years of experience and trial and error. I grabbed water cups on the course when I wanted them but the amount I took in was negligible. Post race though, I rehydrated with LiquidIV!
I truly believe my nutrition plan helped me run sub 90. There were some dark miles in there but the consistent bursts of energy from my gels (and the thoughts that I was NOT going to get this freaking close to screw it up) kept me going. This was a pie in the sky goal for me and I still can’t believe I did it.
Onto the next…
gamechanger 2020
