Marathon Food: 26.2 Miles And Beyond

Training for a marathon is like nothing else you’ll ever do. Yeah, the marathon’s long (26.2 miles long, in fact), but you’ll have put in a whole lot more miles during training and have sacrificed everything from your favourite sweet treats to big nights out all with the aim of achieving your goal.

It’s likely that you will have been following a strict eating plan to accompany your training, full of slow-release carbs and plenty of protein to keep you energised and in good shape.

On the morning of The Big Day though, it’s natural for nerves to set in, but you can’t let that put you off your food. You know how they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Well, the breakfast before your marathon is probably one of the most important meals of your life. No pressure or anything…

There’s no tea and cake break in the middle of a marathon, sadly. You need to make sure you’re suitably fed before you start running, and that means a proper nutritious breakfast that will keep your energy levels up for 26 miles.

Afterwards, you’ll have earnt the right to the ultimate indulgent treats. Remember all those desserts you’ve not had for months? If you can’t eat them after running a marathon, when can you? This is the number one time to treat yo’self.

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Protein is perfect for keeping you feeling full while you’re running, and carbs are essential to slowly release energy through your body as you run – even when you reach double-figure miles, they’ll still be working their carby magic, helping you to push through to the finish.

So, with this in mind, oat pancakes with peanut butter and banana would make an excellent pre-marathon breakfast. You’ve got slow-release energy from the oats and banana in there, and plenty of protein from the peanut butter.

The Wholesome Dish has a great recipe for these babies. Chop up more banana on top for extra filling power and allow yourself a drizzle of syrup too if you fancy it – you’re going to be working it off, after all!

So, you know how it’s been ALL about the carbs during your marathon training? Carb-loading at breakfast, carb-loading at lunch, carb-loading at dinner? Pasta’s probably played a pretty big part in that, right?

Well, seeing as you’ve tried and tested it during your training, why not start the day of the marathon with pasta too? Seriously. Although you might want to switch up your training staple of brown pasta for white pasta on the actual day.

Cook up some standard breakfast stuff like lean sausages, bacon and tomatoes and stir them through cooked pasta with a tin of tomatoes. Add whatever seasoning you like – although maybe stick to herbs and black pepper, as you don’t want smoked paprika repeating on you for 26.2 miles – and you could even top it with a fried egg for added protein and extra breakfast vibes.

On marathon morning, you might not be in the best frame of mind to be dealing with the hob. You don’t want to reach mile 18 and panic you might have left it on, and have to race home rather than to the finish line. Seriously though, could you run an extra 8.2 miles knowing your house might be burning down?

Making something before you head to bed the night before could be a much safer bet, and overnight oats are always a winner. The Food Charlatan’s version with filling banana, superfood blueberries and slow-release carbs from the oats is tasty and satisfying. And, best of all, you just need to get it out of the fridge and into your mouth the morning of the race, saving all your energy for the running.

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After running 26.2 miles, a whole actual marathon, you are entitled to eat whatever you like. Forget about filling power, forget about nutrition, forget about a balanced plate: after all that exertion, your body needs feeding.

How about mac’n’cheese? How about pizza? How about a pie? How about all three? Yep, you officially have permission, with this recipe for a mac’n’cheese pizza pie from The Bearded Bakery incorporating three of the world’s best meals in one.

It’s a pizza dough pie base, filled with seriously indulgent mac’n’cheese, topped with more cheese and tomato pizza sauce, baked in the oven like a pie. If the thought of that doesn’t help you get through the last few miles of your marathon, frankly, we don’t know what will.

Usually, when you’re choosing what to have for dessert, it can be a tough choice between ice cream, cake or biscuits, and sometimes you feel like you shouldn’t really be adding extra cream or sauce.

Well, you can forget about all of those decisions on Marathon Day, and have it all. In a jar. And eat it with a spoon.

Freakshakes are the ultimate indulgent sweet treat, taking the classic sundae up a few notches. Take this one from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary, for example. It’s got ice cream, cream, Oreo biscuits, chocolate chips, milk, peanut butter and chocolate sauce, and there’s technically nothing stopping you from adding in some crumbled brownies too. So dreamy, so sweet, and so much more fun that just eating ice cream straight from the tub.

Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream and chocolate curls is about as good as a cake can get, in our eyes. So, that makes Devil’s Food Cake the King of Cakes – and officially the most chocolatey of post-marathon treats.

Sweetness and Bite has a Devil’s Food Cake recipe that cranks things up an extra notch by including neapolitan-flavoured buttercream to sandwich its many layers together, which pretty much makes neapolitan ice cream on the side absolutely mandatory.

It’s worth the effort – remember, you’ve ran a marathon, you can bake a cake! And you will never make as bad a job of it as Nick Hewer did on The Great British Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off earlier this year…

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