Each year, the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon sees 25,000 athletes bounding through the streets of our fair city. This year, the race takes place on February 2, 2014 and, while that may seem far away, training starts now.
Long before I was a food writer, I was a marathon running coach and, along with the usual slow ramp-up of mileage, speed work, and mental discipline, there's a real science to eating when training for the big race.
According to Competitor.com, unlike other athletes, runners must still watch their weight, stating, "when training for a marathon, fuel with high-quality foods to reach the starting line lighter." Any of the people on my team who started training to lose weight found that out quickly, when the scale showed the same maddening number after an 18 miler (though their pants started fitting better).
And yes, there's truth that long distance runners' diet should be high in carbohydrates -- as much as 65 percent, according to a study conducted by Asker Jeukendrup and colleagues at the University of Birmingham, England.
If you're training to run the Miami Marathon, take a look at this cool infographic from the people at About.com. It's helpful in sorting out what to eat and what not to eat. Unfortunately, it won't help motivate you to get out and do a 20 mile training run at 4 a.m. That's all you. See you at the start line!
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