What should I eat & drink during a marathon?

Running a marathon requires a lot from your body. Obviously, you need to be physically fit to run those 42.195 km, but besides that, your nutrition is also an important part.
While a healthy & balanced diet is the basis for any athlete and in itself sufficient for shorter distances, an effort like a marathon requires just a bit more.

Your marathon nutrition plan actually starts a few days before race day.It is important, on the one hand, to store the necessary energy by focusing on carbohydrates (so-called 'carb stacking' or 'carb loading') and, on the other hand, to limit the intake of fibre, fats & proteins to avoid gastrointestinal problems.

Of course, everything also depends on your ambition at the marathon: do you have no specific target time in mind and just want to cross the finish line or do you want to attack your PR? Your target time will ultimately determine how much nutrition you take in.

As a rule of thumb, we recommend taking in at least 60g of carbohydrates per hour. This will allow you to keep going longer and avoid bonking (or at least postpone this as much as possible).

2 very important tips on this:

• Experiment during training sessions to let your stomach adjust to this ('gut training'). Trying out new things on race day is definitely not a good idea!

• Don't wait until you get hungry or thirsty, start eating & drinking right from the start.

There are several options for carbohydrate intake during running, within the SANAS range we recommend the following:

• Isomix: this is an isotonic sports drink and therefore provides, on the one hand, fluid and carbohydrate absorption at the same time.
  Contains 30 g of carbohydrates per bottle

• Energy gel: the fastest way to absorb carbohydrates.
  Contains 30 g of carbohydrates per gel

• Energy fruit: if you're not a fan of gels, this is an ideal alternative to absorb carbohydrates (almost as) quickly.
  Contains 30 g of carbohydrates per fruit

• Alphamax: this is a hypertonic sports drink and ideal if you prefer to drink only (because of speed, don't like to eat, or whatever reason) while running.
  Contains 90 g of KH per bottle. As Alphamax can have a dehydrating effect, one bidon of plain water should also be drunk per bidon of Alphamax.

Of course, you don't have to opt for the same food source throughout the race. Because of the 2:1 ratio of the above products, you can feel free to combine them with each other.

In theory, an energy bar is also possible, but we do not recommend it as much during a run as it is considered less practical by runners anyway. In addition, the energy from a bar is not released as quickly as the above products.

So apart from Alphamax, each of the above products contains 30g of carbohydrates. This makes it easy to draw up your marathon nutrition plan. You're welcome ;-)​​​​​​​

Running a marathon takes a huge toll on your body, so also provide a post-marathon section in your nutrition plan.

Essential in this is Carbomix, which contains the necessary proteins & carbohydrates to aid recovery.
It is also important to keep replenishing your fluid levels after the race.