Marathon carb load
A Thursday pasta dinner isn't a carb load.
Three days of familiar carbohydrate is.
- 3 days outStart the shift
Add carbohydrate to meals you already eat.
- 2 days outKeep the pattern
Same foods. Quiet fiber and heavy fat if they sit hard.
- Day beforeDon't add novelty
Same pattern through dinner. No new restaurant, no new bar.
A starting picture
A 150 lb starting day.
150 lb / 68 kg runner. A starting day might look like oats or toast at breakfast, rice or pasta at lunch and dinner, a banana or two, and the sports drink you already use on long runs. That often lands near 500 g of carbohydrate. Scale with your size and gut. Treat it as a starting point.
Eat more of rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, oats, ripe bananas, and the drink you already use. Quiet high fiber, large fried meals, and anything new. Keep protein and fat in amounts you already tolerate. Drink to thirst, not a timed sipping plan.
Before race week
Practice it. Race morning is a top-up.
Use a key long run with the products you'll carry on race day. Race-morning breakfast tops off the three days; it isn't the load. Keep it familiar, and connect those three days to the kit you already carry.
- One huge dinner
- One pasta night isn't three days.
- New foods
- Race week is late to experiment.
- No rehearsal
- If you haven't done this before a long run, race week is late.
Build the 3-day plan in Fuelstate
Daily carb targets for those three days.
Free shows carb, fluid, and sodium targets plus product names. Pro adds pack quantities, a timeline, live cues, and the 3-day carb load planner.
This is not medical advice or a meal plan. If you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a qualified professional first.