I used to hit the wall between mile 20 and 22 of every marathon. I chalked it up to a normal part of running a marathon, and I figured it was something I would just have to deal with each time.
If this is you too, I’m happy to report that it is possible not to hit the wall during a marathon!
One of the biggest changes I have made to avoid hitting the wall is to do a three day carb load right before the race. During this carb load, I track everything I eat (The only time I track what I eat!) and aim to hit a certain number of grams of carbs each day. Since implementing this, I now finish marathons feeling strong, and I no longer hit the wall.
Contrary to popular belief, a carb load is not just eating a plate of pasta the night before the race. My carb load starts three days prior to the race. And for those three days, about 90% of my calories are coming from carbohydrates. It can feel like a lot of carbs for some people, while others don’t find it too different than their regular diet. I struggled a little more this time with it and really started craving some protein and fats about half way through, but I knew this diet change was only for a short period of time and for a good reason.
During these three days, I needed to consume 450 grams of carbs on each of these three days. The amount of carbs depends upon your weight, and you can use THIS calculator to figure out how much you need because each person is going to be different.
If you want more information on how to properly do a carb load, I’ve written other blog posts on How to Do a Carb Load + What I Ate for my Carb Load and many dietitians on Instagram share more on the science behind the carb load. Definitely check out those blog posts if you are unfamiliar with the importance of a carb load or how to do one in the first place.
In this post, I am going to focus on tips for doing a carb load while traveling and not having access to a kitchen. Typically my hotel rooms have had a small fridge and a coffee maker, but even with the limited appliances, I have been able to “cook” three meals, plus snacks all while staying in a hotel room.
Doing the carb load in a hotel room with limited kitchen appliances hasn’t been that hard, so here is how I make meals in my hotel room.
For breakfast, I buy the oatmeal containers where you just need to add hot water, and since every hotel room now seems to have a Keurig coffee maker, I just run hot water through the machine and then add it to the cup of oatmeal.
For lunch, I make a bagel veggie sandwich. My hack for this, so you aren’t buying a whole cucumber, red pepper, and package of hummus, is that I go to a grocery store with a salad bar and pick out just a few slices of cucumber, a few slices of red pepper, a handful of spinach, and a dollop of hummus for my sandwich. This way I’m not wasting extra food, nor do I have to transport extras back home.
For dinner, I make ramen in my hotel room by running water through the coffee maker again to heat up the water before pouring it over the cup of ramen. This works well, and I only need to make sure I grab a fork from the salad bar when I’m at the grocery store.
I also know some people will bring a toaster along with them when they travel for their marathon. While I like toasted bagels, I can eat them plain as well, so I’ve never done this.
The rest of my food throughout the day only needs refrigeration, so doing a carb load from a hotel room with limited kitchen appliances is quite feasible.
Of course you can also get take-out or a meal delivered, but if you don’t want to risk eating food from a restaurant, this is one day you can eat foods you know work for you.
I’ve shared specifics of my three days of eating in the blog posts linked above. I break down exactly what I’ve eaten and how many grams of carbohydrates each item has in it. This was my fourth time doing a carb load, and I’ve refined my meals where I find myself eating very similar each time. So here is what my typical day of meals looks like during the carb load.
Meals during my carb load:
Pre-run:
Nature’s Bakery fig bar – 38g
coffee with creamer – 5g
Total: 43 grams
Breakfast:
oatmeal – 28g
milk – 5g
blueberries – 6g
maple syrup – 12g
banana – 27g
tart cherry juice – 14g
Total: 92 grams
Lunch:
bagel veggie sandwich – 60g
(hummus, red pepper, cucumber, spinach)
pretzels – 24g
dried mango – 32g
sweetened iced tea – 27g
Total: 143 grams
Snack:
Naked juice smoothie – 60g
candy or dried fruit – 25g
Total: 85 grams
Dinner:
ramen or pasta – 40g
Maurten solid bar – 42g
cookie – 25g
Total: 107 grams
Total for the day: 470 grams of carbohydrates
This is my general diet for the three days of the carb load. I will definitely vary the types of food, switching out the dried mangoes for dried apricots, sweetened iced tea for apple juice, or pasta for rice. But for the most part, this is about what I’ve done each time, and it has worked really well for me. It’s enough variety that I don’t get bored with each meal because some people can do 8 bagels throughout the day, but that is definitely not for me.
If you want a specific breakdown of each of the three days from my past carb loads, you can find those blog posts HERE, HERE, and HERE.
From the very first time doing the carb load, I am forever a believer in it. Now I will say in order to avoid hitting the wall in a marathon, there are a couple of other things you must do to set yourself up for a strong race. The first being you have to fuel adequately during the race as well. A lack of carbohydrates during the race will also likely result in hitting the wall. And secondly, you have to run at a pace you are capable of and have trained for. Going out at a 9:00 min/mi pace when you’ve been training at a 10:30 min/mi pace marathon pace will also result in hitting the wall. Just wanted to make this clear!
Best wishes for smooth a carb load for your next marathon and remember: “You’re dough-ing great!”
