What To Eat When You're Training For A Marathon

Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories per day in training.

Seriously? Your face right now is how we feel, somewhere along the lines of, 'Wait, what — is that even — but how could he... why would he?' Don't freak out, because we're  going to break it down. How? He has pizza for dinner. As in, an entire pizza. And pasta. As in, an entire box of pasta. For dinner. Why does he eat this insane amount of food? Because he's won 22 Olympic medals. In other words, it's the diet of champions.

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Which can't help but beg the question: Why aren't we all in training? If it means you can eat whatever you want, let's all hit the gym and go straight to CiCi's pizza and pasta buffet!

Of course, you get the problem: You're not Michael Phelps (sorry). The unfortunate underbelly of training is the illusion (and confusion) it creates about nutrition. Extra activity seems to warrant extra indulgent food, but the reality is, if you don't fuel your workouts wisely, you won't get as much out of them as you could.

Let's say you're preparing for something more common and just as amazing as the Olympics: a marathon, be it Chicago in October or New York in November. Chances are, you treat your training schedule pretty seriously — maybe you even have a workout plan for every day leading up to the race. If someone said to you, "What're you training so hard for? It's not the Olympics!" you'd probably want to use some choice words. "Yeah, but it's still a marathon!" 

For most runners, a marathon represents the ultimate goal. (Ultramarathoners are in their own catagory.) So, to succeed in the ultimate feat, you need the ultimate plan when it comes to working out — and eating. We here at The Daily Meal have got the latter covered. Just follow our key diet tips — they're easier than a 26.2-mile race — and bring out your inner Olympian.