When training for a marathon or other high-endurance sport, it is OK to eat more food because you are depleting your fuel storage. Another way to look at it is if you drive a car faster, it will need fuel more frequently, as it were. Eat more, burn more.

The cornerstone of your diet is the necessary 3 meals a day. Most all people love to snack between meals. My problem is that I get fairly hungry before a meal, so I tend to over eat each meal. My portions are larger and my second servings become thirds. Consequently, I feel food stupid or uncomfortably belt-stretching when it’s time to throw in the towel.

A better choice for big eaters like me is to eat smaller meals more frequently, say, three to five times a day. When you can’t make a meal, keep a meal beverage close by. Supplement meals with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks of sports bars, fruits, dried fruit, nuts, and juices. These snacks supply the body with added energy and nutrients. And the overall result is a stable flow of energy without all the binging and stuffing.

If food is fuel it is helpful to understand what is on your plate and how it affects your body. Knowing this will allow you to consume more wisely and effectively. Otherwise, you will end up eating hotdogs and sausage instead of energy bars during your training.

Intro to good nutrition

This is how I feel

** Note: over the next few weeks I will serialize in blog entries the Nutrition page over there on your right. Feel free to read ahead. But the daily entries will be sometimes different than what's on the Nutrition page.

Good nutrition is a critical component to marathon training. In fact, I consider it important as road work. And nearly as important as rest, which you may recall me browbeating you about earlier. Rest is important and too because it is easily ignored and forgotten during a serious training regimen. Neglecting rest could be harmful to your health. Neglecting nutrition, too, is harmful to your health, but there are few Americans in these modern times who ever neglect a meal.

When I set out to write this blog I did extensive research on nutrition, foods, nutrients, vitamins, phytochemicals, nutriceuticals, and everything I could get my hands on about the science of nutrition. With a head obese with gluttonous food information, it occurred to me that not only was this information unnecessary, it missed the point. This blog is about dreaming the Big Thing and grabbing hold of it, all in the metaphor of marathoning. This is not a blog about dietary nutrition. I will give you advice if you prefer to tackle the science of food, but for the purposes of this blog, I will keep it simple, but essential.

And without stuffing your brain as much as your stomach with food information, there is still a lot to say about nutrition. It is critical to your marathon success. This cannot be stressed enough. And planning out a dietary strategy, in my opinion, is just as important as the actual running.