What to eat to perform your best on marathon day. “Running 26.2 miles is not for the faint of heart – or the under-fueled athlete. Pasta the night before and a bowl of oatmeal on race morning may not be enough,” says Jena Brown, RD, CSSD, sports dietitian and owner of Victorem Performance Nutrition in Brenham, Texas. Marathon nutrition preparation should begin weeks before marathon day. You’re likely familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s quote, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”...

Avoid running out of energy and sustain performance. It’s Sunday morning. You wake up, microwave a bowl of porridge, and make a cup of tea or coffee. If you remember (which you rarely do), you gulp a few sips of water. You’re out the door and start your long run. 30 minutes in, you feel good. 60 minutes in, you feel good. 75 minutes in, you’re sitting on the side of the pavement and don’t know what went wrong. This is known as “hitting the wall”—when you run out of energy and can no longer...