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Why Marathon Training Might Mean Weight Gain

Posted August 29, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Shannon Clark

Section: Her Fitness, Athletics, Training Programs, Her Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Weight Control

One goal that many women set for themselves at some point in their lives is to complete a half or full marathon. It is definitely a challenging endeavour, and can offer a lot of personal satisfaction once accomplished.

More than a race along, a marathon has a whole spirit to itself, from a pre-marathon meet and greet, to the pre-race carb-up meal, followed by the massages offered to participants after the race and the post-run celebration feast. It’s easy to make a complete weekend out of a marathon event and really enjoy yourself in the process.

One issue that many women face when starting to train for a marathon is a noticeable weight gain.  You would think that with the ever increasing amount of running, they would be dropping pounds without any real effort, but often it’s the exact opposite. What gives?

The main factor that contributes to weight gain is that with all this extra running comes an extreme appetite that often cannot seem to be satisfied.

While you might find that you actually lose your appetite right after the race, more than likely it will come back with a vengeance in the hours after your long run.

Most runners also get into the mindset that because they burn such a massive amount of calories during their run, they can justify eating very large meals heavy on the carbs.  However, what you need to keep in mind is that the body can adapt to this moderate intensity cardio and over time you aren’t really burning quite as many calories as you think you are. This means that with a lot of high calorie eating, you will most definitely be gaining weight.

This is not to say you shouldn’t be eating post-race in order to support a proper recovery, however you should still be sure to keep your intake in check, ensuring that you aren’t overdoing things. Also be sure to balance carbohydrate intake with sufficient protein, as this is just as important to prevent the loss of lean muscle mass. These long running sessions mean your body runs out of glucose and stored muscle glycogen for fuel, so it turns to a combination of body protein and fat to meet the energy demands it is experiencing. By giving it enough protein, you can help promote lean muscle tissue maintenance.  Keeping your fat intake reasonably high is also a good idea, as your body can run on fat as fuel effectively.

So don’t be alarmed if you start seeing some weight gain as you progress through your marathon training. Just make sure your meals are balanced so that you can function as optimally as possible, and don’t lose a large amount of muscle mass over the course of your training.  You should not be overly worried about your weight while training for a marathon, as now is definitely not the time to be restricting calories. That said, it is a good idea to stay smart about your total intake to keep the weight gain that may occur within a reasonable limit.

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Tags: marathon training, running, running a marathon, shannon clark, weight gain

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