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Sarah Blackwood
Sarah Blackwood
Sports Dietitian & EMQ Contributing Writer Accredited Practising Dietitian and sports nutrition consultant based in Brisbane. Sarah works with endurance athletes at all levels and contributes regularly to EMQ Members Portal on nutrition, recovery and performance topics.
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We spoke with the performance nutritionists behind three of Queensland's top endurance athletes — a sub-2:30 marathoner, an Ironman podium finisher and a Pan Pacific Masters Games multi-medallist — to find out what the evidence says about race-day nutrition, and what popular advice is little more than athlete folklore.

What the research actually says about pre-race nutrition

The science of pre-race nutrition has shifted considerably in the past decade. The traditional carbohydrate-loading protocols developed in the 1960s — three days of depletion followed by three days of aggressive loading — have been largely superseded by more conservative approaches that emphasise consistency over the final 24–48 hours rather than dramatic manipulation of glycogen stores.

"For most recreational and masters athletes racing marathons and halves, the loading phase is less important than simply not doing anything dramatically different in the 48 hours before the gun," says accredited sports dietitian Dr Megan Hoult, who works with several Queensland Athletics high-performance athletes. "The bigger risk is the athlete who decides race week is the time to experiment."

"The biggest nutrition mistake I see at the Gold Coast Marathon is athletes eating a larger than usual dinner the night before and arriving at the start line with gastrointestinal issues by kilometre five."

— Dr Megan Hoult, Accredited Sports Dietitian

KEY NUMBERS FOR MARATHON FUELLING

10-12g

Carbs per kg body weight per day (loading phase)

30-60g

Carbs per hour recommended during the race

500ml 

Water per hour as a starting hydration baseline

What to avoid on race day 

  • High-fibre foods (wholegrain bread, raw vegetables, legumes) in the 24 hours before the race
  • High-fat meals the evening before — fat slows gastric emptying and increases GI risk
  • Unfamiliar foods or sports products you haven't tested in training
  • Alcohol in the 48 hours before the event — disrupts sleep and impairs glycogen synthesis
  • Excessive caffeine if you're not a regular coffee drinker — risk of GI distress and anxiety
  • Skipping your race-morning meal entirely — even if you're nervous, something light is better than nothing
A typical race-morning meal layout for a marathon athlete. Image credit: EMQ / Sarah Blackwood.

What to avoid on race day

  • High-fibre foods (wholegrain bread, raw vegetables, legumes) in the 24 hours before the race
  • High-fat meals the evening before — fat slows gastric emptying and increases GI risk
  • Unfamiliar foods or sports products you haven't tested in training
  • Alcohol in the 48 hours before the event — disrupts sleep and impairs glycogen synthesis
  • Excessive caffeine if you're not a regular coffee drinker — risk of GI distress and anxiety
  • Skipping your race-morning meal entirely — even if you're nervous, something light is better than nothing

"The biggest nutrition mistake I see at the Gold Coast Marathon is athletes eating a larger than usual dinner the night before and arriving at the start line with gastrointestinal issues by kilometre five."

— Dr Megan Hoult, Accredited Sports Dietitian

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