Rubén Jiménez-Alfageme, Florencia Pino Garrone, Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, David Romero-García, Isabel Sospedra, Daniel Giménez-Monzó, César Iván Ayala-Guzmán, José Miguel Martínez-Sanz
{"title":"Nutritional Intake and Timing of Marathon Runners: Influence of Athlete's Characteristics and Fueling Practices on Finishing Time.","authors":"Rubén Jiménez-Alfageme, Florencia Pino Garrone, Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, David Romero-García, Isabel Sospedra, Daniel Giménez-Monzó, César Iván Ayala-Guzmán, José Miguel Martínez-Sanz","doi":"10.1186/s40798-024-00801-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Endurance athletes' competitions have increased over the decades and marathon races are becoming increasingly popular. Proper nutrition is critical for optimal performance and long-term health in marathon athletes. This study aimed to investigate runners' nutritional intake, especially fluids, food, and supplements, competing in the Seville Marathon. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out to obtain information on the consumption of liquids, food, and supplements. A total of 160 runners (aged 42.2 ± 7.3 years) who were primarily men (87.5%) who participated in the 2022 Seville marathon took part in the study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There was no significant difference (p > 0.050) between marathon finish time (from 2 h 12 min to 5 h) or sports experience and fluid, carbohydrates (CHO), sodium, and caffeine intake pre- and post-competition. However, according to the results obtained, the athletes who met CHO intake recommendations during the competition (60-90 g/h) were more likely to finish the marathon in less than 180 min (p = 0.035).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The intake of CHO (35 ± 17 g/h), sodium (192 ± 150 mg/h) and caffeine (57 ± 49 mg/h) was low compared to the current recommendations during the competition. The intake of fluids (466 ± 279 mL/h) was at the lower limit of recommendations. Most athletes did not receive nutritional counselling by a sport dietitian, which may explain why athletes failed to meet specific nutrient recommendations. Future investigations with a larger sample size are warranted to assess the relationship between dietary intake and finish time.</p>","PeriodicalId":21788,"journal":{"name":"Sports Medicine - Open","volume":"11 1","pages":"26"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11911277/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sports Medicine - Open","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00801-w","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SPORT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Endurance athletes' competitions have increased over the decades and marathon races are becoming increasingly popular. Proper nutrition is critical for optimal performance and long-term health in marathon athletes. This study aimed to investigate runners' nutritional intake, especially fluids, food, and supplements, competing in the Seville Marathon. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out to obtain information on the consumption of liquids, food, and supplements. A total of 160 runners (aged 42.2 ± 7.3 years) who were primarily men (87.5%) who participated in the 2022 Seville marathon took part in the study.
Results: There was no significant difference (p > 0.050) between marathon finish time (from 2 h 12 min to 5 h) or sports experience and fluid, carbohydrates (CHO), sodium, and caffeine intake pre- and post-competition. However, according to the results obtained, the athletes who met CHO intake recommendations during the competition (60-90 g/h) were more likely to finish the marathon in less than 180 min (p = 0.035).
Conclusions: The intake of CHO (35 ± 17 g/h), sodium (192 ± 150 mg/h) and caffeine (57 ± 49 mg/h) was low compared to the current recommendations during the competition. The intake of fluids (466 ± 279 mL/h) was at the lower limit of recommendations. Most athletes did not receive nutritional counselling by a sport dietitian, which may explain why athletes failed to meet specific nutrient recommendations. Future investigations with a larger sample size are warranted to assess the relationship between dietary intake and finish time.