Are You Eating Enough to Support Your Training?
The Fuelling Mistakes I Often See in Masters Athletes
You’re running more. You’re training harder. You’re adding strength work. So why do you feel exhausted?
If you’re training for a marathon, half marathon, ultra or another endurance event, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about your training.
Your long run.
Your intervals.
Your pace.
Your strength sessions.
Your recovery.
Your race shoes.
Your gels.
Your hydration.
But there’s one thing I regularly see recreational athletes overlook:
Are you actually eating enough to support all the training you’re doing?
And for women especially in their 40s & 50s, this conversation becomes even more important.
Not because you suddenly need a complicated "menopause diet".
Not because carbohydrates suddenly become bad for you.
Definitely not because you need to count every gram of food you eat.
It’s because your body still needs enough energy and the right fuel to do the work you’re asking it to do.
The problem with "eating less and training more"
One of the biggest traps I see with recreational female runners is trying to combine serious endurance training with weight loss.
The thinking often goes something like this:
"I'm running more, so I should be losing weight."
"If I cut out carbs, I'll burn more fat."
"I'll just have a coffee before my run."
"I'll wait until I'm really hungry before I eat."
"I don't want to undo all that exercise by eating too much."
It sounds logical.
But your body doesn't see food simply as calories to be controlled.
It sees food as fuel and building material.
You are asking your body to run further, recover, repair muscle, adapt to training and potentially perform at a higher level.
That requires energy.
And chronically under-fuelling can make it much harder to get the benefits you're working so hard for.
...and as my past experience has shown when I was training for Marathon des Sables running more doesn't naturally mean you lose weight as your body deals with an increased amount of muscle repair and stress!
Carbs aren't the enemy
Let's deal with one of the biggest myths first.
Carbohydrates are not something endurance runners need to fear.
During moderate- and high-intensity exercise, carbohydrate is an important fuel source. Your body stores carbohydrate as glycogen in your muscles and liver, and those stores are particularly relevant when you're running harder or for longer periods.
Yet I still see athletes doing things like:
Running long runs on coffee alone
Avoiding carbohydrates because they're trying to lose weight
Doing every morning run fasted
Saving their gels for race day
Finishing a hard session and waiting hours before eating
Trying to train for a marathon while aggressively restricting food
None of these automatically makes you a better endurance athlete.
In fact, deliberately under-fuelling key sessions can make it harder to train at the intensity or volume required and make you more prone to injury.
Fuel for the work you're doing
You don't necessarily need to eat the same way for every run.
A gentle 30-minute recovery run is very different from a two-hour long run.
An easy run is different from intervals.
A steady 10 miles is different from a race-pace session.
So rather than asking:
"How few calories can I get away with eating?"
I'd encourage you to ask:
"What does my body need to perform this session well and recover from it?"
Stop wearing fasted training as a badge of honour
Fasted training is another area where context matters.
Yes, exercising with lower carbohydrate availability can increase fat oxidation during that particular session.
But burning more fat during a workout doesn't automatically mean you'll lose more body fat or become a better endurance athlete overall.
There's a big difference between occasionally heading out for an easy run before breakfast because that's what works for you and deliberately under-fuelling every session because you believe it will make you leaner or fitter.
If you're regularly combining:
High mileage
Hard sessions
Strength training
A calorie deficit
A busy job
Family commitments
Poor sleep
...your body has a lot to deal with.
At some point, something has to give.
And often the first signs are not dramatic.
You might simply notice that:
Your legs feel heavy
Your pace isn't improving
You're constantly tired
Your recovery is poor
You're getting niggles
Your sessions feel harder than they should
You're increasingly hungry later in the day
You're struggling to sleep
You feel like marathon training is becoming a battle
That doesn't necessarily mean you're under-fuelling.
But it's worth asking the question.
Your long run is also a fuelling session
One of the biggest mistakes I see is runners treating their long run purely as a fitness session. It's not.
Your long runs are also an opportunity to practise your race-day nutrition strategy.
If you're going to be running for three, four or five hours on race day, you need to know what you're going to eat and drink.
Don't wait until race morning to find out whether your stomach agrees with your chosen gel.
Use training to practise:
What products work for you
How much carbohydrate you tolerate
How frequently you need to take it
Whether you prefer gels, chews or drinks
What happens when you run at race pace
How your strategy changes in warmer conditions
Current guidance for athletes provides a useful starting point of around 30–60g carbohydrate per hour during prolonged exercise, although individual needs can be higher and should be personalised and practised in training.
The important word is practised.
Your gut is trainable too.
And if you've ever reached 18 miles in a marathon and suddenly felt like someone had switched the lights off (the infamous bonking), you'll understand why this matters.
Don't forget protein
Carbohydrate gets a lot of attention in endurance sport, but protein has an important role too.
It supports muscle repair and recovery and becomes particularly important when you're combining endurance training with strength training.
And that's something I strongly encourage runners or any other masters athlete to do.
You don't have to choose between being a runner and being strong.
You can – and should – be both.
For active midlife women especially, paying attention to protein intake and distributing good-quality protein across the day can be particularly useful for supporting muscle maintenance and recovery.
But here's the important bit:
Protein doesn't replace carbohydrate.
They do different jobs.
So don't fall into the trap of eating a high-protein diet while accidentally under-eating the carbohydrate your training requires.
And then there's the menopause conversation...
This is where I think female endurance athletes need a more nuanced conversation.
Perimenopause and menopause don't suddenly mean you need to throw out everything you know about nutrition, but they can change the context.
Changes associated with this stage of life can influence areas including body composition, insulin sensitivity and muscle protein metabolism. The evidence is still developing, but current guidance highlights the importance of adequate carbohydrate recovery and protein intake for peri- and post-menopausal athletes.
This is particularly relevant if you're trying to maintain your training schedule while also navigating changes in recovery, sleep, body composition or energy levels.
You may find that what worked for you at 30 isn't necessarily what works best for you at 50.
But that doesn't mean you need a magical menopause nutrition plan.
It means you need to pay attention to your body and adjust your approach when necessary.
Your post-run coffee isn't recovery nutrition
I'm not saying you can't have coffee - I love coffee.
But if you've just completed a hard long run and your entire recovery strategy is:
Coffee → shower → crack on with the day → realise at lunchtime you haven't eaten...we might have a problem.
After a demanding session, think about: Carbohydrate + protein + fluids.
It could be as simple as:
Porridge with Greek yoghurt and fruit
Eggs on toast with fruit
A smoothie containing milk or yoghurt, fruit and oats
Cereal and milk followed by a proper meal
A bagel with eggs and yoghurt
It doesn't have to be complicated - it just needs to happen.
What about weight loss?
This is where I think masters athletes can get themselves into trouble.
If you're carrying more body fat than you'd like, it's understandable that you may want to lose some.
But there's a difference between strategic body-composition work and simply eating as little as possible while increasing your training.
Trying to lose weight aggressively while simultaneously increasing mileage, adding intervals and strength training isn't necessarily the fastest route to better performance.
Sometimes the smarter approach is to prioritise training quality and recovery first.
And if body composition is also a goal, consider how and when you create an energy deficit rather than simply cutting food indiscriminately.
Your training needs fuel.
The female runner isn't "a smaller male runner"
One of the most interesting points from the current conversation around female sports nutrition is the recognition that women have historically been underrepresented in sports science research.
Female physiology matters.
Hormonal status may matter.
Life stage may matter.
But that doesn't mean we should throw away every existing sports nutrition guideline and declare that women need completely different rules.
The evidence doesn't currently support that level of certainty.
Instead, existing sports nutrition recommendations provide useful starting points – and then we individualise them according to the athlete, their training, goals, preferences and circumstances.
This is the value of a coach with a nutritional qualification who's also got the real life experience.
So, are you fuelling your training properly?
If you're currently training for a marathon, ultra or other endurance event, I'd ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I deliberately under-fuelling my key sessions?
If you're regularly running long or hard without enough fuel, don't assume that suffering means you're getting fitter.
2. Am I eating enough carbohydrate for the training I'm doing?
You don't need carbohydrate in the same quantity for every session, but demanding endurance training requires fuel.
3. Am I practising my race nutrition?
Your first gel should not be an experiment on race day.
4. Am I recovering properly after hard sessions?
Think carbohydrate, protein and fluids.
5. Am I trying to lose weight while simultaneously asking my body to do more and more?
If so, consider whether your approach is helping your performance or compromising it.
6. If I'm in my 40s or 50s, have I considered how my changing physiology might affect my recovery?
You don't need to panic. You may simply need to pay more attention.
Sometimes the answer isn't another training session
This is probably the biggest message I want recreational runners to take away.
We're very good at adding things.
Another interval session.
Another long run.
Another strength workout.
Another race.
Another target.
But sometimes the smarter training decision is to look at what you're not doing.
Are you sleeping enough?
Are you recovering?
Are you eating enough?
Are you fuelling your long runs?
Are you getting enough protein?
Are you trying to train hard while constantly dieting?
Because sometimes the next breakthrough isn't another interval session.
Sometimes it's breakfast.
And if you're a woman in your 40s or 50s training for a marathon or ultra, you don't need to train like a professional athlete.
You need a strategy that works alongside your real life.
Train smarter. Fuel properly. Get stronger. Recover well. And give yourself the best chance of actually enjoying the miles.
A final note
Nutrition for endurance performance is highly individual. The guidance in this article is for general education and isn't a substitute for personalised advice from a registered sports dietitian or appropriately qualified healthcare professional, particularly if you have a medical condition, persistent gastrointestinal symptoms, a history of disordered eating or concerns about low energy availability.
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