Easy Recipes for Marathon Runners
- August 8, 2019
- Last Updated: July 27, 2022
- 10 Comments
- Running
Eating for marathon training doesn’t have to be stressful. These easy recipes will help boost your recovery and ensure you’re eating a variety of easy meals to boost performance.
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As marathon training continues to ramp up, I know quick, easy dinners will become more and more important. So, I thought putting together a list of EASY, QUICK recipes would be helpful not only for me, but for others who are looking for an eating plan for marathon training.
I’ve previously shared my meal prep for athletes and easy freezer meals for new moms, but I haven’t yet talked about my favorite quick dinner recipes.
I love to load up on my pantry must have’s from Thrive Market, because their variety and prices are unbeatable! We have an annual membership and save hundreds of dollars each year.
Many of these are perfectly aligned with our sports nutrition course recommendations for fueling well, too!
Eating For Marathon Training: The Basics
Whether you’re marathon training or not, you gotta love and appreciate the tiniest bit of meal prep to make your post run meals and snacks easier. And there’s a reason meal delivery for athletes exists, too. I’m a big fan of being practical and utilizing it when possible.
I love going out to eat but it’s not feasible for my family (or wallet) to do it more than occasionally. So, we had to come up with a system that works for eating at home. Nights are usually rushed, especially on nights I’m seeing clients.
But, it’s definitely possible to still eat healthy while training and busy.
Stock Your Kitchen
When thinking about making meals for marathon runners, you definitely want to have ingredients and appliances in your kitchen to speed up cooking.
Here’s what I suggest:
- Stock your pantry! You need to have easy ingredients on hand to make easy meals.
- Invest in some devices to make your life easier. I suggest:
- a good cast iron skillet
- a slowcooker and/or instant pot (to make instant pot bbq meatballs)
- meal prep containers so you have the capacity to store meals (I prefer these to plastic because they are reusable and more environmentally friendly)
- avocado/fruit/veggie covers so you can prevent food waste! At least for me, this entices me to buy more products knowing I can save them after using them once.
- a strong blender. I rely on the ninja for all of my smoothies and even baked good recipes.
- Nice to have addition’s (but not necessary)
- rice cooker (if you have an instant pot, you don’t need this!)
- air fryer
- spiralizer (if you want to increase your veggie intake by spiralizing zucchini and other veggies)
Forming Your Marathon Eating Plan
So, let’s talk about how we can use these products to make easy recipes for marathon training season.
When eating for marathon training, you want to have a loose marathon eating plan. Meaning, a strategy to eat sufficient energy to avoid being in a relative energy deficit state or underfueling. This post goes more into the dangers of not eating enough calories.
With work, kids, church, family and other obligations, there’s a lot to be done, on top of training and sleep. Ideally, at least 7 hours a night to help with recovery and performance.
As mentioned in the Current Sports Medicine Report, “Along with being an integral part of the recovery and adaptive process between bouts of exercise, accumulating evidence suggests that increased sleep duration and improved sleep quality in athletes are associated with improved performance and competitive success.”
In addition, better sleep may reduce the risk of both injury and illness in athletes, not only optimizing health but also potentially enhancing performance through increased participation in training
Current sports medicine report
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates should always be the base and main part of a performance plate for many reasons. First, it is the quickest and most efficient source of fuel for endurance activity, so athletes will constantly be relying on carbohydrates for activity and recovery.
Having ready-to-make meals available or that can be made quickly will greatly improve your nutrition. We know that the co-ingestion of carbohydrate and protein has positive effects on post-exercise recovery in endurance athletes, in comparison to carbohydrate alone (2).
Secondly, eating ample carbohydrates means the muscles can be sufficiently filled, and draw from those glycogen stores when necessary. Therefore, make lots of meals that revolve around carbohydrates!
This is what carbs are the mainstay of what to eat before running in the morning.
These foods include:
- potatoes and sweet potatoes
- rice
- grains
- tortillas
- breads
- crackers
- oats
- cereals
Many of these healthy snacks for athletes are also high in carbs, making easy eating-on-the-go!
Protein
Having protein sources available, like fish, dairy products, beans and lentils, chicken, seafood, whole grains and more, will increase the likelihood of eating enough protein throughout the day and around training workouts.
Protein for endurance athletes is higher than you may think!
Specifically, ingesting protein (especially post exercise leucine) after exercise has been associated with reduced post-exercise muscle soreness, attenuated biomarkers of sarcolemmal disruption (i.e., creatine kinase and myoglobin), enhanced mood/energy states, recovery of muscle function, and subsequent exercise performance.
So, let’s get to some easy meals for marathon training.
20 Minute Meals
As a mom and entrepreneur with a husband who travels for work, 20-30 minute meals are a must in our kitchen. Every once in a while, I can go for a long, drawn-out homecooked recipe that takes an hour or so.
But more often than not, I need quick recipes that taste good and provide nutrition for my family and myself, which is why I usually recycle many of these Wednesday night dinner ideas and Thursday night dinner ideas.
Many of these recipes fall into the following categories:
- Sheet Pan Meals
- Air Fryer Meals
- High iron Meals
- Easy seafood meals (Omega 3‘s are great for reducing inflammation associated with marathon training!)
- Slow cooker and Instant Pot Meals
Easy Recipes for Marathon Runners
These recipes are perfect when eating for marathon training and you need quick recipes that are healthy and nourishing for activity.
Simplify stir fry by making it on a sheet pan! This sheet pan chicken and mango stir fry is packed with flavor and super easy to make on a weeknight! Serve over a bed of rice for a balanced meal You can even swap tofu for a vegan stir fry, or shrimp.
These one sheet pan chicken fajitas with avocado sauce can be made in under 30 minutes and is an easy clean up! Peppers, avocado and low sodium fajita seasoning makes for a heart healthy meal.
This Sheet Pan Breaded Honey Mustard Salmon is a delicious and easy weeknight dish. While this sheet pan meal requires minimal prep and clean up, it's also full of flavor and balanced nutrition for an easy family meal.
An easy and delicious vegan meal prep recipe.
Flavorful tofu combines with lots of colorful veggies in this antioxidant rich one pan meal.
This Crispy Air Fryer Tempeh covered in a delicious tempeh peanut sauce is a 20 minute vegan air fryer recipe that everyone will love!
Air Fryer Parsnips are an easy and healthy side option, ready in just 20 minutes. Honey mustard parsnips combine honey, dijon mustard and a handful of spices for a healthy veggie side.
This white bean skillet recipe boasts a combination of white beans, tomatoes, veggies and pizza spices giving it a true flavor like its name, Pizza Beans! It's a delicious vegan cannellini bean recipe.
These cilantro lime shrimp tacos are a fresh and simple weeknight dinner option that comes together in 20 minutes!
Tacos aren’t just for Tuesday anymore! This taco meat is packed with flavor plus you let the instant pot or slow cooker do the heavy work for you!
This Beef and Broccoli Bake is a super easy dinner casserole, done cooking in half an hour!
Sheet Pan Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes is an easy sheet pan fall dinner made with delicious pork tenderloin with apples and sweet potatoes.
These easy ground turkey sweet potato burgers offer a delicious, flavorful twist on your original turkey burger. Sweet potato patties are chock full of antioxidants and can be made as a paleo turkey burger and gluten free turkey burger without the bun.
Photo Credit:
www.momskitchenhandbook.com
Spaghetti with Butter, Egg, and Cheese ...a simple, weeknight supper
As easy as it gets and delicious too!
These zucchini turmeric salmon cakes are the perfect quick and healthy dinner. These patties can be made in less than 20 minutes and are high in protein and healthy fats!
This creamy Garlic Parmesan Pasta is easy to make at home in one pot! Angel hair pasta cooks in a flavorful buttery cream sauce in just 10 minutes. Pair this with chicken, steak, or shrimp for a delicious meal that your family will love!
This lemon garlic shrimp pasta is savory, bright, summer and full of plump colossal shrimp. What's not to love?
Switch up Taco Tuesday with this one-pan, healthy Taco Pasta Skillet meal! Easy to prepare and something the whole family will love!
This Mediterranean Vegan Cold Pasta Salad is a creamy, colorful plant based pasta recipe. Swap out your typical pasta salad recipe for this healthy, roasted vegetable pasta salad.
Have you ever made lasagna in a skillet? This easy recipe requires only one pan!
This Veggie Pasta Bake is a perfect easy and comforting vegetarian pasta casserole.
Easy vegan quinoa chili loaded with good-for-you ingredients! This recipe is quick to make (it comes together in under 30-minutes!) and it’s perfect for a quick dinner or as a make-ahead lunch.
This healthy buffalo quinoa chicken salad is gluten free, ready in minutes and makes about 5-6 servings ! Great meal to prep on a Sunday for those busy weeknights!
Mango Quinoa Salad is gluten free and a fun spin on pasta salad. Full of light and refreshing veggies, it's an easy and delicious summer quinoa salad.
Potato and salmon fish cakes (otherwise known as salmon patties) are not only a quick and easy dinner idea that everyone will love, they’re also inexpensive and very nutritious!
Have your meal prep complete in under 30 minutes with these Thai Peanut Chicken Meal Prep Bowls. The thai peanut chicken sauce brings a harmonious flavor to the dish without adding any processed ingredients. Quick, easy, gluten and dairy free.
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas are flavorful, tender, and delicious! They are so versatile and can be used in a variety of meals! Cook once and eat all week!!
This one-pot Slow Cooker Seasoned Chicken, Potatoes and Green beans has a homemade dressing/marinade and will be your new favorite healthy dinner.
Crockpot Chicken Pumpkin Chili is the perfect white bean pumpkin chili with your choice of meat. Full of hearty protein, vegetables, fiber and vitamins, this pumpkin chili recipe is great for warming you up and keeping you nourished.
This Italian Chicken Sausage Sheet Pan Meal is as easy as chicken sheet pan meals can be. Sheet pan chicken sausage and vegetables is healthy, quick, and requires minimal prep and clean up.
A delicious way to eat chili in no time. With only 15 minutes of pressure cook time, this easy and super hearty instant pot vegetarian chili is about to blow your mind.
Instant Pot Indian Chicken Curry – Desi Chicken Curry made with bone in chicken, yogurt and spices , in under 30 minutes.Serve this along with steamed rice or chapatis and a little salad for an easy weeknight dinner!
Pistachio Crusted Salmon is made in the air fryer in less than 10 minutes! It’s crispy and full of flavor, basically the best air fryer salmon recipe ever.
As you can see, there are several easy recipes that make marathon nutrition and healthy eating easy with a busy training schedule.
If you want more breakfast recipes, snack recipes or vegetarian recipes for athletes, this post includes 51 Healthy Recipes for Athletes that span the board for pre-workout breakfasts, post-workout smoothies and easy portable snack options.
Want To Check Out More of the Marathon Training Series?
If you’re interested in more nutrition posts geared towards runners, you may want to check out:
- The Best Recovery Foods for Endurance Exercise
- Marathon Training Nutrition 101
- 5 Nutrition Tips to Help with Runners Gut
- Race Day Nutrition: What to eat pre race, during a race and post race
- The Truth on Low Carb Diets for Running
Sources:
- Watson, Andrew. (2017). Sleep and Athletic Performance. Curr Sports Med Rep, 16(6):413-418.
- Saunders, Michael et al. (2015). Protein Supplementation During or Following a Marathon Run Influences Post Exercise Recovery. Nutrients; 10(3):333.
Sarah Schlichter is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition. She specializes in family nutrition, sports nutrition and intuitive eating. She also co-hosts the podcast, Nail Your Nutrition.
10 Comments
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Great recipes! I made the slow cooker Mexican pulled pork last night and it was delish! Used it in bowls with rice, beans, cabbage slaw, and homemade avocado drizzle. My whole family loved it.
Yum! So glad you enjoyed that.
Great info here, Sarah – Thank you!
Am I training for a marathon or even a half right now? No I am not. Do I love easy dinner? Yes, yes I do. Can’t wait to try some of these recipes out when I’m back to having my own kitchen!
The chicken fajita sheet with the sauce right there. Pretty AND easy. Totally doing next week. Love the round up. Thank you!
I’m no marathon runner but I’m loving these recipe ideas! Thanks for linking to my Slow Cooker Chicken Italian:-)
That air fryer salmon recipe is the best! I love all these tips so much 🙂 I’m training for a race in October.
It looks so good, quite the weeknight recipe!
What a comprehensive post! My brother and friend from college both run marathons each year, so this is great for them! Thanks for including my potato and salmon fishcake recipe. 🙂
I hope they find it helpful!