Author(s): Matt Fitzgerald

SPORT

Almost everyone who gets hooked on running aspires to run at least one marathon, which is seen as the ultimate challenge. This reputation is deserved, but three out of four marathon participants "hit the wall" or slow down significantly in the second half of the race, challenging their goal to finish. Hitting the wall in a marathon is essentially a nutritional, or metabolic, problem: the runner simply runs out of energy. Some runners bonk because they drink too little during the event, others because they drink too much, and still others because they drink the wrong thing. Many cases of hitting the wall are caused by nutritional errors that are committed before the race. These mistakes range from choosing the wrong pre-race meal to failing to achieve one's optimal racing weight through proper diet during training. Author Matt Fitzgerald is a sports nutritionist and nutrition writer, and spends a lot of time talking to and educating runners about nutrition. He knows first hand how much help most runners need in this area. There's so much they don't know. And today the problem is worse than ever, because over the past decade there have been many important advances in the best nutritional practices for marathon training and competition. There is an evident need for a comprehensive and authoritative resource that teaches runners of every level the most cutting-edge and proven ways to fuel their bodies in training and on race day to achieve their best possible marathon or half-marathon performance. "The New Rules of Marathon and Half Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond The Wall" is that resource.