Prep before marathon

Some supplements to consider 2-3 days before the marathon and race, and 5 days after for recovery:

* Magnesium chelate - this helps reduce inflammation, cope with the physical stress on the body, to help energy production and nourish the muscle tissues.

* Vitamin C (preferably in mineral asborbate form for better absorption) - about 500mg, helps reduce inflammatory response, increase stress tolerance, enhance thyroid function and increase antioxidant store.

* Coenzyme Q10 - about 100mg, make sure you get a good quality CoQ10. This helps reduce muscle damage and energy production. Studies have shown that athletes who take CoQ10 take less time to complete the race. 

* DO NOT take non-steriodal anti-inflammatory BEFORE (or during) your race. Studies have shown that it increases inflammation and endotoxemia (see next paragraph for explanation) and worsen kidney function post race. 

Long term training…

Gut health is extremely important for an endurance athlete. Long duration of exercise can induce Endotoxemia. Sorry for the big word! In layman's term, this is what it means - As you train, blood gets shunted from your gut, this leads to the dying off of bacteria. The cell walls of the bacteria that are released into the blood stream are called endotoxins. Endotoxins then bind to the muscle tissue and trigger inflammatory cytokines, which damage your tissue overtime. 

To improve gut health, you may want to consider:

Probiotics, Digestive enzymes and supplements to enhance the integrity of the gut cell membrane.

Happy Training!