Getting you race ready

Fuelling your marathon: performance, health, and recovery

With Lecturer and registered nutritionist, Dr Vini Cruzat.
A well-balanced diet with high-quality nutrients is essential for optimal health, performance, and recovery, especially when preparing for a marathon.

In the days leading up to the race, focus on whole, nutrient-dense foods to support energy levels and muscle function. Carbohydrates are particularly important as they serve as the primary fuel for endurance exercise. Good sources include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Protein should also be included to aid muscle repair, along with healthy fats from nuts, seeds, and avocados to support sustained energy. High-quality protein sources such as lean meats, fish, eggs, and dairy should be prioritized alongside plant-based proteins. The widely popular whey protein supplements can also be a convenient and effective option, as they provide essential amino acids that support muscle recovery and help prevent muscle breakdown. Staying well-hydrated with water and electrolyte-rich drinks is crucial, and it is best to avoid unfamiliar or highly processed foods that may cause digestive discomfort.

Empowering your run to the finish line, with Physiotherapy Professor Maria Constantinou

Empowering your run to the finish line, with Physiotherapy Professor Maria Constantinou

Whether this is your first marathon or you’re a professional runner, performing at your best will likely be your priority.

A physiotherapist can play a key role in helping you prepare for a marathon, ensuring you're physically ready, minimising injury risk, and optimising your performance. As the 2025 edition of the Gold Coast Marathon looms, Professor of Physiotherapy Maria Constantinou explains how a physiotherapist can help you achieve your goal.

“With a physiotherapist, it's really about working together to enable you to perform at your best during the marathon, while ensuring you stay safe and aren't at risk of injury. “It's important to discuss what your goal is in regards to the competition. A physiotherapist will listen to what you want and what you need, as you know your body better than anybody else,” said Professor Constantinou.

100-point Recovery Program

100-point Recovery Program

The 100-point recovery program, created by Dr. Stephen Bird, is a free program designed to optimize post-marathon race recovery. It focuses on various activities that contribute to recovery, aiming for a weekly total of 100 points. By following this program, athletes can enhance their performance, allow their bodies to heal, reduce the risk of injury, and set new personal goals. The program covers crucial aspects like sleep, mental fatigue, stress levels, nutrition, hydration, and stretching.

If you’re competing in the Gold Coast Marathon this year, the Southern Cross University health team is here to help you recover post-race with a tailored recovery system. Stop by the Southern Cross University Recovery Hub in the race precinct for advice and treatments.

How to keep your running routine over the summer

Video transcript

My name is Dr Chris Stevens and I'm a senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at Southern Cross University.

Runners should be doing three types of training sessions, these include long slow distance sessions where the aim is to be able to run for a long duration at a slow pace without fatigue. These sessions increase the lactate threshold which allows a runner to be able to run at a higher intensity for a longer period without fatigue.

Another type of session that runners should be doing are interval training sessions where the aim is to run faster than usual by alternating periods of fast running with periods of rest. These sessions allow a runner to increase their maximum aerobic running pace so that the race pace is now a lower percentage of the runner's maximum running capacity.

Runners should progress their training over time, this usually means increasing the amount of training that is done each week. For an inexperienced marathon runner it's important to progress a long slow distance session every week as well as the total running duration or the kilometres completed each week.

A useful rule is that the amount of training should not increase by more than 10% per week. Progressing every training session every week would be far too much so runners should pick out only a couple of training sessions to progress in their plan each week.

Pacing is an important consideration for any runner but especially a marathon runner. Often runners will start a race too fast and then they are forced to slow down and run at a slower speed than their potential. The goal for a runner is to try and run at an even pace throughout a marathon.

Less experienced runners should start their race a little bit slower than what feels comfortable and aim to increase their pace in the second half of the run if they can.

So hello! My name is Holly Muggleston and I work at Southern Cross University. I'm a nutritionist.

Runners trots is also known as runner's guts basically starts with a rumbling in the stomach and that may be all that it is it may also be this extreme urge to defecate and the other one might be you have diarrhoea.

So if you're doing high-intensity exercise like an endurance run the blood that would normally go to your gastrointestinal tract to digest food gets diverted to other muscles as you run it gets jumbled up and it jars and it basically makes you feel like you need to have a poo. If you have less blood flow from less fluid being in your body that can exacerbate the problem because there's even less blood flow going to the GI tract.

Two to four hours after eating is when you would run. The meal should be low in fibre, protein and fat. It's best to drink water or a sports drink.

What's the best recovery meal?

Okay you need to have something soon after you do a run but that meal should contain some carbohydrates to contain protein, electrolytes and fluid.

Hi my name is Scott Goddard and I'm a PhD candidate here at Southern Cross University and I research in the area of sport and exercise psychology.

So the best way to motivate yourself to get started is by not putting too much pressure on yourself initially by having too many expectations especially if you're new to running or it's the first time that you're attempting a marathon.

We should be looking at running a pace that's comfortable or a distance that's comfortable and a good way to think about this is focusing on finishing the run, feeling happy to run within the next day or two.

So to keep up motivation post-race I would suggest changing up the types of running that you've been doing so for instance changing the distances or the environments that you're running in or potentially the routes that you've been running.

Anything that you can change up to keep running feeling new and fresh is a good way to continue to enjoy your running and keep that motivation up. 

Hi i'm Dr Paul Butterworth I'm the course coordinator of the podiatry and pedorthics programs here at Southern Cross University on the Gold Coast. 

So the best way to prevent common injuries is wearing good supportive footwear, making sure that that footwear suits your foot type whether you've got a flat foot, a neutral foot or a high arch foot.

Other ways to prevent injury are making sure that you're strapping your ankles if you're susceptible to ankle sprains, making sure you're wearing orthotic devices if they've been prescribed and if they haven't, getting an assessment done prior to any marathon to see whether you are at risk is a good idea and your local podiatrist should be able to help you.

In that space if you do get injuries we do have a health clinic here at Southern Cross University we can offer podiatry, pedorthics, osteopathic services amongst many others please feel free to come and see us.

Obviously, you can see your local GP or your local health practitioner should you need to.

How to keep your running routine over the summer

Associate Professor Chris Stevens gives expert advice on how to prioritise your running routine despite the heat.

With the festive season behind us, now is a great time to prioritise your running.

Running in the summer when it’s hot can be an obstacle for runners to overcome. Run in the early morning or evening to beat the heat when you can. If the hot weather is unavoidable, reduce the duration and intensity of your run and take cold water to drink and pour on yourself. After a week of running in the heat, you will gain some adaptations that will make you feel more comfortable, and then you can increase your running duration first and then intensity. Take a hat and sunscreen and wear light-coloured, loose-fitting clothing when running outdoors. If it’s a hot, humid, cloudless and wind-still day be very careful; these are the toughest conditions to run in. If you’re using the treadmill, set up a fan in front of you to help your sweat evaporate and keep you cool.

Training your mind for a marathon with Psychology expert Associate Professor Christian Swann

Video transcript

My name is Christian Swan I'm a senior lecturer in psychology at Southern Cross University and my research is on the psychology of sport, exercise and physical activity.

So if you're currently preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon psychology is obviously a very very important part of your preparation and your training. One of the things that everyone will probably have coming into the Gold Coast marathon is a goal that they are thinking about trying to achieve.

The research will tell us that certain types of goal are going to be more useful in certain situations than in others so if you're experienced in marathons if you have run them before if you know what you're doing then the typical SMART goal - specific achievable measurable realistic time-bound - those types of goals can be great, it can be really helpful for performance and can help you get more out of yourself on the day.

If this is your first time though a completely different type of goal might be more useful for you and might help you have an enjoyable and much less stressful experience. Research is telling us that more open-ended goals can actually be much more useful instead of setting really specific measurable time bound goals.

Try setting something instead just like to see how well you can do on the day, don't attach a number to it, don't attach at a certain time go out see what you can do based on the training you've done and where you're at on the day. See how you go and then come back and try and do better next time.

So in the days leading up to a big race like the Gold Coast marathon a lot of the top athletes will have a routine that they have prepared and that they will go through in the days before, in the morning of the race to help them feel like they're in control and that they know that everything is in place for when the the race actually starts.

So that will include everything from you know the time that they're waking up, the time that they're having breakfast, they've got all of their plans set out in terms of where they need to be at certain points in time and so from a psychological perspective having routines like that that can really help athletes feel in control, know what they're doing, know that everything's in place and not feel overwhelmed by the occasion that is about to happen.

Training your mind for a marathon with Psychology expert Associate Professor Christian Swann

Half the battle of any physical activity is mental. When it comes to an endurance sport like marathon running, mental preparation can be as important as physical training. Part of this mental preparation for many runners will involve setting goals.

Having a specific time target, like improving a personal best, is a common type of goal for experienced marathon runners but this could be counterproductive for novice runners, says Southern Cross University Senior Lecturer in Psychology Associate Professor Christian Swann. Based at Southern Cross University’s Coffs Harbour campus, Dr Swann focuses his research around the psychology of sport and exercise. He has extensively researched elite athletes and exercisers, and how we experience the ‘flow’ state – commonly known as being ‘in the zone’ – in these activities.

Recovering from a marathon with Osteopathy expert Bimbi Gray

Video transcript

My name is Bimbi Gray I'm a registered osteopath and a clinical academic at Southern Cross University.

All training and competing causes some degree of physiological stress, whether you're running the ten kilometre, the half or the full marathon you may feel this physiological stress has caused some strain or injury to your body.

Osteopaths are government regulated allied health professionals who have extensive knowledge of functional anatomy and biomechanics. People often see osteopaths. for short and long term complaints Common problems that runners may see an osteopath for are neck and lower back pain ankle sprains knee pain shin splints and muscular strains such as hamstring or calf strains.

Osteopaths will review the way your body moves including any restrictions to your range of movement speed agility flexibility and strength for your running. Osteopaths combine the results of multiple clinical tests to develop a working diagnosis and clinical management plan which often involves manual therapy. Manual therapy is a hands-on treatment used to support tissue repair movement and recovery.

Book in to see your local osteopath or the highly trained osteopathic students at the Southern Cross University health clinic to support your healing and recovery following the Gold Coast Marathon.

Recovering from a marathon with Osteopathy expert Bimbi Gray

You’ve trained hard. You prepared yourself both mentally and physically and you gave it your all. But those post-race muscular niggles just won’t go away. What now?

“All training and competing involves some degree of physiological stress. Whether it’s the 10 km run, the half, or the full marathon it’s not unusual to feel like your body has experienced some degree of physiological stress,” said Southern Cross Osteopathy lecturer Bimbi Gray. Osteopaths are registered primary care practitioners and can support healing and recovery for runners. Common complaints osteopaths see from runners are running stitch, neck and lower back pain, ankle sprains, knee pain, shin splints and muscular strain such as hamstring or calf strain.

Breaking the four-hour barrier with Nursing graduate and former pace runner Sophie Curnow

Video transcript

I'm Sophie Curnow I've just graduated from Southern Cross University studying nursing and I'm pace running at this year's Gold Coast Marathon.

I've been part of the marathon for six or so years. This year I decided to put my hand up and volunteered to pace so I get to pace the four-hour group. When I first did the marathon I wanted to break four hours I can't imagine pacing a better group of more motivated people than the people who want to do a sub-four marathon.

My advice for people trying to break the four-hour mark would be slow down at the start because when the gun goes off everyone just kind of goes for it because you're so squished in you just want your own area but you've just got to enjoy that first kilometre and just take in the atmosphere and then once that first kilometre is finished that's when you can kind of go, okay what pace am I running and what pace do I want to run? And then that's where you find your groove.

It's a really popular spot being right next to the pacer because you get to just mimic their steps but please don't try and push me over! For new runners out there my biggest tip is to get serious about your hydration and your fuelling. I think that's probably the most important part because I know for every race that I've done, it gets to 30k and the last thing I want is a drink or to put another gel down but honestly at that 36-37k mark you need it.

Take it before you think you need it and don't skip one and probably plan as well so before your race if you know how long you want to run then go okay at 40 minutes I'm going to take my first gel and at an hour 20 I'll take my next one and just really plan it that way and stick with your plan.

So on race day this year I'm hoping to be able to take a little bit of footage of me pacing and just so everyone can experience the atmosphere that I'll be experiencing on the day.

Check out Southern Cross Uni on Instagram and I'll be uploading some stories after Gold Coast Marathon.

Breaking the four-hour barrier with Nursing graduate and former pace runner Sophie Curnow

Under four hours is a common goal for first-time marathon runners who have trained in anticipation of hitting the pavement on race day.

For Southern Cross University graduate and former pace runner Sophie Curnow, the sub-four group in any marathon is the most inspirational and often the most dedicated as they see their marathon dreams turn into reality – some for the first time. After finishing high school in Victoria more than a decade ago, Sophie could only dream of the day where she could run six kilometres non-stop. Now the Gold Coast nursing graduate and fitness guru has travelled the world racing in marathons with sponsorship deals, and is a familiar face on the official Gold Coast Marathon poster, leading the running pack while fist-pumping the air. In this video flashback from when Sophie was a pace runner for the Gold Coast Marathon, she shares tips and tricks of how to pace for the race.