What I eat in a day: marathon runner edition - BBC Africa

The marathon is almost synonymous with the Olympics and has been part of the modern Games since their beginnings in 1896. Running 42.2 kilometres at speed is one of the ultimate endurance events, requiring athletes to burn up huge amounts of energy.

But how much exactly? And in an era of advanced sports science and nutrition, what are the foods that fuel the champions?

Let's find out from two of the best, the current marathon record holders for men and women, Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei, who both hail from Kenya.

We've been to meet them as they trained for the Tokyo Games and spied on their eating habits.

[divy]

It's beautiful to see that African are so much grounded to earth, simple food no plastic pollution, packed foods like other nations

[humann]

Love how concise this was. Look up similar videos and I'm they're bloody 30 minutes long to explain 3 minutes of information.

[biswajititer]

Bulk of their calories comes from plants, ugali chappathi rice and beans bread tea banana. They are not dying of protein deficiency and are rather kicking everyone’s butt of people that take a lot of supplements and “protein”.

[igloozoo]

Yep, no Keto, no Vegan, not even Mediterranean, not even Nutritarian. No dogma diets. Simple and unprocessed.

[juleswifey]

This is the most African African looking food I've ever seen in my life. And I'm African. Central to be precise. But I approve of this message 100%!

[sharonprry]

This is my family for real, I just love my African people.

[jt]

I find it noteworthy how plain and simple the food discussed is: fruits, rice and beans, fermented vegetables and some milk. Poor people across the planet can eat that—and they probably don’t even eat that much.

Essentially, these athletes are in a constant state of using every last gram of whatever goes into their mouths. Their bodies are super efficient.

Unlike our standard American bodies which look awful. I used to sprint but now I’m a sedentary lawyer.

Fasting has helped but these athletes are in a health league of their own.

[benpyne]

Eliud: "My conshunce cannot allow me to drink alcohol".
Me: Hiding the empty bottle of wine...🙄

[KIM-xlzs]

As a Kenyan let me tell you the truth we are naturally fast, I don't know how but its like in our DNA, I smoke, I drink, I don't train, but I can just wake up decide to have a jog even with my mask on, I can run for 2km without a hustle to my destination so it means I can tun further, when I saw our first lady finish the London marathon, and she is a 50+ year old lady, all kenyans can run, thats a fact

[mckonal]

kipchoge is the goat of distance running

[runfilmsleep]

No protein shakes and tons of Pasta? Wow!

[Veroweithofer]

Not an energy drink nor bar nor gel in sight! ❤

[Thoth]

Ugali + lots of milky tea with big spoons of sugar - all used on a 20km run.
Sleep is a big deal for Eliud too...

[peterpoulos]

The fact that the best marathon runner highlighted the importance of proteins show how necessary it is for recovery.

[blackmediawiki]

And they ask why kenyans are fast! Simpilicity at its best. I did not hear anything like KFC or Mac, you are what you eat. Its that simple!

[clarity]

Dang, they eat so little. After a 15-20k run I want to binge on pizza 😅

[amrutpat]

Indian influence is hard on kenya..especially chapati(roti) and chai (tea) and beans curry with rice(rajma chawal)!

[rickjames]

if I ate chapati and tea I will be walking all the way

[zz-dezq]

I love how they say " I take"

[nizarr]

I am hungry 😅

They have a clean diet!