RACE-WEEK FUEL · SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2026

What to eat the week before the CIM

Updated October 28, 2026 · Folsom to Sacramento, California, USA

What should I eat the week before the CIM?

Short answer: Eat your usual meals early in the week. For the 36–48 hours before the start (Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5), raise carbohydrate to about 8–12 g per kg of body weight a day, mostly from familiar, low-fibre foods, and trim fat and fibre to make room. On race morning eat 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg 1–4 hours before your start; during the race take 30–90 g per hour depending on your time; afterwards have 20–40 g of protein with carbohydrate. These are ACSM and ISSN guideline ranges; practise the plan in training first.

Your numbers

Enter your body weight and expected finishing time. Everything is computed in your browser from published guideline ranges; nothing is sent or saved.

For 70 kg:

1Fuel-up, 36–48 h before the start: 560–840 g of carbohydrate a day (8–12 g/kg). Plait's default: about 700 g a day (10 g/kg) for 2 day(s), never more than 1.8 times your usual plan. That is roughly 14 portions of 50 g (table below).
2Race-morning meal: 70–280 g of carbohydrate, 1–4 h before the start. Plait's default for your start: about 70 g (1 g/kg), 2 h before (around 05:00). For example:
- 1 × plain bagel (53 g)
- 1 × tbsp jam (14 g)
About 67 g in total, plus about 5 g more from bread, juice or a sports drink.
3During the race: 30–90 g of carbohydrate per hour, about 120–360 g over your finishing time, from gels, chews or sports drink you have practised with.
4After: 20–40 g of protein and a carbohydrate-rich meal. If you train again within 8 h: 70–84 g of carbohydrate per hour for the first 4 h. The day after: about 350–490 g of carbohydrate.

Guideline ranges for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have diabetes, a gut condition or a history of disordered eating, plan race week with a clinician or sports dietitian.

Day by day: race week for the CIM

Day	What to eat
Mon, Nov 30 6 days before	Usual meals Eat your usual training meals. Training is tapering, so you do not need extra food, and you do not need to cut carbohydrate either.
Tue, Dec 1 5 days before	Usual meals Usual meals. Keep protein steady (about 1.4–2.0 g per kg a day).
Wed, Dec 2 4 days before	Usual meals Usual meals. Practise your race-morning breakfast if you have not yet.
Thu, Dec 3 3 days before	Usual meals Usual meals. Shop for the next two days: familiar, low-fibre carbohydrate such as white rice, pasta, bagels, white bread, potatoes without skin, juice and jam.
Fri, Dec 4 2 days before	Fuel-up Fuel-up day 1 (the 36–48 h window starts): 8–12 g of carbohydrate per kg (your grams are in the calculator), spread over meals and snacks. Make room by trimming fat and fibre rather than adding huge meals.
Sat, Dec 5 1 day before	Fuel-up Fuel-up day 2: the same target. Swap high-fibre foods for lower-fibre ones (white rice for brown, peeled potato, white pasta), keep dinner familiar and not too late, and drink normally.
Sun, Dec 6 Race day	Race day Race morning: 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg, 1–4 h before your start. During: 30–60 g per hour, up to 90 g per hour beyond about 2.5 h, only from products you have tried in training. After: 20–40 g of protein with carbohydrate.
Mon, Dec 7 Day after	Recovery Recovery day: back toward your usual meals, carbohydrate around 5–7 g per kg, protein at your usual level.

What 50 g of carbohydrate looks like

USDA reference values. Low-fibre options are easier on the stomach the day before and on race morning.
Food	Serving	Carbohydrate per serving	For about 50 g
cooked white rice	150 g	42 g	175 g
cooked pasta	150 g	46 g	160 g
boiled potato, no skin	200 g	40 g	250 g
plain bagel	1 bagel	53 g	0.9 × bagel
white bread	1 slice	15 g	3.3 × slice
crisp rice cereal	1 30 g bowl	26 g	1.9 × 30 g bowl
banana	1 banana	27 g	1.9 × banana
orange juice	1 250 ml glass	26 g	1.9 × 250 ml glass
jam	1 tbsp	14 g	3.6 × tbsp
honey	1 tbsp	17 g	2.9 × tbsp
raisins	1 small handful (30 g)	24 g	2.1 × small handful (30 g)
rice cake	1 rice cake	7 g	7.1 × rice cake
sports drink	1 500 ml bottle	32 g	1.6 × 500 ml bottle

CIM: notes that affect fuelling

CIM is a point-to-point course: it starts in the Folsom foothills and finishes at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. It is also the 2026 USATF Marathon Championships.
The USATF event listing gives a 7:00 a.m. Pacific start. Point-to-point means a bus or drop-off to the start, so plan when you will eat before you travel.
With a 7:00 a.m. start, Plait moves the race-morning meal to 2 hours before (5:00 a.m.) and makes it smaller, about 1 g of carbohydrate per kg.

How race week works in Plait

Plait sets your daily calories from what your watch measured (WHOOP and Garmin; Apple Watch in beta) and builds a week of meals with weighed portions.

Tell the coach chat about your race: the type, the date, your start time and your expected finishing time. Code, not the AI, turns that into a day-by-day plan: fuel-up days, a timed race-morning meal and a recovery day, from the guideline ranges above or the grams per kg you choose.

Each day stays tied to your own plan: carbohydrate and calories at most 1.8 times your usual day on the last fuel-up day, protein kept, lower-fibre swaps the day before and on race day, and at most one starch per meal. A weight-loss plan is not turned into a 4,000-calorie day.

Free: create the event, see the whole day-by-day proposal and the countdown. Pro: the meals themselves change on those days (carbohydrate and fat portions; protein stays). Nothing changes until you apply it.

Plait only knows the training and races you tell it about. Watch calorie figures are estimates.

Get your race-week plan from your watch

Connect WHOOP or Garmin (Apple Watch in beta). Plait builds your weekly meals from what your watch measured, then lays race week on top.

Get your race-week plan from your watch

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Questions

How many days should I carb load before the CIM?

For a marathon, the ACSM joint position gives 36–48 hours of high carbohydrate (10–12 g per kg a day), and the ISSN gives 8–12 g per kg a day to maximize glycogen stores. In practice that is the two days before the race. Plait's race week uses 10 g per kg for two days, capped relative to your usual plan.

What should I eat on race morning?

Guidelines suggest 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg, 1–4 hours before the start: a familiar, low-fibre, low-fat meal such as a bagel with jam, a banana and juice. The earlier the start, the smaller and closer to the start the meal usually is.

How many carbs per hour during a marathon?

30–60 g per hour for efforts of 1–2.5 hours, and up to 90 g per hour beyond about 2.5 hours, from gels, chews or sports drink. Only use what you have practised with in training.

Should I eat more fibre or salad before the race?

Not the day before or on race morning. Lower-fibre carbohydrate (white rice, white bread, peeled potato, juice) is usually easier on the gut; keep vegetables and whole grains for the rest of the week.

Does Plait change my meals for race week?

Tell Plait's coach chat about your race and it computes a day-by-day plan: fuel-up days, a timed race-morning meal and a recovery day. Free accounts see the whole plan and the countdown; with Pro the meals themselves change on those days. Nothing changes until you apply it.

Sources

Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2016;48(3):543–568 (ACSM joint position, Table 2). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Burke LM, Hawley JA, Wong SH, Jeukendrup AE. Carbohydrates for training and competition. J Sports Sci 2011;29 Suppl 1:S17–S27 (IOC consensus conference on nutrition for sport). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Kerksick CM et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017;14:33 (8–12 g/kg/day to maximize glycogen stores). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Jäger R et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017;14:20 (1.4–2.0 g/kg/day). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
California International Marathon (Sacramento Running Association) runcim.org
USATF: 2026 CIM / USATF Marathon Championships www.usatf.org

Guideline ranges, not performance promises. Course details come from the race organizers and the sources listed; check the official race information before race day.

Check the gap between your watch and a calorie formula

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