How Can a Sports Dietitian Help With Marathon Preparation in Melbourne?
September 2026
By Essendon Sports Medicine Team
It's 5:30am on a chilly Tuesday.
The sun hasn't come up over the Tan yet, but a runner is already three kilometres into a training run, legs heavy, stomach growling.
She skipped breakfast because she wasn't sure what to eat before a run without feeling sick.
By kilometre eight, her energy crashes. She finishes the run, but it wasn't the session she'd planned.
She heads home wondering if she's cut out for this marathon after all.
This scene plays out across Melbourne every week. Runners pour hours into their training plans — the long runs, the speed sessions, the recovery days — but leave their nutrition to guesswork.
And guesswork is exactly where marathon training goes wrong.
A sports dietitian fills that gap. Here's what this blog covers:
- How a sports dietitian builds a nutrition plan around your training, not a generic diet
- What the science says about carbs, protein, and hydration for marathon runners
- Why a sports dietitian is different from a nutritionist, and why that difference matters for your health and your wallet
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Training Your Legs Without Training Your Gut Is Only Half the Job
Most runners spend months building their legs up for 42.2 kilometres. Far fewer spend any time training their gut. Yet the gut has to do a big job on race day — process gels, sports drinks, and food while the body is under serious stress.
This is one of the most overlooked parts of marathon preparation, and it's a genuine gap most running blogs skip. A sports dietitian doesn't just tell you what to eat. They help you practise it. That means trialling gels, drinks, and race-day meals during long training runs — not for the first time on race morning. Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons runners end up with stomach cramps, nausea, or a desperate search for a toilet mid-race.
A question worth asking yourself: have you actually tested your race-day fuel during training, or are you planning to figure it out on the day? If it's the second one, that's worth changing.
Why "Eat More Carbs" Isn't Useful Advice on Its Own
Almost every runner has heard that carbohydrates are important for marathon training. That's true, but it's not the whole story, and it's not specific enough to actually help anyone.
The amount of carbohydrate a runner needs changes across the training cycle. During heavy training blocks with long runs and back-to-back sessions, the body needs a lot more fuel to recover and adapt. In the final days before race day, a well-timed increase in carbohydrate intake helps top up the fuel stores in the muscles and liver, giving the body a bigger tank to draw from during the race. This process, often called carbohydrate loading, works best when it's planned around the individual runner's body size, training load, and race goals — not applied as a flat rule for everyone.
This is exactly where a sports dietitian earns their keep. Instead of a generic "eat more pasta" tip, they calculate what an individual runner's body actually needs, based on body weight, training volume, and how many weeks out from race day they are. Getting this timing right can be the difference between running strong through the last 10 kilometres and hitting the dreaded wall.
Thinking about your own plan: do you know how your carbohydrate needs should shift between your heaviest training week and race week? If not, that's a conversation worth having with a dietitian rather than a running forum.
Protein, Hydration, and the Parts of Marathon Nutrition Everyone Forgets
Carbohydrates get most of the attention, but they're not the only piece of the puzzle. Protein plays a key role in repairing muscle tissue that gets broken down during long runs. Without enough of it, recovery slows down and the risk of niggling injuries creeps up. Runners generally need more protein than sedentary people, and the exact amount depends on training load and body weight — another detail a sports dietitian can personalise rather than guess at.
Then there's hydration, which is about more than just drinking water. Long runs, especially in Melbourne's unpredictable weather, cause the body to lose sodium and other electrolytes through sweat. Losing too much fluid, or replacing it the wrong way, can hurt performance and, in serious cases, be dangerous. A sports dietitian can help work out an individual's sweat rate and build a hydration plan that actually matches it, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all sports drink recommendation.
Melbourne's spring marathon season adds another layer. Training through winter mornings and then racing in warmer October conditions means the body's fluid and fuel needs can shift throughout the build-up. This is a detail that's easy to miss without professional guidance, and it's rarely covered by generic marathon nutrition articles written for a global audience.
Sports Dietitian or Nutritionist? The Difference Actually Matters
Here's something most marathon nutrition blogs never explain clearly, and it's important: in Australia, the word "nutritionist" isn't a protected or regulated title. Almost anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, regardless of their training. A dietitian, on the other hand, has completed a university degree accredited by Dietitians Australia and is trained in the science of nutrition for both healthy people and those managing medical conditions.
A sports dietitian takes it one step further. They've completed additional accreditation through Sports Dietitians Australia, meaning they have specific training in the nutritional demands of exercise and sport. For a marathon runner, that distinction matters. Fuelling for 42.2 kilometres isn't the same as everyday healthy eating advice, and getting it wrong can mean anything from a disappointing race to a genuine health risk.
Choosing a sports dietitian also means access to Medicare rebates through a chronic disease management plan, and most private health funds cover dietitian appointments too. That's not something every "nutritionist" can offer.
Worth checking: if you've had nutrition advice from someone before, do you actually know what qualification they hold?
Building a Plan That Fits Real Life, Not Just a Textbook
A good marathon nutrition plan has to work around a runner's actual life — their job, their family, their food preferences, and how their gut responds to different foods. This is where working with a sports dietitian, rather than following a generic plan found online, makes the biggest difference.
At the first appointment, a sports dietitian usually talks through training history, current eating habits, race goals, and any gut issues experienced during long runs. From there, they build a plan that adjusts as training progresses, moving through base training, peak mileage, taper, and race week. It's not a static document handed over once. It changes as the body's needs change.
This kind of personalised, evolving approach is very different from a downloadable meal plan or a one-size-fits-all article. It's also a great example of why working alongside a full sports medicine team matters. If fatigue, low energy, or repeated niggles show up during training, a sports dietitian working alongside sports doctors and physiotherapists can help figure out whether the cause is nutritional, physical, or a bit of both — rather than guessing in isolation.
A gentle nudge: if training has felt harder than it should, or recovery isn't happening the way it used to, that's worth raising with a sports dietitian rather than pushing through and hoping it improves on its own.
Sports Dietitian Advice For Melbourne Marathon Runners
Marathon training asks a lot of the body, and food is one of the biggest levers a runner has to make that training pay off. Carbohydrate timing, protein intake, hydration, and gut training all play a role, and getting them right takes more than a generic online guide. It takes a plan built around an individual runner's body, training load, and goals.
That's exactly what a sports dietitian brings to marathon preparation. Accredited Sports Dietitian Jess Purcell, who consults at Essendon Sports Medicine, is one example of the kind of specialised support available to Melbourne runners heading into marathon season.
Whether race day is months away or just around the corner, there's real value in getting nutrition advice from someone qualified to give it. A conversation with a sports dietitian at Essendon Sports Medicine could be the difference between surviving a marathon and genuinely enjoying it. If training has felt like a guessing game so far, now is a good time to change that.
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References
van Dyk N, et al. Including the Nordic Hamstring Exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8,459 athletes. Br J Sports Med. 2019.
Bahr R, et al. Hamstring muscle injury prevention and management: a practical guide for clinicians and athletes. Br J Sports Med.
Green B, Bourne MN, van Dyk N, Pizzari T. Recalibrating the risk of hamstring strain injury (HSI): a 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for index and recurrent HSI. Br J Sports Med.
Orchard JW, Seward H. Epidemiology of injuries in the Australian Football League. Multiple peer-reviewed publications describing injury surveillance in the AFL.