26.2 Miles and A Hundred Slices of Pizza

One thing that fuels my pizza cravings is my constant running. This whole time I’ve been training for the Pittsburgh Marathon. It was the perfect relationship; I could run dozens of miles a week and in return I’d reward my body with pizza. After especially long runs on nice days I would grab a large pie and my pizza pal Christa for a pizza-in-the-park adventure. It’s the only way to celebrate fitness.

But the question remains - how much pizza is an athlete supposed to be eating before a run? I posed this to the Pittsburgh Marathon and their silence is as terrifying as a gas pizza oven ripe to explode.

They refused to respond - luckily I’m not only a pizza journalist, but an inside source on this matter. While I won’t have any concrete data until I finish the Pittsburgh Marathon tomorrow I have a very strong hypothesis on how much pizza you should eat before a marathon.

In the week leading up to the marathon I had pizza on the following days: 

  • Sunday - 1 slice
  • Monday - 1 slice
  • Tuesday - 2 slices
  • Wednesday - 5 slices
  • Thursday - 0 slices
  • Friday - 5 slices
  • Saturday - 6 slices

You can see the pattern. Start off the week slow, ramp up, plateau  add in a day of break, and lay down the hammer the crucial day before the marathon. If all goes well tomorrow it stands that an average marathoner should eat 20 slices of pizza the week leading up to the marathon.

And that’s a little bit of pizza science for you.  Have your own pizza regiment? Let me know!