Delhi Half Marathon 2026: A Race-Week Food and Nutrition Plan (Including If You're Fasting)
Updated: Oct 15
The Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon starts and finishes at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday 18 October. With under two weeks to go, the training is done, and what you eat between now and the start line is the one part of your race you can still change.
The Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon falls on 18 October 2026, in the middle of Navratri. Your race-week plan: normal eating early in the week, raised carbohydrate for the final two days, a practised breakfast two hours before the start, and fasting-friendly carbohydrate swaps if you're fasting.
The plan below works whether you're on the start line in Delhi or running the virtual edition from Bengaluru, Dubai or London. If you're fasting for Navratri, there's a section for you further down.
Quick Overview
Delhi Half Marathon 2026 nutrition: what does race week look like?
Race week is mostly normal eating, with one deliberate change at the end. From Monday to Thursday, eat your usual meals. Your taper is already lowering how much fuel you burn, so your muscle glycogen refills without any extra effort from you.
The change comes on Friday and Saturday, when carbohydrate goes up and fibre and fat come down. Then comes a breakfast you've practised on race morning, and fuel in your pocket if you'll be out past 90 minutes. That's the whole structure. The broader version, including the training block that comes before it, is in the half marathon diet plan for Indian conditions.
The mistakes in race week tend to be additions rather than omissions: a new supplement, a big restaurant dinner on Saturday, a gel nobody has tested. Keep the week boring.
How much carbohydrate do you need in the final two days?
Aim for roughly 7–8g of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight on Friday and Saturday. That's the upper half of the 6–10g/kg range the joint position stand gives for days of moderate-to-high training. The heavier 10–12g/kg load is built for longer races, and running it before a half usually leaves people heavy and bloated at the start (Thomas et al., J Acad Nutr Diet, 2016). The full-distance version is in the carb-loading guide for 42.2km.
Here's what that number means on a plate. A 60kg (132lb) runner at 7–8g/kg needs 420–480g of carbohydrate a day. That's poha, oats or toast at breakfast, a generous portion of rice or pasta at lunch and dinner with roti alongside, and fruit, a bagel or a few dates in between. A medium banana is roughly 25g of carbohydrate; a cup of cooked rice is around 45g.
Shift the balance of the plate rather than piling on more food. More rice, less oil. More fruit, less paneer-heavy curry. Pull fibre back for the final 24 hours, which means white rice over brown, fewer raw salads, and ripe bananas over pulses. The aim is to arrive full of fuel and light in the gut.
What should you eat on race morning?
Eat a carbohydrate breakfast you've already tested, about two hours before the start, low in fat and fibre and worth roughly 1–2g of carbohydrate per kilogram (Thomas et al., J Acad Nutr Diet, 2016). For our 60kg runner, that's 60–120g.
Poha, idli, toast with honey, a bagel with jam, rice porridge, or oats with banana all work. If your stomach won't take food that early, eat a smaller breakfast closer to the start and add a banana or a couple of dates 30 minutes before.
Practise this. Your last long run, on the weekend of 10–11 October, is the dress rehearsal for the exact breakfast and timing you'll use a week later.
What should you take during the race?
If you'll finish inside about 90 minutes, water is enough. If you'll be out longer, take 30–60g of carbohydrate an hour (Thomas et al., J Acad Nutr Diet, 2016), split into small amounts every 25–30 minutes. A gel, a few dates or half a banana each time does it.
Whatever you carry, use it on that last long run first. Two weeks of practising race fuelling cut gut symptoms substantially in endurance runners (Costa et al., Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, 2017). Nothing new on race day, including whatever is being handed out at the aid stations.
Drink to thirst. It's enough to prevent both dehydration and overdrinking in a race this length (Hew-Butler et al., Clin J Sport Med, 2015). Mid-October mornings in Delhi are warmer than the winter races most runners plan around, so start well hydrated and use the aid stations.
Running the race while fasting
Race day falls late in Sharad Navratri. Most calendars mark Maha Ashtami on Monday 19 October, though some households will observe it from race morning. So if you're fasting, the strictest day lands either on race day or the day after.
Fasting practices vary by family and region. If yours is phalahar, with fruit, milk and permitted flours, you can race well with planning. Build Friday and Saturday around sabudana, potato, sweet potato, singhara or rajgira roti, bananas and dates, and keep protein up with paneer, curd and milk. Kuttu is the highest-fibre of the fasting flours, so ease off it the day before. Fasting runners usually fall short on total quantity because there are fewer meals, so count the carbohydrate rather than assuming.
On race morning, two bananas with milk, a few dates, or a light bowl of sabudana khichdi (less peanut and ghee than usual) will do the job. Boiled potato with sendha namak is bland, easy on the gut, and adds some sodium. During the race, check your gel's ingredients against your own rules; dates, raisins and banana are the whole-food alternatives.
If your fast on race morning is nirjala, without water, running 21.1km (13.1 miles) in October warmth carries real risk of dehydration and heat illness. Research on Ramadan, also a daytime fast without water, shows longer endurance efforts deteriorating as they go on (Shephard, Nutrients, 2012). That's a conversation for your doctor before race week. The full picture of training through the nine days is in the Navratri training guide
Recovering after 21.1km
Eat a proper meal with carbohydrate and protein once you're home, whether that's rice, dal and curd, eggs on toast, or paneer with roti. There's no stopwatch on it. What matters is eating enough across the rest of the day, especially if your legs are telling you they've done something.
Keep Monday and Tuesday easy. A walk or a short, gentle run is plenty, and an extra portion at dinner both nights does more for your next block than any recovery product.
Fueletics Perspective
The half marathon is long enough for fuelling to decide your last five kilometres, and short enough that most runners overthink race week instead of executing it. Two days of deliberate carbohydrate, a breakfast you've rehearsed, and fuel you've tested on the road cover almost everything. The runners who fade after 15km have usually skipped one of those three, and it's most often the breakfast.
What you need, though, depends on your weight, your pace, your gut and the conditions you'll be running in. If you'd like those numbers worked out for you before the 18th, start with a Fueletics assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I eat the night before a half marathon?
A familiar, carbohydrate-heavy, low-fibre dinner such as rice, pasta or roti with a light curry. Keep it lighter on oil, and eat early enough to sleep well.
How many days before a half marathon should I carb load?
Two. Raise carbohydrate on the final two days rather than starting a week out, because the taper refills your stores on normal eating before that.
Do I need a gel for a half marathon?
Only if you'll be running for more than about 90 minutes. Below that, water is enough; above it, take 30–60g of carbohydrate an hour from gels or whole foods you've practised with.
Can I run the Delhi Half Marathon while fasting for Navratri?
Yes, if your fast includes water, fruit and milk and you plan your carbohydrate for the final two days. A fast without water on race morning needs a doctor's input first.
Research References
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. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(3):501–528. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2015.12.006
Costa RJS, Miall A, Khoo A, et al. Gut-training: the impact of two weeks repetitive gut-challenge during exercise on gastrointestinal status, glucose availability, fuel kinetics, and running performance. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2017;42(5):547–557. doi:10.1139/apnm-2016-0453
Hew-Butler T, Rosner MH, Fowkes-Godek S, et al. Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, Carlsbad, California, 2015. Clin J Sport Med. 2015;25(4):303–320. doi:10.1097/JSM.0000000000000221
Shephard RJ. The Impact of Ramadan Observance upon Athletic Performance. Nutrients. 2012;4(6):491–505. doi:10.3390/nu4060491
