Food Glorious Food - The importance of a good diet during marathon training

This years marathon training programme is the first one that I have been highly conscious of the importance of diet and nutrition for. In the past I used running as an excuse to go mad on the diet as I felt having burned off so many calories that I was entitled to treat myself - and treat myself I did! The problem with this train of thought is that the bad dietary habits can stick and training is obviously affected as the proper fuel isn't going into the body and as a result training tends to suffer. The start of every week under this old regime was a struggle as I had to overcome the unhealthy food that I had consumed after my victorious long run which meant I always started lethargic and it was only until mid week that training improved, just in time for the weekend long run and the whole cycle to begin again!
This time, I've decided to try and curb the victory eating on completion of that tough long run and prepare myself to hit the ground running (no pun intended) the following week completely ready for the tough week ahead and the results are testament to the fact that the proof of the pudding is in fact not in the eating! (pun intended!)