Nutrition for running doesn't
have to be complicated, but is just as important as your training runs. The
main thing is you will need to tweak for what suits you one persons routine will not work for another. The information
listed here is the knowledge of Becky Wahl of BW Fitness, a seasoned marathon
runner and fitness instructor and the thoughts and opinions of and York Rose
Runners and the tips and tricks they have picked up during training.
Nutrition
starts now...
When you start your training plan
you need to look at your nutrition. It does go hand in hand with good run
performance. The body uses carbohydrate when we run and we need to ensure we
have taken enough on board before we run distances. This does however mean
taking on board the right carbohydrates. We also need a balance of protein such
as lean meats, nuts or a high quality protein shake after we run to help our
muscles grow and heal. And most important is hydration. Good hydration practice
can make or break a run.
During training
Best Practice...
The Eat Well Plate, shows NHS guidelines
for what a healthy balanced diet should look like and what groups our foods
should come from. General good practice is to limit our intake of processed and
refined foods to ensure we are taking good quality fuel on board to help us
with our training. This does mean limiting saturated fat, sugars, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods as
these foods have little nutritional value for our bodies. A good method to
follow is eat foods that don't need ingredient lists (fresh, whole foods) or if
they do have an ingredient list look for the least amount.
Fat
As we know, not all fats are
created equal, and we need to keep our diet low in saturated fat, however when
it comes to dairy it is always better to eat a full fat version than low or
zero fat. For example a good quality butter rather than 'spread' or natural
yogurt rather than the 'low fat' version. Often foods labelled low fat contain
high levels of sugar or sweeteners, sweeteners can be harmful for the body and
sugar causes the body to crave more, encouraging us to stray from any healthy eating regime.
Don't overeat...
One of the biggest mistakes when training for
a marathon is eating too much, it's easy to reach for that second piece of cake
when you think you are running guilt free. However we need to pay careful
consideration to what we are fueling our body with, especially the closer we
are to the longer runs... It's a safe rule of thumb to say we can burn around
100 - 140 calories for every mile we run, that's the same amount of calories as
a 2 finger kitkat (109) so keep an eye on what you eat based on how much you
have run.
During a marathon we can deplete
around 2600 calories, more if you are out on the course for longer - That's 26
kitkats! Or definitely a few beers/wines. However you might find that your
stomach can't handle it after the long runs...
Carbohydrates
The foods we consume to provide
these carbohydrates need to come from whole food sources, such as sweet potato,
wholemeal pasta or rice, vegetables, potato and grains. The carbohydrate we eat is
stored in the body ready to use when we train, slow release carbohydrate such
as a wholemeal pasta will help is keep going for longer. Realistically prior to
long run or race day, increase the calories from carbohydrate by 100-200 to
ensure a full reserve available when required. Carbohydrate is our essential
energy source and better quality sources of carbohydrate will aid our performance.
Protein
The building blocks of our
muscles and essential to ensure that we are physically able to carry out the
task at hand. Running is demanding on our muscles especially long distance
running. Replenishment is essential. One of the many reasons many people
training for a marathon find that their weight becomes static or even rises is
due to nutrition depletion during long runs which hasn't been effectively
replaced afterwards. The average sedentary man need 55g a day and a woman needs
45g. Add in distance running and the average 12 stone individual needs at least
90 - 120g a day. For reference the average chicken breast has anywhere from 40 to 60g (size dependant), an
egg has 6g. If protein isn't replaced you could start to feel fatigued, have a
higher risk of injury, lose muscle mass and become run down. A great way to get
essential protein back after a long run is with a recovery shake or a protein shake
that includes vitamins and minerals.
Water
If you are not already drinking
at the very least 2-3 litres of water a day, start now. Water not only helps
keep us hydrated while running but it helps our body's heal and repair after
the stress of a run, it helps us sleep better and keeps our metabolism ticking
over. Water is the essential part of marathon training. However some of you may
find that 2 litres is not enough, especially when you are running in the hotter
weather. Good practice is to ensure that you have drunk at least 2 litres a day
at least two days before your long run / race and sip little and often,
especially on the day of the run / race.
Water vs. liquid...
When it says drink water, we mean
water. Isotonics/ energy drinks / coconut water, fruit juices, tea, coffee and alcohol do
count towards your water intake but do not have the same effect on our body. Some
may be more obvious than others. It is best to get into the habit of drinking
water.
Isotonics
/ Energy Drinks: love them or hate them they can be a useful part of your
training if used correctly. There any many different options available. Some
have benefit, some have none whatsoever. Isotonic drinks are manufactured to
provide the same level of salt and sugar that is found in the human body and is
used to replenish what we lose during training. Ideally you only need to drink
isotonic drinks during or after training and beware - if the drink is labelled
"Energy Drink" it probably will not have the right combination of
ingredients to do the job, look specifically for "Isotonic" or
"contains electrolytes" branding.
Some people prefer to water down
any isotonic drinks as they are quite strong, or use hydration tablets such as
Zero Tabs, these are electrolyte drink
are great ways to keep hydrated. Tesco or wiggle.co.uk have a great range to
try.
Alcohol & Teas and Coffee
Alcohol does need to be kept to a
minimum during training as it dehydrates you. That doesn't mean you can't have
the odd glass of what you like, it's best to avoid drinking the nights before
big runs or races as it will have a negative effect on you, even if you don't
realise it. Tea & Coffee, as we know it's advisable to minimise intake of
these drinks anyway (unless fruit teas) but many a runner uses coffee as pre
race/ or long run warm up, caffeine has an energy boosting effect at the start
of our runs.
And importantly... Gels
There are many
different energy replacement products on the market, for the sake of this hand
out we are going to be focusing on gels, many a runners first preference they
are the easiest to carry, and actually physically take on board. It's hard work
trying to chew down an energy bar whilst running and breathing at the same time
(you will soon find this out) gels are available at places like online stores
such as wiggle.co.uk, Tesco and Sweatshop
How They Work
Your body
uses two primary sources of fuel to feed the muscles when you’re running — fat
and carbohydrate. Fat is a largely abundant resource, but is broken down into
usable energy slowly, making it an ineffective fuel source when running
anything faster than about 60-70% of your VO2max (roughly equivalent to your
aerobic threshold or marathon pace).
Simply
speaking, energy gels are designed to replenish carbohydrate stores that are
depleted when running. Sounds like energy gels are a saviour, right? perhaps,
but they do have their downfalls, hard to digest and not always pleasant
tasting. It is best to practice with these before the event, when you need to
take them, how many you need, what brand works best etc. The body generally
runs out of readily available carbohydrate 90 minutes into training, which is
when we need to start taking our gels, but take them too late and they will be
ineffective, too soon and they will run out. This is a balance that varies by
individual but depending on your pace, mile 7 onwards is often a good place to
start.
There are
plenty of gels available, but it can be costly to find out which ones agree
with you the best, start with the gels that the marathon race are offering and
go from there, most of you will find these sufficient.
Runners tummy...
Sorry, but it has to be
mentioned. When you run long distance your body has to work hard to keep you
cool, it does this by diverting blood supply away from non essential functions,
one of these being the digestive system. This means your body stops processing
what is in your stomach, so if you are taking a lot of gels on board you may
start to feel a little bit like a washing machine. This is why we practice
taking gels and how many we need to keep us going without making ourselves feel
sick. Keeping hydrated is the key, the better hydrated you are the minimal the
effects of these seem to be on your digestive system.
Another reason nutrition is so key
isn't just for performance but to help our bowels, as running is such a
demanding sport on our body it can cause our bowel to become agitated. Eating
less fat in our diets prior to long runs will help ease this, keeping hydrated,
smaller, low fibre meals before your run
will help.
Nutrition
before/ during long runs
Before runs - the day before
The day before a long run is
almost as crucial as the run itself, we need to be rested, hydrated and have
adequate fuel reserves we can call on during our run. We would advise no
alcohol the night before, a heavily carbohydrate loaded evening meal such as
pasta or rice and a restful day. Consume at least 2 litres of water throughout
the day before and eat at regular intervals.
Before runs - the day of
Most of us choose to run our long
run at the start of the day so breakfast is the meal that will set us up for
our run.
Eat a low fat, high carbohydrate,
but not too much fibre based breakfast in good time before your run, usually
around 200 - 300 calories. This is where personal preference comes in but many
of us will eat porridge with banana and honey or wholemeal toast with peanut
butter. Try to eat slow release carbohydrate like porridge or wholemeal foods
as this will help keep energy levels up.
Timing of food before run - this
really does vary per individual, food can lay heavy on your stomach if you
don't leave enough time to be digested, however you don't want to leave it too
long that you become hungry again. A good starting time is about 1 1/2 hours
before your run, then you can tweak as you learn your own digestive patterns.
Eating a banana about 15 minutes
before running is also a helpful idea.
Remember to sip plenty of water
before your run, try and drink at least 500 ml before you start running from
when you wake until you run.
During Runs
On your long runs you will need
nutrition and water / isotonic fuel on board with you, it is best at this point
to start considering a good running belt that can hold water bottles as running
with a water bottle is bad for posture. If you attend any of the organised runs
by York Rose Runners we will provide adequate water stops for you so that
carrying water is not essential
Nutrition: gels, shot blocks,
isotonic drinks, energy bars, jelly babies etc, there are a myriad of these
running supplements available that we need to take with us. How many we need
will vary on the product and what you require to fuel your body, as it will
vary by individual. As we have mentioned you need to start taking on gels round
about mile 7, then a good rule of thumb is one every 3 - 4 miles, again
depending on your preference. This is a good time to say that using the gels
that are being given out at the race is good practice so you don't need a
wheelbarrow to carry them all around for you.
It is rare that we will manage to
consume the recommended amount of gels that they packaging advises for marathon
running, you will usually find that your stomach tells you when it can't take
anymore, it is usual to take about 5-6 gels during a marathon.
After runs
Once you have finished running it
is advisable to sip on some water whilst stretching. Then most importantly we
advise that a carbohydrate replacement is eaten that is high in protein, this
is where the nutty flapjack comes in handy or you can use a recovery drink such
as Sports in Science REGO Rapid recovery drink, or other such brand, different
to a protein shake it contains an essential mix of nutrients and minerals to
help put back what you have lost through endurance training.
You may also find coconut water a helpful way
to rehydrate after your long runs, we can lose up to 1 litre of sweat per hour
during training, and this will need to be replenished afterwards, hence why
recovery drinks are so important, keep drinking an increased amount of water
long after you have finished your long run.
Nutrition
before/ during marathon day
By now you should have perfected
what works for you on your long runs, don't treat race day any differently.
Stick with what you know works for you in the days before the marathon, get
plenty of sleep, keep rested, no alcohol, eat well and up your carbohydrate
intake. Lay out your kit the night before.
Eat your breakfast of choice on
the morning, give yourself plenty of time to keep nerves to a minimum.
Remember, there will be water stops en-route so you don't necessarily need to
run with your water, you will need any isotonic/electrolyte drinks with you
that you want. Take some spare gels with you if you are planning on using the
gels provided by the race organisers, if you use your own make of gels/bars etc
make sure you have enough to see you round.
Remember to sip water prior to
the race start or zero tabs if you have been using them during training. Don't
change anything at this point.
Remember to start taking your gels
before you need them during the race, as to maximise the effects.
And most importantly enjoy the
race, soak up the atmosphere, you have worked hard to be here. When you cross
that finish line and give yourself a hearty metaphorical pat on the back you
will have entered that special 26.2 club, of which less than 1% of the
population can claim credit to. So get your bragging rights ready and remember
to have fun...
See you at the finish line!
You may also find coconut water a helpful way
to rehydrate after your long runs, we can lose up to 1 litre of sweat per hour
during training, and this will need to be replenished afterwards, hence why
recovery drinks are so important, keep drinking an increased amount of water
long after you have finished your long run.
There are a lot of new people to my page, and some of you don't know me or my background, so it's time I did an update of my bio, so you know who you are working with.
It wasn't always this way, from the age of 10 I was obese, over the years sometimes morbidly. As a serial, yet clearly quite bad at it, dieter I went up, I went down (a little bit) but generally hovered at around 16 stone. The highest I've recorded was 17 1/2 stone but I'm pretty sure there were times I was higher. But it wasn't the weight, more the clothes, shops are better now but when I was younger I had to buy men's clothes to cater for my size. It's never a good look as a young teen. I used to delude myself that size 22 fitted so heaven knows what my size peaked at, and yes as you can see I had terrible hair styles too!
Three years ago I lost 6 1/2 stone when I ran my first marathon, through simply eating good real clean food and exercising. Edinburgh marathon 2013 was one of the best days of my life. I ran in roughly 4 hours 35 (I forget the actual time) and to cross the line as a marathoner was something many people, including myself never thought possible. 
I don't look like the air brushed cover on a magazine, I have lots of weird lumps and bumps. I probably have to tuck things in that shouldn't need tucking in and my stretch marks have stretch marks but my body is the reason I am where I am today. My fickle determination to look better has made me the fit, strong and healthy individual I am now.
Try these super tasty blueberry muffins for a yummy breakfast snack or wholesome treat with your coffee. They aren't as bad for you as the coffee shop version with lower sugar count due to the honey and wholemeal flour, pack with blueberries for a great fruit hit.
OK so it's pizza, so never the healthiest choice, but if your cravings for take away, try this instead...