"Run slowly, run daily, drink moderately, and don't eat like a pig." - Dr. Ernest van Aaken, German Coach
One of the hardest things for an endurance athlete to learn is how to handle this doggone eating thing. If you read running or health magazines regularly, you'll see the pendulum swings pretty often as to what's best to eat. What I find best is don't get sucked in with fads and stick with what has worked over the millenia of long-distance running. Sure, you're burning lots of calories that you weren't before, but that doesn't give you a free rein to stuff yourself like a Sumo wrestler. Let your body tell you what it wants, and if that food is high in calories, or fat, OK, eat it, but in moderation. Try to lean towards the more healthy foods, but you don't have to eat like a rabbit either. Most athletes are going to get the greater percentage of their calories from healthier foods by naturally gravitating there, but they don't deny themselves the foods that make them happy. I'm not a big dessert eater, but three of my favorite desserts are: toasted pound cake with vanilla ice cream, warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and warm peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Do we see a theme here? Warm and vanilla!!!! Probably an apple and wheat germ would be healthier, but don't even try to talk to me about it. If you want chocolate, go for it, but don't eat that 1000 calorie bar convincing yourself it's an Energy Bar! If you have to have fries, fine. Just don't super-size it! If a double whopper cheeseburger with bacon is your thing, well, I can't help you. Moderation with training, moderation with eating, moderation with alcohol, and moderation with letting the little things bother you. Follow that during your training and you'll be fine. As your training gets into the more difficult weeks, just always think of yourself as the athlete you are becoming. Keep your negative thoughts to a minimum. Think like an athlete, eat like an athlete, train like an athlete, and whether you're running, walking, swimming, or cycling, BELIEVE you are an athlete.
But, above all, to get back to the main gist of this post, you better fuel your body well. One reason I really enjoy endurance sports is that it takes more than just brute strength or mental fortitude to get you to the finish line. Once, I was asked "What exactly defines an endurance sport?" My answer was any sport where you have to replenish the fuel your burning DURING the event is an endurance sport. If you run out of fuel, it flat ain't there folks! Nobody wants to hit the wall, because the wall means running out of gas. Now I'm going to try to whittle this down as simple as possible or you'll fall sound asleep pretty quick. There is a literal ton of stuff on the web about sports nutrition and most of it is boring to me - AND I LOVE THIS STUFF! The good news is that it's pretty doggone simple.
The body's preferred fuel for any endurance sport is muscle glycogen. This is the body's storage form of carbohydrates. If you run low during your training, your sessions really suck and you feel like you're running through mud. If you drain your supply during a race, it's curtains! So, first and foremost, you need to have your diet revolve around carbohydrates. As I said, the pendulum swings periodically, and lately it has swung to some program that says "Nah, you don't need carbs...eat more fat!". Yeah, let me know how that's going when you're deep in your race and your muscles are screaming "forget something?". Now, I'll say this once (no I won't, I'll repeat it every time somebody brings it up) - A LOW-CARB DIET HAS NO PLACE IN AN ENDURANCE ATHLETE'S TRAINING!!!!! Please say that's clear enough. I believe carbs should provide 60-70% of your diet. This consists of whole grains, pasta (run fasta, eat pasta), fruits, veggies, and low-fat dairy foods. I know somebody will write to me expounding how well they do on a low-fat diet. My stock answer to them is "You'll probably do better with carbohydrates" and drop the argument because I'll never convince them.
Next comes protein. All of training is a constant process of "teardown, repair, buildup, and adapt". Protein is needed for muscle growth and repair. You will not burn protein for energy unless you went severely off course for a few days and are in a starvation situation, and although I've seen runners bonk for several reasons during a marathon, I can't remember starvation being one of them. Both carbs and protein are best replenished right after your training session. Studies show there is rapidly closing window for replenishing when you stop. Eating a carb/protein sports bar or drink within 15 minutes of stopping will get "soaked in" twice as fast than if you waited 2 hours. And doing it within 2 hours will get absorbed into your starving muscles much faster than if you waited until your evening meal. Good sources are lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products. After a run, you can eat a carb/protein bar or (my favorite) drink one of those Boost drinks with added protein. Proteins should consist of about 15% of your daily diet.
Finally, we come to fat. Fat is an important energy source, it's just that to burn fat for energy is literally as slow as molasses! Burning carbs is something like 19X more efficient, but unfortunately, we have a limited amount of that precious stuff. Through training, we teach our body to burn fat more efficiently and your body can say "Hey cool, we can save our glycogen for later on.". Now fat should consist of about 20-25% of your daily diet, but there's a catch - a gram of fat has twice as many calories as a gram of carbs or protein. How much of a bummer is that? M&M's are soooooo good!!! They're SUPPOSED to be eaten by the bagfull! Well, whatever. I just fall back to my eating standby stated in the first paragragh...Don't deny yourself the foods you love, just don't binge on them. Try low-fat alternatives (that doesn't mean you can eat twice as much).
OK folks, that's it for the eating basics. Now, go celebrate, because October is National Pasta Month. Man, this is better than Christmas. Next week, I'll talk about the washing all this food down (hydration). Until then, train smart and if you have any questions, just ask. Can't be simpler than that.
I'll see you on the roads - AL
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