My lovely friends Beth and Cara have questions about what to eat as they train for their marathon and half marathon. I am not a sports nutrition expert so I can only speak to my trial and error with food throughout the years. I am also going to provide insight from a book I purchased while training for my first half ironman-"Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition" by Monique Ryan.
1) Are there any foods that give you more energy while training? Carbs?
Yes!! Carbs provide quick energy. Remember glucose is always our bodies main source of fuel. Our brains only use glucose to function. If you are starting to feel sluggish or tired often, chances are you need to increase your daily carb intake.
For over an hour long run, I recommend a sports drink, cliff blocks or Guu/gel. While I am not training, my favorite sources of carbs are whole wheat bagels, pizza and burritos or bread. I prefer to eat all of my carbs with a bit of fat so that it takes me longer to digest and keeps me full longer.
Monique Ryan's advice on carbs while training:
"Most athletes should average around 60% carbohydrate." She goes on to state that if you are trying to lose weight, you should eat less carbs and after successive heavy training days, you should eat more carbs. Following are some ranges for body weight. Again, if you are trying to lose weight stay on the low end of this range, if you are trying to gain weight or maintain go to the mid-high range:
Her recommended carb counts based on body weight:
110 pounds: 248-550 grams carbs per day
120 pounds: 270-600 grams carbs per day
130 pounds: 295-650 grams carbs per day
140 pounds: 315-700 grams carbs per day
2) What should you eat to prepare for a long run? And should you eat it the day before or the day of?
I would recommend following your normal diet but eating a carb based meal with some fat the night before. The morning of the run, I would eat an easy to digest carb such as bagel, toast or english muffin with a tiny bit of butter or cream cheese and jelly. Some people can eat oatmeal and be fine, I find that it has too much fiber.
The night before any run over 10 miles, I like to sip on a sports drink to ensure that I have the proper electrolytes and sodium in my system.
During the run, I would have cliff blocks or gels on me and take those every 15-20 minutes. Women should probably have 150-200 calories per hour while on a distance run or bike.
And hydrate, hydrate, hydrate the night before and during the run.
If you have a sensitive stomach it is probably best not eat the following within about 12 hours before long or hard run:
1. lots of vegetables
2. hard cheese
3. heavy meat
4. milk
5. really fibrous foods
Remember these are guidelines. What you really need to do is experiment, experiment and experiment to find which combination of foods works best for you.
3) Should you consume more calories than normal while you're training?
If you are trying to lose weight, then no. If you decide to keep your calorie count the same, I would increase the carb to protein ratio.
If you are trying to maintain or gain weight-yes, eat more calories. A one mile run burns about 80-100 calories. If you are starting to lose too much weight, I recommend throwing in a Clif bar or a another mini meal in during the day.
Do not eat ever eat because you feel like you should. If your aren't hungry a couple hours before the run, it is absolutely ok. Bring fuel with you. I don't believe in force feeding yourself because you were told this and that about eating/before after runs. Sometimes sipping a calorie filled sports drink will suffice.
You can stuff your sports bra with your fuel. I do it all of the time. I love the looks I get when diving into my sports bra to get my food.
Also, what you consume after a long run is important (if you are hungry). After a hard run, I typically crave a coke or grapefruit juice. My fiance and a lot of runners I know love drinking chocolate milk. Chocolate milk has a wonderful combination of carbs and protein that aid with post work out recovery.
Monique Ryan recommends the following post workout:
Goals and Guidelines Post exercise intake: eat within 30 minutes post exercise for optimal glycogen replacement, emphasize fluids and high glycemic foods (grapefruit juice and coke are both high glycemic -bananas are also great), energy bars, cereal and bagels are also recommended.
For someone ~125 pounds, post exercise carb intake should be about 63-88 grams
(high glycemic are foods that have "quick sugars" that enters your blood stream fast-some people's bodies, like mine, over react to high glycemic foods and get hungrier after these are eaten. High glycemic foods are great during a race or high intensity training because this type of sugar is most accessible as fuel and is burned the quickest. But it can easily turn to fat if not used soon enough)
4) Is there a recommended sports drink? I love orange gatorade, but not sure about the health benefits.
Benefits of sports drink are:
1. Keeps you hydrated
2. Keeps your electrolytes in balance
3. Keeps your glycogen (carb stores) high
- I often will only use calories from a sports drink during a long training run or bike. If I am drinking 200 calories/ hour from sports drink, then I probably don't need an additional 100-200 calories from guu or other sports food.
My favorite sports drinks are made by Hammer Nutrition. The drinks are called Heed and Perpeteum. These are made with organic ingredients and not high fructose corn syrup-which I think is in Gatorade.
Gatorade is still awesome and there is nothing wrong with drinking it!
For runs longer than 1.5 hours or during runs that don't have water fountains along the way, I usually wear a dorky sports belt that holds a water bottle filled with Heed or Perpeteum. I suggest bringing a sports drink with you for runs longer than an hour.
Another idea is to train with whatever drink they provide at the race. I checked the race website and am not sure what they are providing as of yet.
5) Any suggestions for healthy snacks you can have at the office? I always get sooo hungry at work (probably bc I'm bored) so it'd be great if I stocked up on some marathon-friendly snacks.
1. Popcorn-low cal and filling
2. Soup-filling and provides great anti-oxidants as well as carbs and protein.
3. I wouldn't keep this at your desk but sometimes a packet of almond M&Ms can be satisfying.
4. If you are within an hour of your evening workout, sometimes a can of coke can give a boost and keep you full until dinner. (a nutritionist would kill me for saying this_
5. Baked Lays-especially if you are having a salt craving
6. Apple with peanut butter-don't do this within two hours of a workout though. Peanut butter will make you throw up in your mouth! And apples are really fibrous.
7. Some people say eat raisins or a banana-I think both are way too high glycemic and will just make you hungrier. I also think Pretzels are too high glyemic but some people swear by them.
8. Luna bars are also an excellent snack. They have a great carb-fat-protein ration. And a plethora of vitamins essential for women such as folic acid and B-vitamins. B-Vitamins are great for around that time of the month.
Instead of focusing on losing weight and the numbers and what they say you should do, I suggest the end goal is to be really understanding how to tune in with your body. I think listening to what it needs and understanding the signals it gives you is key to nutrition success.
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