Nutrition

Good nutrition is a critical component to marathon training. In fact, I consider it important as road work. And nearly as important as rest, which you may recall me browbeating you about earlier. Rest is important and tops because it is easily ignored and forgotten during a serious training regimen. Neglecting rest could be harmful to your health. Neglecting nutrition, too, is harmful to your health, but there are few Americans in these modern times who ever neglect a meal.

When I set out to write this blogI did extensive research on nutrition, foods, nutrients, vitamins, phytochemicals, nutriceuticals, and everything I could get my hands on about the science of nutrition. With a head obese with gluttonous food information, it occurred to me that not only was this information unnecessary, it missed the point. This blog is about dreaming the Big Thing and grabbing hold of it, all in the metaphor of marathoning. This is not a blog about dietary nutrition. I will give you advice if you prefer to tackle the science of food, but for the purposes of this blog, I will keep it simple, but essential.

And without stuffing your brain as much as your stomach with food information, there is still a lot to say about nutrition. It is critical to your marathon success. This cannot be stressed enough. And planning out a dietary strategy, in my opinion, is just as important as the actual running. So let me lay it down real nice for you.

FOOD IS FUEL

If you learn anything from this chapter – Indeed, if you learn anything from this blog– one of the most important concepts to remember is this: Food is Fuel.

If you think of food as a mere energy source, and not as recreation, therapy, and a distraction from boredom, you might just change your life.

Think about how you eat, when you eat and what you eat. Do you eat mammoth portions at each sitting? I know I do. Lord help me, but I do. Do you eat lunch and dinner automatically at an appointed time or when you’re hungry? Do you frequent restaurants and take out joints? Do you stuff your face because you’re sad, lonely, or otherwise grumpy? Do you eat because you have nothing else to do? Do you stand in front of the fridge or in the pantry waiting to be served? Are you reading this right now with a napkin tied around your neck and a fork and knife in your fists?

What if you thought of food strictly as fuel, and as the energy needed to fire the engine and put your body in motion? Think about how that would change your attitude and vision of eating.

If food meant more to you as calories and good health than it did flavor and frequency, chances are you would be quite fit, trim, and in those jeans you saw in the store display, because food would be more or less a mere energy source, not recreation.

Again with the car metaphor: sure you may enjoy driving your car, going on long drives, driving fast… but you don’t get very excited about putting gas in it even though it is the necessary fuel to make the car fun and functional.

You can and will enjoy all the mystical things your body can do when it is fueled up. Just think of eating as stopping for gas.

Food might very well be represented simply as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats: the basic food categories that allow your body to function.

If we thought of food with as much passion and obsession as we do with, say, gasoline or nuclear fission, it would be much easier to treat cuisine with the same benign desire as we have for cardboard.

Of course, such a fantasy ride as this exists only in some make-believe, twisted Disney World of nutrition hell. After all, I am a Louisianan. Were my world to consist of anything less than grease, salt, and alcohol (our basic food categories), the world would hellish indeed.

We live in the real world, and few people I want to associate with think in such terms. But the valid point is this, especially with regard to marathon training: to achieve greatness – and your goal, whatever it might be, is greatness – you need to think differently AND rise to the occasion.

Because nutrition is such an important part of marathoning, and because it is indeed fuel, understanding the value of what you put into your body, and how it affects your body is a very relevant point.

In this marathon endeavor food is fuel. You might have to eat more. You might have to eat something that popular fad diets eschew. You will need to supply your body with the tools it needs to carry you to new heights, and this, friends and neighbors, begins with food. Well, a lot of prayer and cussing first, but certainly food.

It is important to remember: Don’t try to train on your existing diet – unless you’re already eating too much – because the more exercise you do, the more fuel your body needs. It is actually OK and a good idea to increase food – namely carbohydrates (more on that below) -- intake when training because your body needs more fuel.

The more you exercise – the more miles you run – the more fuel (food) your body needs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends 2000 calories a day for an “average” person. “Average” in this blog means “sedentary,” “slothful,” and “couch-potatoey.” As a runner, your diet will need to adapt.

An unscientific, but pretty useful measurement of your caloric benchmark (I just made up this term) is to take your weight and multiply it by 13.

A runner of, say, 210 lbs. – and this is not to suggest I know anyone of such prodigious dimension – would need to consume 2,730 calories a day to maintain this weight.

* Note, I’m not suggesting that this is a healthy weight or that 2,730 calories a day is ideal It is a suggested training caloric intake.

210 lbs  x  13  =  2,730 calories

A conservative estimate of the calories burned in one mile of running is 100 calories. The actual number of burned calories is adjusted depending on the speed at which the mile is run and how hefty is the runner. Therefore, a runner clocking five miles a day burns 500 calories. Arguably, the hypothetical runner would need to consume roughly 500 more calories a day.

Taking the USDA’s recommended caloric intake of 2000 calories, the preferred target for a 5-mile-a-day runner is 2,500 calories a day. Of course, the more miles one runs the greater the caloric demand.

All said, appreciate the fact that you are pushing your body harder. Accordingly, it will need more fuel.

Now, the question you should ask your inner runner is, can I stand to lose a few pounds? Do I really need to maintain the caloric intake that supports these love handles, chicken arms and double chin? Maybe the 2,500-ish range is appropriate for you anyway.

The cornerstone of your diet is the necessary 3 meals a day. Most all people love to snack between meals. My problem is that I get fairly hungry before a meal, so I tend to over eat each meal. My portions are larger and my second servings become thirds. Consequently, I feel food stupid or uncomfortably belt-stretching when it’s time to throw in the towel.

A better choice for big eaters like me is to eat smaller meals more frequently, say, three to five times a day. When you can’t make a meal, keep a meal beverage close by. Supplement meals with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks of sports bars, fruits, dried fruit, nuts, and juices. These snacks supply the body with added energy and nutrients. And the overall result is a stable flow of energy without all the binging and stuffing.

If food is fuel it is helpful to understand what is on your plate and how it affects your body. Knowing this will allow you to consume more wisely and effectively. Otherwise, you will end up eating hotdogs and sausage instead of energy bars during your training.

The 3-Legged Stool of Marathon Nutrition: Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins

The body gets energy from three sources: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. You should have a balanced blend of the three.

A healthy diet rule of thumb includes:

55-60% of calories come from carbohydrates

25-30% of calories come from fats

15-20% of calories come from proteins

CARBS

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. If food is fuel, carbs are the octane.

Despite the carbs’ bad reputation and society’s faddish tendencies toward protein-only diets, this will be the most important component to your diet. In fact, I believe carbs has gotten a bad rap. While it is indisputable that a high-carbohydrate diet leads to obesity, such a notion assumes (1) a sedentary lifestyle, and (2) an over-indulgence of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are consumed expressly to be burned. Burning calories and intense exercise requires greater levels of energy. Greater levels of energy require greater consumption of carbohydrates.

If the couch is your high-endurance treadmill, then a diet with fewer carbs is entirely appropriate. Unless the carbs are burned, the body, efficient as it is, will store them (You didn’t know that being a fat ass was a sign of efficiency, did you?)

There are two kinds of carbohydrates:

Simple Carbohydrates are digested quickly and supply the body a quick energy rush. Simple Carbohydrates should NOT be your source of energy. They are good for a cocker spaniel explosion of energy, but these carbs will not sustain you. They are not forbidden to eat, but your foundation of energy should be complex carbohydrates. Examples of simple carbs include honey, white sugar, brown sugar, syrup, fruit juices, milk and yogurt.

Complex Carbohydrates digest slower and release energy over a longer period of time. They also contain nutrients and some fiber. Complex carbohydrates should represent most of your carb consumption. Examples of complex carbs include grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables, beans, breads, brown rice, and potatoes.

When consumed, carbohydrates are converted into blood sugar – or glucose – which is stored as glycogen in the muscles. This is the main source of energy for exercising muscles. It is the energy that is depleted first (followed by fats). After 20 minutes of exercise, the body burns a combination of carbs and fat. Most people don’t exercise long enough to burn significant amounts of fat in a single workout.

Carb loading

Everything that is ever learned about dieting and nutrition teaches the young eater that indulgence of any food is a bad thing. Indulgence makes us nauseous; it gives us cramps while swimming; and, most importantly, it causes us to be fat.

However, as a dashing marathoner, the runner – young and old – will need saddlebags of energy to sustain the 26.2 miles of marathon famine and want. It is then necessary for an eater to prepare for feats of endurance by storing lots of energy: energy in the form of glycogen, which is begat from glucose, which is begat from complex carbohydrates, which is begat from the stuffing of thine face with bagels, cereal, bananas, pasta, and others of the “White” food group (Have you noticed that most everything you eat that is white is a carbohydrate? OK, minus the bacon fat. But you get the point.)

Carb loading throws everything you know about dieting on its ear. It is the process of consuming large amounts of carbs before intense exercise. In our case, it is preparation for the long runs and the race itself.

Oh joy! How I love carb loading! As a pasta-loving Chef Boy-R-Dee raviolio, this part of the training is the stuff of dreams! Uh-oh! Spagetteo!

Carbs – Going Without

Carbohydrates are the easiest, most accessible form of energy for the body. The other forms – fats and proteins – require more hydration to process, robbing the body necessary fluids for other body functions. Stated simply, if you chose to ignore carbohydrates, you will be protein and fat overloaded, dehydrated, constipated, and annoyingly dyspeptic. Not to mention, you will have less energy to burn.

Because the body craves carbohydrates for intense exercise, going without carbs before a race will cause the runner to move less efficiently and perhaps a little sluggishly. Even a moderate race like a 10-K will cause a carb-depleted body to be tired, lethargic, and irritable.

FATS

Fats are the nutritional version of the double-edge sword: fats will give you good health, or they will kill you. Lucky for us informed eaters, consumption of fats is not a crap shoot or Russian roulette. Understanding this dietary Gemini will unlock a world of possibility for the marathon runner. Or at the very least, it’ll keep you out of the morgue.

Some benefits of fats are:

·         Aids in digestion

·         Helps build cells and maintain stable body temperature

·         Helps transfer vitamins

• Good for hair, skin, and joints.
• Improves endurance without adverse effects on weight, cholesterol and blood pressure
• Promotes a healthy immune system, especially against the rigors of intense training (conversely, fat deprivation might compromise the immune system during training)
• Limits the release of free radicals – those little boogers that destroy healthy cells
• And last but not least, it is a great source of energy!

Fat as fuel

Let’s review:

1.    The body needs lots of energy for marathon training.

2.    Food is fuel.

3.    Fuel produces energy.

4.    Muscles use carbohydrates, fat, and small amounts of proteins for fuel.

The human body never ceases to amaze me. Despite our best efforts to wreck it with fried pickles and beer, the body is an incredibly efficient machine. Endurance training – i.e., marathoning and long runs – helps to condition the body to burn more fat. Specifically, marathon training promotes more efficient fat burning and less reliance on burning carbs by burning glycogen stores more slowly over a longer period of time.

During long runs, the body relies much more on fats than it does on shorter runs. The body does this to prevent glycogen depletion. Think of the body as a hybrid vehicle, burning two forms of energy – in this case carbohydrates and fat. It is a perfect example of energy efficiency.

Running 6 miles or more is great for fat burning because the body seeks to run more efficiently by burning more fat. Naturally, the more long runs you do, the more fat you burn. Not to mention, a responsible diet with acceptable levels of fat, combined with regular calorie burning, which is done daily – or almost daily – during shorter runs, leads to increased fat burning.

The curious exception is fuel used for speed. The faster you run, the more carbs you burn relative to fat. Fats use oxygen less efficiently that carbs, so muscles rely more heavily on carbohydrates than fats when you’re burning rubber.

One should still consume fats wisely. That means consuming meats that are leaner, dairy products lower in fat content, and a responsible diet of fat. What’s “responsible”? The American Heart Association recommends 30% of our calories to come from fat, which is not really that hard to do. In a nutshell, eaters can make great progress by avoiding fried foods and processed snacks.

To shed light on the mystery of fats, it is good to understand what they are and what they do.

FAT BASTARD, OR THE “BAD” FATS

Dietary cholesterol. Of course, high cholesterol in the blood is bad, but foods rich in cholesterol are not inherently bad. The amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream is what is important. But by and large the fats we eat influence bloodstream cholesterol.

Saturated. Since our bodies make all the saturated fats we need, anything else is really more than our bodies need, which is why it is just good sense to limit saturated fats or remove them from your diet completely. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol, both the “good” high-density cholesterol (HDL) and the “bad” low-density cholesterol (LDL). Saturated fats include high fat dairy products, fatty and processed meats and their skin, lard, palm and coconut oil. Keep these fats low or try to eliminate altogether.

Since saturated fats in our diets come mainly from cows – beef and dairy – try eating lean meats and low-fat or fat-free dairy products.

Trans fatty acids. This is the Beelzebub of fats. It is evil. It is poisonous. It will kill you. It is like eating cigarettes and running with scissors with a Q-Tip in your ear while swimming right after you’ve eaten… cigarettes. But oh how good it tastes.

Trans fats are most popular in restaurants, particularly fast food restaurants because of their usefulness as a kitchen product. You can fry onion rings and French fries all day long with trans fats. And when the health inspector isn’t looking, use it again the next day and the next. Mmmmmmmm.

Trans fats also make celebrity appearances in processed snacks, margarines, shortening, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

This fat is so dangerous because it raises the bad LDL cholesterol while lowering the good HDL cholesterol, causing arteries to clog, strokes to occur and hearts to attack. Because it so prevalent in the American diet, it is hard to escape and therefore the dietary equivalent to an infectious disease.

The best advice is to avoid trans fats at all costs. So, put down your bacon fat-fried Twinkie and step away from the trough.

FATS DOMINO, OR THE “GOOD” FATS

Unsaturated fats. These keep blood cholesterol levels low by lowering the bad LDL cholesterol and raising the good HDL cholesterol. These fats occur in vegetable oils, most nuts, olives, avocados and fatty fish like salmon. Whenever possible, substitute saturated fats with unsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats are found largely in vegetable oils, yummy avocados, olives, and most seeds and nuts.

Polyunsaturated fats occur in sunflower, corn and soybean oils as well as weird stuff like flaxseed and flaxseed oils. Omega-3 fatty acids are perhaps the most popularly known polyunsaturated fat because of their ability to protect you against heart disease. The most common source of Omega-3s is sea fish.

When it comes to fats, what you need to know is simple: some fats are good, some are bad. And fats are necessary. So what’s a simple runner to do? The Harvard School of Public Health recommends 5 Quick Tips that I will paraphrase (and if it’s from Harvard it has to be right, right?):

1. Use liquid plant oils for cooking and baking. Whether in a sauce pan, frying pan, baking pan, or salad bowl eschew the temptation of shortening, bacon fat, melted butter and the like. Yes, the bad fats taste ever so good, but they’ll shave 60 years off your life. So stick with plant oils.
2. Ditch the trans fat. Remember that restaurants are the likely purveyor of trans fats, especially in fried foods. If you can remember that trans fats are the devil incarnate, and read labels at the grocery store, you might regain some of the 60 years you just lost in case you ignored Tip #1.
3. Switch from butter to soft tub margarine. Again with the trans fat! Check the label for saturated fats and “partially hydrogenated” oils. If you can avoid these your margarine will be healthy-ish. Think of it this way, butter or margarine, who can say “no” to a tub?
4. Eat at least one good source of omega-3 fats each day. Walnuts, fatty fish like salmon, and canola oil are all good sources. Paul says eat some fish once a week like a can of tuna. It’s easier than remembering how and where to get your omega-3s every day.
5. Go lean on meat and milk. If it has hooves, it has saturated fats. Humans have saturated fats, the behooved have them. When we consume beef, pork, lamb, and dairy products, we are taking in more than our bodies need or want. Choosing low-fat dairy products and lean meats will make your arteries smile.

PROTEINS

Proteins are the worker bees of the three categories. It is the pack mule; the Sherpa if you will. Their obvious role is muscular development, but other vital functions include servings as the building blocks for the immune system and allergy resistance/response, hormone production and blood clotting. Proteins also signal to the cells when to act and how to act. Proteins, of course, are responsible for circulating oxygen, as well as other important substances, through the blood stream.

Proteins are complex molecules made of 20 amino acids – complicated boogers whose science is interesting but not enough interesting for this blog. But with regard to nutrition, the runner needs to know that of the 20 aminos, 11 are produced by the body called non-essential amino acids. The name is not intended to suggest these aminos are not important; rather, it is just science talk to indicate that the body makes them.

The 9 essential amino acids are those necessary aminos the body does not produce but which must be acquired from other sources, namely food. The nine essential aminos are found in complete proteins like eggs, milk, beef, chicken and fish. They are complete because they contain all the external protein – 9 essential aminos -- you need.  

Veggies, seeds, nuts and grains are also important sources of the 9 aminos, but unlike the animal-based aminos, these sources do not contain the entire nine. Therefore, grass eaters must combine them all or consume a wider variety of the plant kingdom to obtain the full balance of all amino acids. Doing so is not hard; it just requires thoughtful dieting. Carnivores like myself, on the other hand, prefer less thinking and more eating. My arteries are probably harder than most vegans’, but I sleep at night knowing I’m packed with amino acids.

Protein doesn’t normally come to mind as an energy source. While it produces energy less efficiently than carbohydrates and fat, it still contains enough calories to energize you. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture – the federal agency that pulls you by the ear and demands you eat your greens – recommends that 15 to 20% of your daily caloric intake derive from protein, which is not exactly a daunting task.

Daily protein calories can come easily from a combination of milk, dairy and meat sources. Depending on how it is cooked, a typical chicken breast is 200 to 250 calories.

For a person requiring 2500 calories a day – which means that person needs 375 to 500 calories from protein a day – the breast of chicken just about takes care of half the day’s requirement. Keeping in mind that most all foods have some amounts of protein, achieving the balance is not that hard at all.

That said, I’m not worried about your protein intake because it is easy to achieve. However, while preparing for a marathon, do not think of protein as a source of energy. Think of it as muscular and structural support for your body. Proteins will repair the muscles after long runs and help keep them strong for the big runs ahead.

Runners who think they can train for a marathon on an all-protein diet will have their reckoning. It is not only inefficient, I believe it is harmful.

Let the carbohydrates and fats do the driving. Allow the proteins to steer. Do you dig?

Nutrition planning

By now you hopefully understand that food is fuel and an integral part of your training. And you have a good sense of what is required in your diet and why.

When you lay out a calendar and plan your training schedule, take time to also plot out a nutrition schedule. On certain days you will run short distances, maybe cross train, rest, and do the long runs. Similarly, select the carbohydrates you will eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Choose a variety so you don’t go mad, but try hard to stay the course.

Planning takes the guesswork out of figuring out every meal and it ensures you are eating the right foods.

As you are reading this (and thank you, by the way, for reading this far), you perhaps want me to recommend foods to you. I’ll do that, but think carefully about it. You already know what you should and should not eat. Do you really need someone to tell you what and how to eat? With a gun to your head, do you think you could be forced to admit that green vegetables are always good for you? That whole grains, lean meats, less sugars, and less fats are better for you? And that a bag of chips and a “diet” cola, no matter the claims of low-fat, low-sugar, and whatever, are never good for you? Seriously. You were programmed for healthy eating the day you were born. Still, we fallible humans always want to get rich quick and cheat death… which is why we always lose money in Vegas and why a Big Mac and Diet Coke will always kill us. You KNOW this!

Nutrition is basic to its core: eat more fruits and veggies, less lard and salt.

Nutrition do’s and don’ts that you ALREADY KNOW!

Don’t
·         Indulge in fats & salts - avoid these.
·         Skip meals – it’ll mess with your glycogen stores.
·         Stuff yourself. You’ll get constipated. Oy!
·         Eat too much of one food – especially dairy. You will be flatulent and crapulent.
·         Overdo caffeine and alcohol. As diuretics, they’ll steal your water. You’ll screw the pooch.
·         Eat too much gassy foods (please!). It’ll suck for you and me. If you don’t heed this warning, your runs will be, well, the runs.

Do
·         Eat a variety of carbs - rice, pasta, bread, cereal, bagels, fruits
·         Keep meals and snack times regular. Your colon will appreciate this. If your meals are regular, you will be too!
·         Try carb supplements like GNC and Gatorade
·         Simplify. It may be easier to take a multivitamin instead of a medicine cabinet fill of pills. Add this to your diet. And make sure those pills are legal.
·         Forget counting calories. ¼ plate is protein, the rest with veggies and bread.
·         Have a few healthy snacks during the day.
·         Be a vegetarian once a week. This will expose you to healthy foods, fortify you with nutrients and blow out your beef-filled colon.

Part of the reason I run is so I can live like a Roman. I’m from Louisiana where good eating is not only our birthright, it’s out patriotic duty. I can’t help myself. There is no way for me to live up to my stately duty, remain married to a Cajun, and enjoy life without regular exercise. I can’t afford and I don’t like health clubs, so I run. The long and short of it is that I run so I can eat, among other indulgences. I just happen to love both running and eating, so life is good to me….

As for the rest of life, you don’t have to eat bird food and tofu. Like I said, I like to indulge, but the fact remains that as long as I stuff my face with Cajun fried lard and bacon grease, I will not perform at an optimal level. That’s fine. I can live with that. I don’t try to compete in races. I try to finish them. There are other areas in my life in which I strive to be competitive. To play at a higher level, you have to treat your body accordingly by feeding it well and taking care of it. My lifestyles won’t allow me to win a race, but that is my choice. Were it my goal to win (at least in my age group), then I will add another chapter to this blog titled, “Get out of the Way.” But until then, I am satisfied with my goals to run and finish the Antarctica, Marathon des Sables (a 150 mile race), a triathlon, and the Boston (oh, yeah!).

WEIGHT LOSS

While this section on nutrition is not necessarily about weight loss, it is worth acknowledging that losing weight is an added benefit to marathon training. The more you exercise, the more intensely you exercise, the more fat you lose, and of course, the more weight you lose.

I will acknowledge that weight loss is an important, emotional challenge for many – if not most – Americans. However, I believe it is used as an artificial yardstick to measure one’s health. One’s weight might indicate obesity, but as a metric it is not conclusive. Sure, if you are 4’11” and 300 pounds, the scale is the frowning mother nudging you to watch your weight. But the scale does not know if you are a grotesquely overdeveloped 4’11” Olympic weight lifter, and that instead of fat, your body is fortified with muscles.

Skip the scale. Scales measure nothing important. It certainly doesn’t measure your fitness. Your weight changes constantly. Strive for fitness, not weight. The scale won’t tell you if you’re losing fat, water, or muscle. Listen instead to your body. If you exercise more, you’ll be hungry more. Food is fuel, OK?!

If you’re starving yourself, you will notice signs of irritability, light-headedness, more hunger, and fatigue. Starving your body to look good, or lose weight, is like running your car on fumes just to go faster. It is illogical and bad for performance. Choosing to be thin – instead of healthy - may lead you to starve yourself of fuel and nutrients. This leads to worse health and fatigue.

And while training for a marathon, it is more important than ever to ensure your body has access to all the energy and nutrients it needs.  And I am sure there will be fierce, if not misguided, temptation to cut back on the carbohydrates in order to lose weight. Don’t.

The only non-surgical way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you eat. Period. Carbs aren’t fattening (unless you don’t burn them) and they are vital to top athletic performance. And only carbs can replace glycogen stores, not protein or fat.

Running regularly enables your muscles to burn fat for hours after exercise (and during too, of course). After 30 minutes of running, the body burns fat as an energy source. Forty minutes or longer will increase fat burning.

Look, the solution to losing weight is no big secret: eat right and exercise regularly. I like a plate of lard and stick of chocolate covered butter as much as the next guy, but the fat I invite into my body is not going to just will itself away. I have to exercise it off.

Humans, like most all mammals, were not meant to remain motionless, unless you believe gelatinous thighs, shirt-stretching spare tires, and pants-splitting dumpers were the image in which Heaven created humans.

Fat is like debt: unless its kept under control, it piles up in mammoth proportions. Eventually, the creditors – your heart and other organs – come calling to repo that which you’ve borrowed from them: money and life. Fat and poor health does not enjoy bankruptcy or debt protection. There is no temporary reprieve that excuses you from years of bad health. Rather, debt reduction and good fitness requires a strategy of austerity and discipline. Both are hard and seemingly impossible. Often, like buying things we don’t need and thereby running up debt, we snack and munch our spare tires into inner tubes.

To lose weight and keep it off, you must eat right. Don’t go on a diet you don’t plan to maintain for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a diet cycle for the rest of your life. A good plan for weight loss is a good diet and exercise. But if there is any confusion about nutrition, exercise, and weight control, seek advice from a sports nutritionist at www.eatright.org and the National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics.

RACE NUTRITION

It is important enough to repeat again and again, that a training program needs a nutritional plan as much as an actual running plan. I don’t profess to be a nutritionist – Lord knows I should have forcefully disabused you of that notion forthwith – nor do I know a lot about food, its function, and its benefits. I know, basically, as much as you know. And when it gets right down to it, we all really know all the information we need about health diets.

Still, I invite you to explore the topic more from people who actually make a living telling us to eat our greens and stop playing with our food. There are scores of qualified professionals with a lot of important perspectives on the subject, but I have put my faith in these:

1.    Mom & Wife (in chronological order and nothing else).

2.    My doctor.

3.    Dr. Liz Applegate, who writes an indispensable column in Runner’s World magazine and online at www.runnersworld.com. She is also the author of several good books I have not read. Check out her website at http://lizapplegate.com.

4.    Dr. Nancy Clark, author of the landmark, biblical Sports Nutrition Guidebook and the totally relevant but not as good as the latter (IMO) Nancy Clark’s Food Guide for Marathoners. Also check out www.nancyclarkrd.com, which contains her blog.

Nutrition the week before the race

The weeks before the race are important nutritionally. By then you have essentially met your running goals. Having followed your plan, you’ve run as far as you will before the race. You’re in the tapering mode, which means you’re still running but cutting back on mileage and intensity in order to rest up your legs. More importantly, you’re filling the microscopic camel humps in your cells with the abundance of energy necessary to carry you over the finish line. Now is the time to carb load with reckless abandon.

During the tapering phase leading up to the Big Thing, avoid substantial changes to your diet. Disaster may strike if you do. Your stomach is less likely to be in a curious, adventuresome mood at this point. Even it if is, now is not the time for surprises. A change in diet is the gastronomical version of a cold front colliding with warm weather: thunder. I remember when I changed foods on my dog. He could flock a disgusting Christmas tree. Yes, he is an animal, but at this point in your training, so are you!

Nutrition goal the week before the race:

·         Build stores of glycogen – 60 - 70% calories should come from carbs

·         Store vitamins and mineral too. This can be done mainly by not depleting them with unhealthy living (drinking, smoking, Widespread Panic concerts) or intense activity. Keep consuming nutritious foods.

·         Avoid high fiber foods 2 days out -- could lead to cramps, bowel movements and incontinence. I know, this is getting disgusting, but don’t blame me. I didn’t make the world.

·         Avoid hard digesting foods like dairy products (gassy), peanut butter, and fried foods.

·         Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

Closer to the race:

·         Continue scaling back on miles, but maintain carb intake. You might even gain a little weight (but you’re not worried about that anymore because by now you’ve adopted a healthy eating and exercise lifestyle that a little pudge is no concern. Right?!?)

·         Eat high carb foods like pasta, potatoes, and rice.

·         Remember portion control! Eating too much starchy food before the race will make you constipated. Don’t make me explain the discomfort of running with this affliction.

·         Avoid salty, fatty foods.

·         Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate. You might want to put an ottoman in your bathroom now.

·         Carbs turn into glycogen more quickly if accompanied by water

Race day nutrition

 Pre-game Warm-up

·         Eat 2 to 4 hours prior to the race. That means waking up pretty early considering that most races start in early morning and that you need time to get to the race site.

·         Eat hi-carb, but light: bagel with jam, Gatorade, banana, rice (maybe also a cup of Joe)

·         Drink about 16 oz. Of water prior to the race

GAME ON!

·         Drink water and sports drinks throughout the race. There should be tables with both all along the way.

·         If race officials offer bagel bites, orange wedges, or the like along the way. Eat them. Orange wedges are quick delivery energy boosts. Bagels will sustain you for a few miles.

·         Eat Gu and chase it down with water to avoid upset stomach and to facilitate processing

Game Over

·         Drink lots of fluids, especially sports drinks, to restore depleted nutrients and glycogen

·         ASAP: restore glycogen by consuming whatever carbs greet you at the finish line. Often there are bananas awaiting you. In New York, there are quite accommodating hot dog vendors, which normally I would avoid, but by the end of a marathon, I’d eat the dirty shoe off an armadillo.

Energy bars/gels

Energy bars and gels are nutrition supplements. They give you a boost of energy, of course, and provide you a quick, reliable, sometimes delicious way to fortify the body with the right nutrients.

Most bars have 200 to 300 calories. Gels have 75 to 100 calories but usually have a greater percentage of carbs.

Energy bars and gels are better than candy bars and eating nothing at all, but not better than natural foods like fruits, fig cookies, etc. In my opinion, they are convenient and nutritional, but not a good substitute for proper nutrition. BUT, without a proper diet, you may miss out on fibers and nutrients in veggies and fruits. Energy bars should complement a balanced diet, not substitute it.

Gu

Gels, too, like Gu are nutritional supplements intended to give you a boost, not a meal. Gu costs about $1.50 each, so it is pretty expensive if you choose to use it a lot, but let me tell you, Hallelujah! It works! Mine eyes were opened to Gu at the Annapolis 10-Miler, which in August next to the Chesapeake Bay is more a death march than it is a race. Near Mile 8 there is the gargantuan Severn bridge (well, by Mile 8 it seems gargantuan), which combined with the oppressive heat and humidity is very nearly the coup d’grace that finishes many a runner.

Despite the weather conditions, the Annapolis 10-Miler has nice swag, lots of hospitality, and as I found out this day prior to collapsing, Gu. Desperate for a defibrillator, I reached for this strange substance offered to me by a charitable race volunteer. As curious as I was delirious, I tore open the packaging and slurped the disgusting ooze. Oh my. I was transported in both space and time, only realizing what happened after I crossed the finish line. This stuff ROCKS!

Gu, it is true, is a wonder potion. I don’t know the science behind it, and I’m not sure I want to. Though I’m always partial to bagel bits and orange wedges on the long run (because they’re often free in the races), occasionally I’ll swallow some toothpaste looking and feeling goo (hence the name) for a wonderful burst of energy. If it didn’t cost so damn much, I’d eat it (or “consume” it – I don’t know if “eating” is the appropriate term for ingesting Gu) for breakfast, lunch, and supper.

 

What to eat

 ·         Take gels and sports bars with water. This helps expedite digestion, and makes it easier to swallow, not to mention the fluids help promote quick conversion into energy. Most importantly, bars and gels in my opinion taste like crap, so washing it down with water helps get the job done without that ugly pukiness.

·         A good bar or gel should reflect your diet: 60-55% carbs, 30-20% fat, and 20-15% protein.

·         Avoid high fat bars because they are not a good source of energy, harder to digest, and may contribute to indigestion/heartburn

FINAL THOUGHTS

When it comes to fats (and eating in general) my core philosophy is, Eat like a Roman, Exercise like a Greek. I have never once bothered one brain cell – dead or alive – with the prospects of some systematic diet. It amazes me that diets persist in popular culture with the resilience of cockroaches. Diets have urged suckers to starve themselves, eat fish only, eat bread only, eat meat only, drink shakes only, and eat candy bars only. Egad!  Subscribing to new diets is like chasing ghost farts. Not to mention their usefulness lasts for about one year.

To lose weight, and to be fit, one must disregard all of those stupid diets, apply common sense to your nutrition, and just plain exercise. I’m in a lather just writing about it.

Diet chasers fail to realize that to maintain consistent results, effective diets are practiced over a lifetime. If you are reading this while on a diet, ask yourself if you want to punish yourself like this for the rest of your life. Do you want to eat nothing but carbohydrates or protein until you’re 80? I doubt it. Just like you wouldn’t want to have to train for a marathon for the rest of your life, which is a damn fine analogy I might add.

Marathoning is an extreme form of exercising. It requires extraordinary practice and conditioning, beyond what the body is accustomed to, to realize that goal. Likewise, a fad diet is designed to produce results that will require extreme dieting; meaning nutritional habits your body is not accustomed to. If you adopt a fad diet and persevere, your chances of losing weight are good, I would imagine. But how do you maintain your desired weight? Do you continue to fast and starve and shock your body for the rest of your life? Certainly, that is your choice, but it sounds like a miserable existence to me. It’s excessive, unnecessary, and potentially harmful.

The best way, I believe, to lose weight and stay trim and healthy is to eat responsibly and exercise regularly. Eating responsibly means consuming what you enjoy without excess. Obviously, anything excessive is likely to harm you. So don’t eat pizzas and drink beer 3 times a day.

Exercising regularly means selecting some form of recreation in which you can participate at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. That’s all. And you don’t need to be repetitive. Mix it up. Play tennis, golf, walk, run, swim, work in the yard, chase women, go shopping, or write sexist stereotypes. But you have to do something. (Oh, and drink lots of water). Not to mention, if you enjoy it, 90 minutes a week is a luxury, not torture.

As for diets, here’s the most basic: Burn as many calories as you consume. If you want to lose weight, burn more calories that you consume. That’s it. Good bye!