Nutrition Tips For Runners Part 1: Nutrition Pre, During and Post Running
It is very common practice that when we start increasing our training toward an endurance event such as a marathon, we increase our eating at the same time – we are expending more energy so we need more fuel in. Makes good sense right? Yes, it does in theory. The thing is, one can often go about this in an uneducated manner and find that they are actually over compensating with food far more than they need to. In fact, I often hear people say that they have put on weight whilst training for a marathon. We can get carried away and start thinking that every session of training equates to the need for masses of carbohydrate rich foods and that we can eat whatever we like because we are training for a marathon! If only this were true. The thing is most of us already eat more than we actually need to, so not a lot requires changing in terms of quantity. What often needs changing is meal timing and the quality of what we are putting in our bodies.
What’s most important to remember when you start to increase your training is to think about your nutrition around the training session itself – the pre, during and post exercise nutrition. Everything else in your day may not need to be altered very much if you get this nutrition right.
If your workout is less than an hour in duration, you don’t need a lot. A banana 30 minutes before your session would be adequate for most and then a mix of 10-20g of quality protein & 30-50g carbohydrate after your session (try and have this within 30 minutes) to help you recover quickly for the next session you may have in your training schedule.
Some easy ways to get this protein and carbohydrate balance post training include:
- 20g protein powder on water + 1 large banana OR 1 ½ cups fruit salad
- 20g protein powder on 150-200ml milk of choice + 1 small apple
- 250ml prepared liquid meal supplement (e.g. Sustagen Sport, Up&Go, Muscle milk, ProtoWhey etc)
- 1 cup baked beans
- 150g low fat natural yoghurt + 1 Emma & Tom’s Life Bar
- ½ cup low fat ricotta cheese + cinnamon + 1 medium apple
If you are out training for over an hour then you may need a little more before your session – add a piece of toast with nut butter and honey for example, or a bowl of porridge with honey.
You will also need to consider some nutrition strategies during training sessions that are long – especially those longer than 90 minutes. Sports gels, sports chews and sports drinks are the most common forms of nutrition during endurance runs and they help to top up your muscle glycogen stores. It’s a good idea to try out different brands as not everyone will tolerate the same ones – consider Shotz, Hammer, Endura and Gu to name a few. You need to start early in your run with replenishing these glycogen stores – start 30-40min into your run and take approximately every 40min thereafter. If you leave it until you start feeling tired then it will be too late to combat the muscle fatigue.
There is some science that suggests that running on empty (without gels and/or sports drink) for your long training sessions is good practice for building mitochondria in the muscles (where oxygen lives) – the more mitochondria = more oxygen = increased aerobic capacity (in short). Now when you race with gels, you have the benefit of more oxygenated muscles adapted through training fasted, PLUS now you get the added glucose to fuel you better. If you are new to running, I don’t suggest trying this. It won’t work for everyone and if the result is that you find yourself drained physically and mentally from your training sessions, which is often the case, the negative impacts here are far worse than any potential gains from fasting.
There is also some science to suggest that if you don’t train with gels and allow your body to adjust to consuming/digesting these, then when you race with them you may reject them and/or your body won’t know how to digest the glucose readily enough. So….I suggest using them, at least on some of your long runs!
Your post run nutrition should be similar to that described above for shorter training sessions. You really need to get something in to recover well within 30 minutes, otherwise you may not feel capable of getting up the next day for your next session!
The other thing to consider is your hydration. If you get the opportunity to take your weight before and after a workout, then use this difference as a guide to replace 150% of the fluid you have lost, in the form of either a liquid-based recovery drink &/or water in the hours after training, e.g. pre-workout weight (68kg) – post-workout weight (67.2kg) = 0.8kg (x1.5) = 1.2L of fluid to drink over the next 2-4hrs.
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In Parts 2 and 3 on nutrition for runners, we will discuss general nutrition during the day and I will provide some ideas on what to eat for your main meals and snacks!