Training

Marathon Quest: High performance nutrition

August 25, 2011
By Megan Brown

Proper nutrition is vitally important to sports performance.  Your food choices drive your training, racing and recovery.  So how do you know what, when and how much to consume to optimize your running?  Here are some simple guidelines:

1. Eat a Variety of Natural Foods

To ensure that you are getting all of the energy, amino acids, good fats, vitamins and minerals that your body needs to perform, you want to consume a wide variety of natural and nutrient-rich food choices:

- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Unprocessed whole grains, such as whole wheat breads, pitas, pasta, crackers, cereals, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, etc.
- Chicken, fish, lean red meats
- Low-fat dairy (especially yogurt)
- Legumes: black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, etc.
- Healthy fats: various oils (olive, walnut, vegetable) and nuts (peanut, almond, cashew)
- Dried fruit: raisins, apricots, cranberries

2.  Balance your energy sources

As a general rule of thumb, you want to try to aim for the following breakdown in your diet:
- Carbohydrates: 50-70% or 3-5g/lb of body weight
- Fat: 20-30% or 0.7-1.4g/lb
-Protein: 15-20% or 0.6-0.9g/lb

Simply put, you want to get the majority of your calories from carbohydrate sources, followed by a moderate of fat and an adequate amount of protein.  On your plate, aim for half to be filled with fruit or vegetables, one quarter with grains or starch and another quarter with lean protein.  Your snacks should be carbohydrate rich with some protein and fat.

3. Fuel to perform and recover

Prior to exercise:
-The goal is to time your pre-run meal so that most of the food is out of the stomach, broken down and absorbed before the exercise starts.  Simple sugars are absorbed the fastest, followed by low-fibre complex carbohydrates then high-fibre carbohydrates. Foods high in protein and fat stay in the stomach the longest.
- Therefore, you want to eat your last meal (400-600 calories) two and a half to three hours before your workout to allow it to digest.
- This meal should be 80 per cent carbohydrate with some protein and fat

Example:
- whole grain bagel with peanut butter; one banana; 1 cup of sports drink
- chicken salad sandwich with vegetables and hummus; small apple

During exercise:
- To prevent a drop in blood sugar and delay the onset of fatigue in exercise greater than one hour, you want to consume 30 to 60 g of carbohydrates per hour depending on the level of intensity.

Post-Exercise
- Paying attention to what you eat after a training session or a race is absolutely crucial to maximizing recovery.
- In the first 15 to 60 min following exercise, your muscles are most efficient at replacing glycogen, so take advantage of this window.
- You want to aim for a meal that contains high-glycemic carbohydrates with some protein and very little fat such as:
- fruit smoothie with soy milk, banana, berries, honey (you can add protein here as well)
- toast with peanut butter and large glass of orange juice
- chocolate milk and a energy bar
- turkey sandwich with lettuce and mustard on whole wheat bread, banana, apple juice

Also, don’t forget to hydrate and replenish your water loss during exercise. Use some of these nutrition essentials to maximize your training and recovery for the next eight weeks, so that you can toe the line at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon prepared to tackle the distance.

Megan Brown is the reigning Canadian half-marathon champion and a member of Athletics Toronto.