Runners and Nutrition: The Wild West?

I say this because no matter how much I witness successes or failures, consult research studies, read peer reviewed articles, and talk to experts in the field, there is not great consensus in the field: I once heard, “there are three things in life people tend to be irrational about: religion, politics, and nutrition. Funny but true!

I think this is because we all have strong parts of our identities that relate to these ideologies and they are all hard to get definite answers about. Our religion, politics, and nutrition are often our experiences and knowledge- very unique to each of us.

Geez, people lose friendships and their own health over the strong identity relation of these topics! Take it easy people- ha! Easy for me to say…

Ok, anyways, so remember, nutritional studies are not always accurate - its hard to get people to participate and more importantly adhere to the guidelines of the study. Not a lot to pool from people!

So in the end, we agree on one thing: A lot of different things work.

Need a Personal trainer or coach who knows runners? Click Here.I write both in person and virtual programs. See my website here.

There Is No One Way.

But, there is A way- Your Way. if it works for you, you believe in it, and you are getting healthy results- continue on YOUR journey. If journaling works, do it. If counting your macros works, do it. If paying a ton of money for blood work or weight check ins or accountability works, do it; if keeping it simple and using my 80/20 rule- do it, if Michael Polen’s way, “Eat real food, mostly plants, not too much” works, do it.

And if all else fails - eat the rainbow, from the earth, and don't forget to feed your muscles!- that’s from me so yah know take it or leave it- ha! I would also like to add a very important sidenote- EAT FOR THE WORK REQUIRED. I say this because I may have a plethora of audiences: the one who runs to lose weight, the one who runs to eat or drink, the one who runs for clarity and holistic health, and the one who runs to optimize performance. The latter requires a complete shift in thinking- do not restrict calories- or try to lose weight at the same time you are aiming to increase your work load or optimize performance. I say this because I have made this mistake and it took A LOT of work to get out of this detrimental cycle- physically and mentally. LEA or low energy availability is not for athletes trying to smash records and gain performance benefits- in fact, it's very risky.

If you are several types of runners above, consider this:

If you really do have weight to lose - commit to that goal during the off season- when you are not required to train as long and hard. This way, you don't lose a bunch of muscle mass- which your body will eat first! Yikes!

Why?

Running is Catabolic. This means, running eats muscle up- except hills - hills are good strength ha! Strength Training is Anabolic. This means it builds muscle tissue.

Mixing in strength training while maintaining your run fitness by cutting back on long runs and workouts will promote muscle and aerobic maintenance while working on losing weight. Remember muscle requires more calories than fat - we want to keep your muscle mass. Plus, starting at 30 we lose a significant amount of muscle just from getting older. KEEP YOUR MUSCLE MASS! Not only to stay a healthy size, but also for strong bones and functional support as we get older in our activities. Need a Personal trainer or coach who knows runners? Click Here.I write both in person and virtual programs. See my website here.

Success May Be The Failures You Avoid Eliminating

A Simple Way to Start on a Health Journey: consider eliminating one bad nutrition habit. In other words, “Avoid the bad to protect the good. Or, Instead of changing everything at once, focus on changing just one thing at a time."

Ask yourself: “What are the ways to make mistakes? And how can I avoid those mistakes?”

In my experience, eliminating a negative behavior, has been so much more consequential than the marginal gain that I get from adding several positive behaviors.

New Habits

Meal Prep- perhaps on a Sunday; Take as little as 10 min.
Fuel for the Work Required: Running 10 miles a week requires vastly different energy needs than a 100 plus miles a week.
Fuel Around the Work: Feeding the machine before and after the work is so important. Stop the saving or banking- it only hurts your run performance and hurts the adaptation after the run! Need help with this - reach out.
Running for Weight Loss? Calories in & calories out is usually the name of the game.
Running to Optimize Your Performance? Running longer and harder is work that requires a lot of energy. This is the opposite of required for a weight loss runner. In fact, I truly believe that overfueling is better than underfueling when chasing a performance goal since the consequences Low energy availability over time can be very disastrous - trust me, I've been there and it's very hard to recover from! Reach out if you need to talk about this.
Space Out Your Energy needs/calories so you are constantly feeding muscles and cells. I love using Nancy Clark’s visual of buckets. She advises us to find out about how many calories or amount of food we need in a day and visualize 5 or more buckets to spread the energy out as evenly as possible. For instance, I prefer to always pair a carb with a protein unless I am fueling in and around a very long distance event- then simple sugars work for me.
Avoid Sarcopenia which is the loss of muscle mass by eating adequate protein which is the catalyst for muscle protein synthesis. Even more important as you age! If you honestly won't show up CONSISTENTLY to your strength routine, I believe its worth the investment to hire a personal trainer who can program for your exact needs and most importantly keep you accountable.
Food Before Supplements: colorful diet to get all micronutrients
Iron Levels for Endurance Athletes- especially females- must be adequate by obtaining a blood test every 3-6 months. Iron is literally what creates oxygen rich blood cells- exactly what we need to go far and fast. Having this deficit can ruin a season if caught too late as it takes months to get your levels back to even normal. I've been through this too- reach out if I need to talk.
Avoid Alcohol - It messes with sleep and interferes with muscle protein synthesis, even in moderate doses does not help athletes longevity in their sport. Sleep is the number one secret ingredient to optimal recovery and muscle building.

Remember, just because another person had an experience does not mean it will be a similar experience for you. You are in charge of your own journey. With patience, honestly, and trust in yourself and your support system, you can find a strategy that works for you and your goals.

Need a Personal trainer or coach who knows runners? Click Here.I write both in person and virtual programs. See my website here.