TAG | Nutrition
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Eating for the Boston Marathon
No comments · Posted by Jason Zagami in New Articles, Nutrition, Running
Marathon Training
As your training increases on the weeks and months leading up to the marathon, your caloric demands will increase. The most accurate way to track this is using a heart rate monitor. A good heart rate monitor will not only keep you in the proper training zone, but also calculate calories burned.
Any exercise that exceeds 90 minutes requires a change in macro-nutrient proportions. While many of our athletes perform best at 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, and 30% fat, endurance athlete excel with a greater proportion of fat and protein. We’ve found equal parts carbs, protein, and fat increase performance beyond 90 minutes (33% carbs, 33% protein, 33% fat).
Unless you’re cutting weight for the run, it’s not advised to eat less calories than you metabolize during marathon training. Your body needs all those calories to rebuild, restored, and recover.
Marathon Morning
The night before and the following morning eat foods that are easily digestible. Nothings worse than missing your goal time because you were stuck on the toilet race day.
Unless you’re an experienced runner I advise against carb depleting and loading. And definitely don’t carb load just the night before, it will only negatively affect your blood glucose levels.
During the Marathon
Our athletes have had great success fueling with GU Energy Gel’s. Depending on your bodyweight you’ll need one or two packets every 30 to 45 minutes. Don’t mix GU and sports drinks. Stick with water or you’ll irritate your intestines.
Post Race
After the marathon, recovery drinks are crucial to replenish your muscle glycogen stores. We recommend low fat chocolate milk, or Mix1 Protein Shakes. Follow up with a full meal about an hour after the race.
Boston marathon · GU · Marathon · Marathon Training · Mix1 · Nutrition
A lot of people ask me “Should I be drinking Milk?”
The purpose of Milk is to fatten babies. If you’re dieting to lose weight, Milk is not your best option. If you want to gain muscle, well that’s a different story.
Weight Loss
Low fat milk still has all the sugar.
Milk is comprised of Water, Fat, Sugar, Vitamins, and Minerals. A lot of women were sold on the virtues of Calcium, but the truth is you can get all the calcium you need if you add more vegetables to your diet.
Weight Gain
I know of power lifters and bodybuilders that drink large quantities of milk for muscle gain. These diets range from the “G.O.M.A.D. Diet” (Gallon of Milk A Day) to adding Whole Milk to Protein Shakes for the extra Calories. I can tell you it works. When I was bodybuilding in the late Nineties I gained 50 lbs of muscle with the help of Milk Shakes made with Whole Cream, Häagen Daaz Ice Cream and Protein Powder.
Recovery
The best recovery drink is 75% Carbs, 25% Protein. Low fat Chocolate Milk is one of the best recovery drinks available, unless you’re lactose intolerant. Don’t reach for a recovery drink if you’ve been walking on the treadmill, or finished some light lifting. Recovery drinks benefit endurance athletes and power lifters the most, everyone else is just adding extra calories.
milk · Nutrition · weight gain · Weight Loss
Caitlin and I set out to eat only raw plant based foods for January. (Click Here to read more about the experiment) We started in December for some trial and error. For these three weeks leading up to January, we were pretty close to eating 100% Raw Vegan, with the exception of Christmas and my Birthday.
Caitlin did a better job of eating dark leafy greens. I was good for a while, but then I couldn’t take the taste any more. My weight over the next few weeks slid from 155 lbs down to 144, despite my best efforts to eat as many calories as possible. I decided it was best to cut it short, and gain my weight back.
In conclusion
This was a great learning experience. Many of the foods and recipes have made it into my daily meal plan. We’re eating more fruits and veggies than ever before, always beneficial.
Many top level Endurance Athletes are 100% Vegan or Raw Vegan such as Scott Jurek and Tim Van Orden. I lost 11 lbs on the diet without sacrificing speed or strength. Lighter and faster, the perfect combination for long distance running. Look, I love running, but I also love other sports. While 144 lb body weight is great for running long distance, its not helping me row any faster, or squat any heavier.
For 30 days Fitness Competitor Caitlin McCann and I are eating a 100% Raw Vegan diet. I was inspired by top Trail Running marathoner Tim VanOrden of the Running Raw Project to try this.
The Rules
All food must be raw and alive. No meat, grains, legumes, or beans. My fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts must be raw. I will use a blender, food processor, and food dehydrator to prepare many of my meals.
Planning my diet
I wont be tracking calories, fat, or carbs. I will eat as much as I want whenever I’m hungry. Everyday I will make a green smoothie, eat a large salad, and fill the rest of my meals with fruits, vegetables, and raw vegan recipes.
By eating simple foods that have been around for thousands of years, my hypothesis is that it isn’t possible to over eat. Raw plant based foods are filled with fiber, water, and vitamins. Digestion will be too slow to over eat, unlike with todays refined and processed foods.
How it works
By eating raw alive foods, I will get all the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, and amino acids. The bio availability of these elements are highest in raw plant based foods, so no need for supplements.
Protein
Proteins are chains of amino acids. Instead of consuming large amounts of protein, I will get all the amino acids I need in the form of enzymes. These plant based enzymes are destroyed at 118 degrees Fahrenheit, hence why they must be consumed raw.
The vast majority of muscular animals: Horses, Cows, Fish, Chickens get all their amino acids from plant based diets. Fish eat Algae, horses and cows graze on grass. These animals convert the enzymes in plants to protein in the form of muscle. I’m just cutting out the middle man.
30 days from now
I’m excited to post my results next month. I will post strength gains or losses, weight gain or loss, and times for running and rowing.
health · Nutrition · raw vega · running raw · Tim vanorden · Vegan · Vegetarian
How was that Azodicarbonamide & L-Cysteine sandwich? These are just some of the 44 Ingredients in a Smucker’s Uncrustable Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich. I can’t tell you the negative health effects these chemicals have but I guarantee if I looked into it, it would be pretty shocking.
Poison Du Jour
Many of today’s foods are loaded with preservatives, food coloring, and artificial flavoring that our bodies were never designed to ingest.
My rule of thumb is, stay away from foods listed with ingredients that don’t appear in nature (like artificial sweeteners).
Also on my list are items Doctors advise women to avoid during pregnancy. That’s a pretty good indicator that it’s not doing you any good.
Keep it Simple
My diet consists of unprocessed chicken, Steak, Fish, Eggs, Nuts, Seeds, Fruits, & Vegetables. Every item I buy that has more than one ingredient I check. If I don’t recognize an item in the ingredients I Google it. Sometimes they’re innocuous, and sometimes they’re carcinogenic.
Proper Nutrition
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Solid Body Fitness
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Jason@SolidBodyFit.com
chemicals · Food · health · Nutrition · Nutrition · wellness