Training Tips

Lisa Dorfman, MS, RD, LMHC, Lisa Dorfman's Training Tips The Running Nutritionist-author, Sports Nutritionist for the University of Miami Athletic Department/adjunct professor in the exercise science department and competitor in over 31 marathons (PR 2:52:32), a dozen 1/2 ironmans (1:20 PR), and hundreds of running and multisport races. Lisa's books, The Tropical Diet (2004) and The Vegetarian Sports Nutrition Guide (2000) are available worldwide. www.runningnutritionist.com.

Tip 1: Week 1 Building a Capitol Base

Training for the marathon marks the turning point in a runner’s life from being an average Joe "jogger" to an official runner. While you might have be able to train for your local 5K on any decent diet, the marathon will require a solid dietary base to build the body to meet the demands of the race. Even the fastest runners face the same dietary challenges as ordinary folk.

There’s a lot more to this entire foodstuff than meets the running eye. Some of the nutritional challenges include:

• Maintaining energy levels throughout the 28-week period for training and everyday life beyond the run;
• Getting the right balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fat to defend the immune system and prevent injury;
• Eating enough food to sustain speed and endurance during the race;
• Avoiding too much healthy high fiber foods to the extent that it affects your stomach and then your training, especially the long distance runs;
• Getting enough fluids before, during and after your training runs and race to prevent and overcome dehydration without superceding your needs and overhydrating;
• Taking specific sports nutrition snacks at the right time to prevent running detours like cramping, headaches, dehydration and excessive potty needs;
• Selecting the most appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements that can season your personal dietary intake and not exceed your actual needs.

Where do you start?

Every healthy marathoner needs a place to get started in building your own nutritional nation for the training required over the next 28 weeks. The place to begin is with a health calorie base. Your daily calorie needs are dependent on three factors: your age, your weight, and your fitness level. The simplest way to calculate your daily calorie needs is to take your weight x 10 calories per pound, add it to your running/training calories, and add an additional 10% for calories used for digestion and metabolism. So, if your weight is 150 pounds, you'll need 1500 calories to get started, an additional 600-800 calories/day for an average of six miles a day running (.8 calories per body weight per mile trained), plus an additional 210 calories for digestion (10%). The total dietary needs for a 150-pound runner is approximately 2,300 calories. If you need to lose a few pounds along the way, you can reduce your calorie intake by approximately 300-500 calories a day, or increase your training volume by a mile or two.

TIP 2: Monumental Mouthful

It’s one thing to know your total daily calorie needs, but what are the best foods for the runner to eat? Regardless of whether you need to lose weight or not, complex carbohydrate fuel from pastas, rice, cereal, bread, crackers, vegetables, fruits, beans, peas and corn is the energy that will keep you healthy throughout the next 27 week period. Get at least three tennis balls worth of fresh fruits and vegetables each day, two computer mouse portions of whole grains from cereals, pasta, beans, rice, peas, crackers and bread, and two, 100 calorie servings from nonfat dairy to meet your daily carbohydrate needs during this period.

Tip 3: Presidential Protein

Protein needs to take precedence in your training diet, not as an energy source like carbs and fats, but as a healer and protector of your muscles, heart and overall health. Eat at least ½ of your body weight in protein grams and up to 1 ½ times that amount for tougher training sessions such as cardio/weight workouts or intense track/speed sessions. This amount will help boost the immune system and possibly help prevent stress fractures, tears and other potential nutritionally related injuries. One ounce of animal protein from chicken, fish, turkey, nonfat cheese, egg whites, and lean meats and pork gives you about 7-10 grams of protein. Sport Bars and shakes often give you 15-30 grams protein. A cup of milk or yogurt has 8-15 grams. Beans, peas whole grains and vegetables have 3-8 grams per ½ cup. Too much protein can stress the kidneys and cause dehydration so more is not better.

Tip 4: Fill or Bust on Fat

Training for a marathon is specifically marked by increases in training volume and duration. During this time, you need to increase total calories above and beyond normal to accommodate an increase in calorie expenditure. Take it from me, you'll also enjoy getting permission to eat more because you'll notice a marked increase in your appetite when you start to put in the mileage. It’s not psychological, well not totally, although it’s nice to give yourself permission to eat a bunch of food for the sake of your training. Physically, it’s your body telling you it needs more food to account for the calories burned as a result of the training effect. You'll even use more calories after the run on chores like cleaning the house! Fat satisfies your extra calorie needs since carbs are extremely filling but don't last as long as fat and protein’s priority is for building the immune system and for muscle recovery. Fats from nuts, avocado, fish, and olive oil are the best places to include some fat in your diet since these monounsaturated fats also protect your heart and may even prevent some other degenerative diseases like diabetes. Fat is fattening so limit yourself to 3-5 domino size servings of fat each day.

Tip 5: State of the Union Fluids

Getting enough fluids are as important as food when it comes to running. You can last several months- without some vitamins and minerals, eight weeks- without food, but a 1% body weight loss of water can cause discomfort, thirst, and loss of appetite, a 4% loss causes lethargy, anxiety, nausea, and irritability. While an 8% loss can make you dizzy, weak, and confused can cause heat stroke and death if not treated. Most of the body is composed of water, even the "dry" portions like bone, muscle and teeth contain water. You need at least three small water bottles worth of water each day

The rest can be eaten in fruits and vegetables since they are approximately 80-95% water. Other nutritious fluids include green tea, fortified juices, sport drink and yes, even a daily coffee!

Tip 6: Vitamin Vote

Vitamins assist the body in helping your muscles use carbohydrates, protein and fat, especially the B vitamins. Others like the antioxidants A,E,and C help to protect the cells of your body from breaking down and causing infection and disease. Still others like folic acid help to build the blood. To get enough vitamins in your diet, go for colorful foods. The "brown" foods like meats, grains and beans will give you vitamins, red, orange and yellow vegetables and fruits give you lots of antioxidants, and anything green like peas, spinach and collard greens will give you folic acid. Of course you can also cheat with a fortified cereal, a juice with extra vitamins, a sports bar or a pill, but try whole food first!

Tip 7: Monumental Minerals

Just as important as vitamins are to energy, minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium and phosphorus are just some of the ones that help everything work in synchronicity when you run—especially your musculoskeletal system. Calcium is the leading mineral to help your muscles contract properly and can easily be eaten or sipped with non-fat dairy foods or beverages. Iron, another mineral vital in blood building and oxygen transportation and found in lean meats, beans and some greens should never be eaten with calcium rich foods and is absorbed better when eaten in concert with citrus fruits like oranges. Potassium is a mineral that helps your muscles to contract, including your most important running muscle, the heart to keep ticking mile to mile. Often synonymous with eating a banana, other good sources of potassium are potatoes, tomatoes and orange juice.

Tip 8: Bipartisan Breakfasts

Everyone agrees breakfast is the most important meal of the day, assisting with recovery from training, an early morning wake up call, a "break-fast" from the overnight fast from food, and to help kick your metabolism off to the day ahead. The best choices include a balance of 4/1 carbohydrates to protein, and many foods and fluids fit the bill. Try a protein enriched fresh fruit smoothie or sports shake, an egg white omelet with veggies and toast, or a bowl of cereal with nonfat milk and fresh berries. Even a sports bar will work when you’re on the run for work.

Tip 9: Liberal Lunch

Lunch marks the midday energy drop, a time to include a balanced mixture of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Great lunches that work for almost any morning or afternoon runner are lean meat or poultry subs with veggies, wraps with veggies and lite cheese, baked potato stuffed with veggies and parmesan, grilled chicken salad with a dinner roll or crackers, and/or a yogurt and fruit parfait from your favorite fast food restaurant.

Tip 10: Dinner Democracy

Anything works when it comes to dinnertime, but take advantage of the opportunity to make choices. It is better to have a high carbohydrate, lean protein and low fat meal, a minimum of 2-3 hours before bedtime for ample digestion time. A plate of pasta with meat balls (soy or ground round meat), beans and rice and a lean Pam fried or George Forman grilled steak, or a baked chicken breast or pork chop with greens and rice are some home cooked choices while grilled chicken sandwich with baked potato, sushi-salad-and miso soup, or vegetable lasagna with minestrone and green salad are some options on the run.

Tip 11: Smithsonian Snacking

Snacks are just as important as meals for the training marathoner. Snacks provide a quick source of energy in between mealtime, before and after training. The best time to include a snack is two hours prior to and before the following meal, 45 minutes to one hour before a training session, and immediately following a run or workout. The best snacks have about 100-300 calories, are low in fat, dairy, and fiber and are a good source of carbohydrates. A handful of pretzels and water, baked chips and sports drink, frozen fruit pop and ice tea, or banana and water are just some of the hundreds of foods and fluids to choose from.

Tip 12: Congressional Cocktails

Alcohol is a high calorie, often sweet beverage when combined with mixers and juices,that has health benefits such as reducing tension and stress, being heart healthy, and providing a fluid source to contribute to your total daily water intake. For the marathoner in training, it can be toxic for your running, as it has almost as many calories as fat (7 calories per gram vs. 9 calories per gram respectively), is not used as an energy source by muscles, can be dehydrating, cause hangover symptoms such as headaches and lethargy, and can impact overall performance. A glass of wine or beer are your best choices as they provide a source of carbohydrate energy, a glass of wine is like eating two fruits while a beer is the equivalent of eating two slices of bread (1 ½ for a lite beer). The key to smart drinking is to have a glass of water with each alcoholic beverage consumed, drink with B-vitamins rich foods like meats, nuts, and whole grains, and refrain from drinking the night before a long run or hard workout.

Tip 13: Primary Purpose is Being Race Ready

Taking the legs out for a trial 5k 10k or half? It’s a great time to try out all your pre-race meals, gels, beverages, and foods. The guidelines for racing are to consume half of your body weight in low fat,low fiber, and low dairy carbohydrate grams, about 1 hour to 1 hour ½ before race time, (for most it’s the equivalent of a slice of toast or a sport bar) along with 16 to 20 ounces of fluid leading up to the start, 25-30 grams of sugar every half hour during a race (about 2 cups sports drink, or 4-6 oz every 15 minutes or a gel package), and about 100 grams (400 calories of high carb post race foods within 30 minutes of crossing the finish line in the form of orange slices, fruit pops, bagels, bars and sports drink. Remember that the goal of these trials is to find your best personal racing formula so leave room for errors and lessons along the way.

Tip 14: Inaugurate Some Rest

The most important aspect of your training program will be rest. Take a rest day to restore glycogen (carbohydrates) in your muscles, replenish mental energy, repair muscle fibers and to cross train for strength building, endurance or just for fun! Consume your normal diet, have a beer, play some golf or take a yoga class, however, stay within your ideal calorie range so starting over the next day will not be as stressful to the body.