Why Most Runners Aren't Eating Right

If you run you need to eat plenty of carbs, right? You need to carb load on a big old plate of pasta the night before a big race or long run, right?

That's what many runners think but they're wrong. While carbs are an important macronutrient, along with fats and protein, many runners make the mistake of eating too many processed carbohydrates such as breads and pasta.

I've done a lot of nutrition research over the years and if I've learned anything, it's that many of today's health problems are related to our overconsumption of refined carbohydrates.

While during intense training carbohydrate intake should be increased, I believe that moderating your carbohydrate intake for most of the year is much healthier.

What I mean is that for most of the year, your primary source of carbohydrates should be vegetables and fruit. Even whole grains shouldn't be overconsumed year round.

Recently I've been researching a concept called metabolic efficiency training. Basically it's a method of combining your training and eating to maximize your use of stored body fat as a fuel source. I plan on experimenting with it more myself but there's some good evidence behind it. I'll let you know how things go.

In the meantime, follow these simple rules for eating well. They come from the Dr. John Berardi and his team at Precision Nutrition which is the system I use personally and with my athletes.

1. Eat every 2 - 3 hours.
2. Eat protein, fat and carbs with every feeding.
3. Eat fruit and/or vegetables with every feeding.
4. Don't drink calorie containing beverages.
5. Make sure most of your carb intake comes from fruits and veggies. Eat non-fruit and veggie carbs after working out.
6. Have 30% of your calories come from fat, divided equally between saturated fats (butter, animal fat, coconut oil), monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados, nuts) and polyunsaturated fats (flax, hemp, fish, canola oil).
7. Focus on whole food (i.e. real foods not meal replacements).
8. Cheat 10% of the time (cheat is any feeding that doesn't follow these rules).
9. Develop strategies for food preparation (i.e. plan and shop for your meals, don't wait until you're hungry).
10. Eat a variety of foods (eating seasonally is a great way to do this).

Eating Before Your Runs

If you're going for a run 90 minutes or shorter, take in 200 - 400 calories a couple of hours beforehand. Have a mix of fats, proteins and complex carbs (veggies and fruits).

For longer runs, I actually recommend you skip breakfast. Make sure you've eaten well in the days leading up to your long run but start the run on an empty stomach.

Or if you absolutely need to have something, have about 100 calories right before you go out (a banana or energy gel is perfect).

Make sure you have your energy drink or food with you and start using it within 15 minutes of beginning your long run. You need to keep the run in the aerobic zone but doing this, you are training your body to burn it's body fat for energy.

Use the guidelines below to help you figure out how many calories to be taking in.

Eating During Your Runs

During your run you can expect to be able to replenish:

• 20 - 33% of the fluids
• 20 - 35% of the sodium
• 30 - 40% of the calories

I believe the caloric intake to be on the high side for many runners. They can replace 20 - 25% of the calories they expend.

Your body has a plenty of energy stored in its body fat so you won't have to worry about not having enough energy. Even the leanest runners have about 100,000 calories stored in their fat.

The trick is to be able to tap into those fat stores and not rely on using only carbohydrates for energy.

One of the best ways to do this is exercise at the right intensity. Aerobic training burns both fat and carbs; this is the intensity you want to train at to teach your body to burn fat.

Anaerobic training (i.e. speedwork) uses primarily carbs for energy. So while it's necessary to do faster running, the lower, slower runs are crucial to train your body to burn fat.

On runs shorter than 75 min. I wouldn't advise taking any calories during the run. Make sure you have water and electrolytes if it's hot but that's it.

On runs 90 min. or longer, you will want to start taking in some calories. As a general guide, aim for 200 - 250 calories per hour. Some runners may be able to do with less (100 - 200).

These calories should come from carbohydrates. But don't use supplements that use simple sugars as their primary carb source. Look at the ingredient list and if you see any items that end in "ose", that's a sugar.

Taking in too many simple sugars will increase your need for water and this could lead to gastrointenstial distress.

Instead look for products that have their carbs come from a more complex source such as maltodextrin. This is a longer chain carb which is a better source of energy for runners.

If you're running for 3 hours or longer (some of us do!) then you'll want to include some protein in your calories. Aim for about 85% carbs and 15% protein. Products such as Accelerade (same company that makes Endurox) and Perpetuem (from Hammer Nutrition) are formulated to provide carbs and protein.