Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS
What’s The Best Nutrition For Marathon Training?
The first thing to note when it comes to nutrition for marathon training and events, is that you have a choice. Try not to take anyone’s advice as absolute, rather try things out for yourself.
Your health and wellbeing is your own responsibility and it pays to take ownership of that. There’s no advice anyone can ever give that will be right for everyone, so experiment.
Links From The Show
Show Notes
Welcome to The Smart Runner Podcast episode number 2. This week we are going to look at what’s the best nutrition for marathon training and events. Food is big, and getting it right can be the difference between hitting your goals and not.
The trouble is, in western society we have a lot of poor eating habits and many so called foods that are common are very poor for our health. But they are accepted as part of life, so we eat them.
As such getting our diet right can be a challenge. I believe the trick to performing our best is to experiment and find what works best while sticking to real food.
If a type of food works for you then great, keep it. If it doesn’t then kick it aside and look for something else. Personally I like to steer clear of gels, energy drinks, protein shakes and fake foods of all kinds.
Keeping it clean is the key for me and I’d suggest you endeavor to get your diet as clean as possible. What I mean by eating clean is that you remove all refined and processed foods from your diet.
If it comes in a packet with an ingredients list then you don’t eat it.
Now I understand that’s a lot easier to say than it is to do, however, if your why is big enough then you’ll do whatever it takes.
For example;
If you are heavily overweight (high body fat percentage), if you have a diet related illness such as type II diabetes, or if you are grossly unhappy with your body then you’ll find the courage to make it happen.
Depending on your current relationship with food, it may mean a very difficult, but not impossible task. Momentum is a powerful force and if your current momentum is towards cheap, quick, convenience foods then you’ll need to slow that train down first.
Here’s some types of foods to avoid;
- Commercially produced breads
- Refined white sugar and corn syrups
- Fizzy drinks & energy drinks
- Cakes, sweets, pies, and confectionary
- Ready meals & jared and dried sauces
- White & brown pasta, refined rice, chips, crisps
- Breakfast cereals like Cornflakes, Cheerios, Weetabix etc.
If you are trying to lose fat then removing carbs for a while can help you do that. After you get the body fat down between 10% to 15% you can reintroduce them. But make sure to stick to high quality carbs regardless.
For information on Nutrition For Marathon Training, check out this article on Paleo for Endurance Athletes.
***
Thanks for checking out The Smart Runner Podcast. If you liked this episode or you have something to add to the conversation, please let me know in the comments below. Please like or share on Facebook or post a review on iTunes too!