Nutrition for casual runners

Running and participating in a marathon is in vogue. Whether you choose to run the full nine yards or 26.2 miles or do a half marathon, you owe it to yourself to provide your body with the proper nutrition to perform at your best . Race car drivers tune up there car, put the best auto parts and premium fuel so that the car will perform at its peak during a race.This attention is ongoing and up to the time of the actual race to insure that the car perform to the max. Treat your body the same way!

There's is no question about it, runners,whether experienced, casual and pro's need proper nutrition and hydration for the 26.22 mile stretch. In 2009, approximately 468,000 marathon finishes was recorded in the United States, an increase of 9.9 % over the 2008 finishes. Modern marathon commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield in the town of Marathon to Athens Greece in 490 BC, bringing news of the Greeks victory over the Persians. After delivering the momentous message of the Greeks victory, he collapsed and died. Being in a battlefield and fighting a war, he did not have access to proper nutrition and hydration, and the long run depleted his electrolytes and glycogen stores. This is inspite of the fact that he was spartan, a strong soldier breed from birth to be a fierce warrior. According to the book " Food in History "a Greek warriors nutrition ration is water and a dried up corn bread or polenta. In todays society,training to become a soldier requires surviving the boot camp training. What sets the runner and boot camp training apart is the type of nutrition they get.


To compete in a marathon requires a feat of strength,endurance and stamina. Proper nutrition,hydration and training is vital to a runners success and survival. Hal Higdon,a well respected runner and author recommends a 1 year running base of distance between 3-6 miles run before a novice runner attempts to train for a marathon. Practice running and logging miles is the most important element of the physicial training program. Higdon has an 18 week novice marathon training schedule, where he describes the need to gradually increase running miles and to max out four weeks before the actual race. He recommends gradual tapering down miles run 4 weeks before the marathon. Proper rest is paramount to prevent exhaustion and injury.

Runners need 7-10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram body weight. This means that if you are 60 kg. you will need approximately 420 grams of carbohydrates(using the low end range ) or about 28 servings of pasta,rice,corn etc ( 420 grams carbohydrates divided by 15 grams of carbohydrates per serving =28 servings. During long runs, carbohydrate needs should top the upper range. High carbohydrate is needed to saturate the muscles with glycogen.

The training diet is consist of 3 macro nutrients: Carbohydrate,Protein and Fat. This macro nutrients should be distributed as follows: 55% of your estimated calorie requirement should come from carbohydrates and up to 65% during long runs, 15-20 should come from protein, and 30 % from fat. If are a male and your height is 5'10" your estimated kilo calorie requirement is 2264 calories per day,55% of this calories should come from carbohydrate food,15-20% of the calories should come from protein foods and 30% of the total calories should come from fat.

This how calculate your carbohydrate,protein and fat needs using the above recommendation.

1. Carbohydrate should be 55% of your estimated kilo calorie requirement.
Using the above example of a active male who is 5'10" and 166 lbs. has an estimated calorie requirement of 2264 per day .
multiply 2253 x.55%=1245 kcal . Divide this by 80 calorie. 1 serving of carbohydrate food yields 80 calories. example, 1slice
bread,1/3 cup cooked rice,noodles,cut corn 1/5"tortilla etc.
1245 calories (55% of your total calories divided by 80 calories= 15.56 servings of carbohydrate food . this is your
opportunity to binge on the dreaded carbs. 15.56 or round it up to 16 servings translates to 16 slices of bread or51/4 cup
of pasta or 51/3 whole bagels choose your carbohydrate. Fruits,juices and vegetables are also carbohydrate food but yield
less calories per serving. 1 serving fresh or canned fruit packed in natural juice yields 60 calories. vegetable juices like v-8
juice has minmal calories and is considered free food. Caution : they are very high in salt, but provides lots of potassium
which is beneficial when you are running.This is assuming that you are in good health and have no kidney issues because
of the high potassium and salt.
1 cup of greens sans beans (w/tomatoes,cucumbers,celery, lettuce ,spinach) is about 25 calories almost a free food. The
dressing you add to it is not free and should be calculated in the fat group . Read labels to see how many grams of fat per oz
is the dressing and deduct from your fat allowance.

2. To calculate how much protein you need, multiply 2,264 calorie by 0.15 % (if you are going for a long run use the high end
20%. 2264 x0.15 %=340 calories. 1 serving of protein food is about 62-80 calories per oz meat,fish or poultry.
fried foods are higher in calories.
For the purpose of illustration lets use protein foods that are either baked, broiled,grilled or boiled. Lean meats,chicken
and turkey breast,fish and seafoods are lower in calories. We will use 70 calories per oz of this group.
340 calories (15% of total calories) divided by 70 calories= 4.86 or round it off to 5oz of lean cooked meat,fish,poultry or
seafood. That's about 1 2/3 piece of cooked chicken breast without the skin.

3. The recommended fat is 30% of total calorie needs. Take 2,264 calories and multiply by 0.30%=688.2 calories. 1 serving of
fat=45 calories.
Example of 1 serving of fat is 1/8 slice of medium avocado,1 tsp. butter or trans fat free margarine,1tsp olive oil or other oil
about 1tbsp.gravy and 1oz mocha mix or half and half etc.


4. Smooties,should fall under your fruit and fat allowance. Usual ingredients are fruit,nuts and vegetables .If you add milk
then you need to calculate it to be equivalent to 1 carb and 1 protein. If you use 2% milk you are using 2 grams of fat
if you use whole milk it is 5 grams fat.
Gatorades and other high energy drinks fall under your carbohydrate allowance.
Mineral water are usually free of calories.
All other energy sources,such as glucose tab,candies,power bars are carbohydrates

5. Dont forget you can only burn so much calories. Excess calories are stored as fat,it does not matter if they come
from carbohydrates or protein.

Runners produce extra free radicals from the extra oxygen they inhale during running,thus food intake should be high in anti oxidants in addition to that which the body defenses provides. While the body has a complex anti oxidant system to defend itself from CO2 fragment and free radicals, runners and other endurance athletes can benefit from a fuel efficient carbohydrates because of the extra calories they burn each day.