Training

Eating Habits

Your diet should consist mostly of carbohydrates in the morning, shifting to more protein later in the day. A good eating schedule would consist of a breakfast of mostly carbohydrates with some protein and fat, a mid-morning snack, a lunch balanced between carbohydrates and protein, an afternoon snack, and a high protein dinner. The general progression towards more protein allows for best use of the protein in repairing muscle tears after the run.

As it is important to keep blood sugar levels consistent, the snacks help prevent large spikes at lunch and dinner. To further ensure normal blood sugar levels, carbohydrates eaten throughout the day should be of low Glycaemic Index as these release their carbohydrates into your system at lower levels than a high 'GI' food. The website www.gifoundation.com can help in determining the GI of many foods, which can vary greatly from brand to brand.

The following table shows the GI of some foods by category:

	Low GI	High GI
Breads	Multigrain Brown Bread, Raisin Bread, Sourdough Bread, Tortillas	Rice Cakes, Waffles, Whole Wheat Bread, White Bread
Cereals	All-Bran, Porridge	Sugary Cereals, Oatmeal
Dairy	Milk, Yogurt, Some Ice Creams
Drinks	Tomato Juice	Sports Drinks
Fruits	Apples, Cherries,  Grapes, Peaches, Strawberries	Watermelon
Vegetables	Pickles, Tomatoes, Carrots	Turnips, Pumpkin
Snacks	Cashews, Peanuts, Milk Chocolate	Jelly Beans, Marshmallows

Necessary caloric intake can be approximated using the following formula for actively training runners

• Total Calories needed = [ Weight in lbs * (88 + Distance run in miles * 1.4) ]
• Grams of carbohydrate needed = [ 0.6 * Calories needed / 3.81 ]
• Grams of protein needed = [ 0.2 * Calories needed / 3.76 ]
• Grams of fat needed = [ 0.2 * Calories needed / 9 ]

Hydration

Up to 90% of our body weight comes from water, making it one of the most important considerations in any runner's life. It is possible for performance to drop off up to 20% with a 2% reduction in body water content, thus it is incredibly important to maintain proper hydration while training. A reduction in training performance will lead to less improvement than could be achieved at full hydration.

In normal conditions, it will take about 80-90 minutes of running to cause you to lose this water through perspiration. This time can be shorter if you start with less than adequate fluid levels, which can be easily measured by looking at the color of your urine. With more fluid loss, which can occur because of heat, humidity, or cold, it is essential to replace the lost fluids to keep up performance and avoid dehydration.

Water is best absorbed when it is accompanied by electrolytes. The easiest way to do this is to add about one gram of salt to every quart of water you drink. Another, perhaps more complicated method for increasing the body's water stores before running is through the use of glycerol, which stores water in between the body's cells. This can be done with a 10%-20% solution of glycerol to water within a few hours of running.

Before and After Running

Before running, it is important to find the foods that your body is most comfortable with. Some people can eat nearly anything right before they go out for a run, others must leave 2-3 hours between eating and running. Experiments have shown that people are often able to adjust to most foods in their system while running if they try running with it at a low intensity for a few days. If you find yourself unable to eat anything before a run and running out of energy by the end, you may want to try this.

Nutrition is one of the most important things to take care of after a workout if you want to get the most out of it. As insulin is crucial in the process of absorbing nutrients into the muscles after stress, foods that cause a spike in blood sugar are quite beneficial. Thus it is important to consume a high GI food within the first 15 minutes after a workout and high protein food within an hour to maximize the benefit you see.

Racing

The best advice anyone can give for racing nutrition is to avoid trying anything new. You can never be positive how your body will react to a new drink or a new food; even timing differently can have a large impact on your running. If you've never had anything but water while running, stick to that; if you've never had anything to eat within an hour of running, don't eat within an hour of your race.

It is best to try out anything you want to include in your racing nutrition at least twice beforehand to make sure it will help you and not hurt you. Side-stitches while training can be a pain, but side-stitches while racing can be the difference between achieving your PR or not, winning and losing, or even finishing or not.