4 Supplements for Runners

Making sure you’re getting the essential vitamins, minerals and macronutrients can not only ensure you training and performance don’t suffer, but also improve your overall health.

So, I’ll be going over the 4 essential supplements you need as a masters runner to stay healthy and improve your performance.

First off, I want to make it clear that supplements are by no means required for every runner.

That’s because supplements are designed to be just what their name implies – a supplementation to your daily intake if you’re not getting enough through your diet.

It’s perfectly possible to get the required daily intake of any supplement through diet alone.

That said, I am a huge fan of supplements for a few reasons…

First, most runners don’t eat the perfect diet all the time. Work, family, stress and a bunch of other factors lead to us to often being low in critical vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that can improve our health performance.

Second, I am a big believer that the easier you make things on yourself, the easier it is to be consistent and stay on track. Supplements make getting in your essential macro and micronutrients easier and oftentimes more pleasurable.

Therefore, the list of recommended supplements for masters runners includes those that (1) have been shown by actual science to be a benefit to endurance athletes; and (2) those that runners often find difficult to fit into their diets consistently.

Let’s get to it.

Protein

First up is protein.

When it comes to supplementation, most runners focus on the performance benefit of a specific supplement – like will it allow me to run faster by increasing oxygen uptake, or something similar.

But, what we often forget is that better recovery from workouts is actually the best way to improve faster and more consistently. If you can recover faster, you can workout harder or more frequently and you can better absorb the training benefits from your runs.

Recovery slows as you get older and one of the main reasons for this is that muscle protein synthesis slows down as we age.

Thus, any supplement that helps you recover is going to have a positive impact on your running performance.

And that’s where protein comes in.

As you may already know, running causes the muscles to break down and form micro tears, which need to be repaired in order to get stronger and faster.

The body needs protein for this process to occur. With an adequate supply of protein, the body can build back your muscles faster

For masters runners it’s even more important since research has shown that a greater dose of protein is needed to spark muscle protein synthesis as we age.

Sadly, many runners are low in their protein intake, especially women.

Ideally, you’ll want to consume between .8 and 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. That means for a 145lb women, you’d want to get between 115g and 145g of protein per day.

I highly recommend all runners track their protein intake for a day or two to see exactly where their average lies. Most runners will be far short of this .8 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.

I recommend protein supplements, like protein powders, because they are a very easy way to increase your protein intake with very little effort.

Plus, nowadays protein powders are super tasty and you can also get them organic and vegan if needed.

If you’re not vegan, you should look for a whey protein powder as opposed to powders such as pea or soy. Whey has been scientifically proven to be better absorbed by the body.

My favorite way to use protein powders is to add them as flavoring to my favorite meals.

Try a fruit flavored whey protein with rolled oats to make overnight oats or a chocolate flavored protein to add to pancake mix. Easy ways to make your breakfast not only more delicious but healthier and without any extra effort.

Antioxidants

Runners also need to recognize the years of wear and tear that have accumulated on the body. 

One of the best ways to fight this cellular damage is with antioxidants.

Antioxidants are substances, usually vitamins and minerals found in fruits and plants, that can prevent or slow damage to cells caused by free radicals, unstable molecules that the body produces as a reaction to training stress.

The best way to get your antioxidants is through a variety of fruits and vegetables such as grapes, blueberries, nuts, dark green vegetables, beets, cantaloupe, peaches, and plums.

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables everyday is difficult.

Even when I do get in a good rhythm of including a fruit and vegetable with every meal I often lack variety due to seasonality or just not having it available because I couldn’t buy enough for the week without it going bad.

That’s why I recommend runners include a greens supplement in their daily routine.

It’s the guaranteed way to get in all the antioxidants and micro nutrients you need with a simple scoop in the morning.

I prefer a greens supplement as opposed to a multivitamin or antioxidant pill because a greens supplement is absorbed better.

A 2018 study showed that most multivitamins do very little because they are not absorbed well in the body and they lack the ability that whole food sources have to provide additional micronutrients that aren’t listed on labels.

Magnesium

Any aid we can find to help us improve recovery can have a dramatic impact on our training and performance.

In that regard, one supplement that is becoming increasingly popular and well-researched is magnesium.

Magnesium is an essential dietary mineral, the second most prevalent electrolyte in the human body, and involved in more than 300 chemical processes inside your body.

Most importantly to runners, magnesium plays a critical role in energy production, muscle recovery, improved sleep and bone development.

As an example, studies have shown that supplementing with magnesium can lower cortisol levels and improve the length of time in a deep-sleep state specifically in older adults.

For women runners in particular, many studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can enhance bone mineral content, which can help strengthen bones and prevent bone-related injuries.

The reason I suggest magnesium as a supplement is that research has shown about 75% of runners are deficient in magnesium. This is both because it’s difficult to get with natural sources because it’s not easily absorbed and because runners lose a lot of magnesium when they sweat.

If you’re looking to supplement with magnesium, you should aim to take 400-500mg daily with a meal, preferably in the evening as this will help more with sleep.

Iron

Research indicates that almost 56% percent of joggers and competitive runners suffer from an iron deficiency that severely hampers performance.

That’s because runners lose more iron than most athletes due to a number of factors, such as losing iron through a process called foot strike hemolysis as well as through sweat and the GI tract.

Older runners are even more susceptible since research has shown that we become more susceptible to iron deficiency as we age due to malabsorption and other age-related factors.

Therefore, it is important that you consciously monitor your iron intake through your diet and with supplements if you already have low levels.

First, I recommend you get a blood test to determine your actual iron levels.

Not only is this important to determine if you are low or not, but it gives you a baseline for what your iron levels are and how much supplementation is improving them.

You’re looking for your serum ferritin number and it should be higher than 25 nanograms per milliliter. Preferably 40 or above.

When you go to buy an iron supplement, make sure it’s in the form of ferrous sulfate. Usually, you can find iron at a health store, grocery store or drug store. You can take iron in a pill or liquid form, whichever works best for you. Pills are often easier to find, but liquid absorbs better.

I suggest taking your supplement before bed. Iron supplements can sometimes cause minor stomach issues and gas. If you take them at night, it probably won’t bother you.

If you’re just looking to maintain your iron levels, supplement with 30mg. If you have tested for low iron, supplement with 60mg.