Intermediate Runner - please rate/review my diet and exercise plan

rovers_runner

Hey,
Running for the last month or so and getting back to a decent level of fitness.
My diet doesn't match up though, as you can see below.

Male, 24, 5' 10"

Basic Excercise plan:

Monday: Run 8-10k over an hour, odd walking involved every few k's for a 100yds etc.

Tuesday: Run 8-10k again, different route to Monday

Wed: Rest

Thurs: Run 8-10k again or play indoor soccer for 1hr

Fri: Rest

Sat: Usually round of Golf, 3-4hrs

Sun: Rest



DIET:
Mainly the same Mon-Fri
-Non smoker
-Off alcohol since Christmas, drank once since then(not a lot either)

Previous:
-Breakfast-
Lucozade/Juice
Crossaint
Cereal Bar/Taytos

-Lunch-
Roll with Taytos
Water/Lucozade
Bar of chocolate

-Dinner-
Pizza/Instant meal/take away
-often beers 1 or 2 times a week


Present:
-Breakfast-
Cereal Bar/Yogurt
Juice

-Lunch-
Roll with only 1/2 fillings, no meat
Water/Juice


-Dinner-
Super Hoops & Toast etc. / Soup & wholemeal bread



Obvious problems are lack of veg and fruit but other than that are there any patterns to eating which would help my excersize regime ?

hunnymonster

can I ask for some more information?
What time of day do you run? I can make comments on the diet when I know when you run and wheter you want to run for weight loss or improved performance.
What are your aims?
Is there a reason for running two days in a row when you have so many rest days?

rovers_runner

hunnymonster wrote:

can I ask for some more information?
What time of day do you run? I can make comments on the diet when I know when you run and wheter you want to run for weight loss or improved performance.
What are your aims?
Is there a reason for running two days in a row when you have so many rest days?

hunnymonster,

Work from 7am till 4pm
Excercise around 5/6pm

Travel a lot over weekends so only really get the chance during the week.
Aim to run on a Sat when weather improves, on grass or beach.


Currently run on roads only.
Am currently 12st 2lbs or so from 12 6lbs a month or so ago.

My main aim is to get down to around 11st and be able to run in a 10k to a reasonable standard.

hunnymonster

rovers_runner wrote:

Present:
-Breakfast-
Cereal Bar/Yogurt
Juice
-Lunch-
Roll with only 1/2 fillings, no meat
Water/Juice
-Dinner-
Super Hoops & Toast etc. / Soup & wholemeal bread

Work from 7am till 4pm
Excercise around 5/6pm

Travel a lot over weekends so only really get the chance during the week.
Aim to run on a Sat when weather improves, on grass or beach.


Currently run on roads only.
Am currently 12st 2lbs or so from 12 6lbs a month or so ago.

My main aim is to get down to around 11st and be able to run in a 10k to a reasonable standard.

Right, I'm not an expert but I am a runner.

For breakfast I would change to porridge. nuke it for 2-3 mins and stir some milk in. Have a piece of fruit rather than the juice. If you can't handle porridge, how about some home-made style brown break with cheese or scrambled eggs? All the above can be made in less than 5 minutes.

Lunch is going to be your most important meal as it will fuel your run. Is there a reason you're avoiding meat on a roll? There is a lot of bread in a roll. Too much if you're trying to lose weight. Maybe try a chicken wrap some days? Add loads of salad (not coleslaw) to make it more interesting.

Sorry don't know what super hoops are? Soup and a roll are great after a run. However if this is your total intake for the day it may be too little. If you could add more fruit or maybe a glass of milk between the 3 main meals you might find it better.

Now for the area I do know something about. Try not to do the same run every time. For example one day a week you might go slower but not take the walking breaks. Another day run 2 lampposts, walk two, run two, walk two etc but do the running parts fast enough that you're really out of breath. If you run a loop course, do it in reverse some days. About once a month, race yourself, it will be good to see imporvement. Finally, enter a race. There are loads of 10 km races during the summer. Having a goal to work towards might help motivate you. I would try to space the runs more evenly. You will have a better quality run if you are well rested going into it. These are just some ideas off the top of my head.

rovers_runner

Yeah, thanks for that.
Have cut out the rolls now, moved to a plain 2 slices of bread with cheese/turkey etc.
Those hoops are just dried pasta in tomato sauce, equivalent of beans on toast I suppose.

Gonna try to add in the sprints/walking too to as I'm finding my aligilty for indoor soccer suffering.

Thanks !

Sleepy

rovers runner, if you read the stickies in the main forum you'll pick up some great tips about diet.

Try eating more fresh food instead of processed crap like spaghetti hoops. You could substitute that with wholegrain pasta and a homemade pasta sauce of canned tomatoes (if you're not really big on veggies, blending them into the tomatoes before heating it is a good way of uping your intake in a fashion you won't really notice). Trust me, this'll taste *WAY* better than what you're currently feeding yourself and if you make the pasta sauce in one big portion you can freeze it in single portions for yourself.

Also, for lunches try and eat brown or at least wholemeal bread. The carbs burn slower that way.

Edit: I'm very new to all this myself but I think the more experienced posters here would back up what I'm saying, most of it is just repeating elements of what they've taught me.