Where do you find your race time?

von Neumann

40% in the kitchen - Eating the right amount of the right foods
20% in the head - Getting through the the though days / Disipline
10% correct gear - Runners etc
30% training - Cross training, quality of training, quantity of training.

What suprised me is the 10% for quantity of training.

Do you think I'm way of the mark with this break down? What would you change?

Running Bing

von Neumann wrote: »

40% in the kitchen - Eating the right amount of the right foods
20% in the head - Getting through the the though days / Disipline
10% correct gear - Runners etc
30% training - Cross training, quality of training, quantity of training.

What suprised me is the 10% for quantity of training.

Do you think I'm way of the mark with this break down? What would you change?

Where does that come from? Is that your own interpretation?

Personally I think thats way of. Its going to be different for athletes at different levels too. I imagine it would be closer to.

60% Training
30% mind
8% in the kitchen
2% gear

von Neumann

Oh yea, I was thinking mostly about running / runners. . In particular middle to long distance running.

Personal exprience only, I used to run the big M's and looking back, eating the wrong foods / beers was the killer. I could have been so much faster I tells ya .

von Neumann

Babybing wrote: »

Where does that come from? Is that your own interpretation?

Personally I think thats way of. Its going to be different for athletes at different levels too. I imagine it would be closer to.

60% Training
30% mind
8% in the kitchen
2% gear

Only 8% in the kitchen :eek:, are we not what we eat?

--amadeus--

von Neumann wrote: »

40% in the kitchen - Eating the right amount of the right foods
20% in the head - Getting through the the though days / Disipline
10% correct gear - Runners etc
30% training - Cross training, quality of training, quantity of training.

What suprised me is the 10% for quantity of training.

Do you think I'm way of the mark with this break down? What would you change?

I'd disagree Everyone will be different but I would guess:

74% Correct / appropriate training
5% Diet
20% in teh head; self belief in particular
1% The gear, runners, technical tops, etc

[edit - didn't see BB's post, I'd be with him on most of it]

Running Bing

von Neumann wrote: »

Only 8% in the kitchen :eek:, are we not what we eat?

Well I think that oversimplifies it.


Weight is obviously important for racing. Somebody who is overweight will obviously never win the Olympic marathon or 10000m......but aside from that I dont think there is a huge (certainly not 40%) benefit to eating quality food.

I dont think you need to eat like a saint to run well. Its about balance. I dont think somebody with a perfect diet eating the healthiest food will be significantly faster than a similar athlete with a good balanced diet who has the odd takeaway or few drinks.


Also I would say cross training is of minimal importance (unless injured) and is definitely not 10% of training.

von Neumann

--amadeus-- wrote: »

5% Diet

Your killing me here, folks , I spent the whole winter in the kitchen....cooking....thinking to myself this is going to make me so much faster . And now your making me feel like I should have been outside running around :eek:.

Thanks for the replies, It's a real eye opener to see what you all think........

Racing Flat

99% training
1% everything else

RoyMcC

Diet HAS to be higher than 5% Mr Amadeus and RF, surely. Otherwise you'd be able to eat and drink a whole load of crap and train away with impugnity. It can't be done.

But whether it would be as high as the 40% of the OP I'd doubt

hunnymonster

I think it depends hugely on the person. For example, Amadeus naturally has a healthy diet and he is slim so the amount of thought he has to put into his diet is minimal. He (by his own admission) is a lazy sod, so will have to put much more thought into getting out there and doing the correct training

Me on the other hand; I'm fat and naturally drawn to bad foods, so for me diet comes much higher whereas, I'm happy to run all day everyday and surrounded by sports sciencey people so the correct training requires less effort for me.

(sorry Amadeus, I always seem to use you as an example)

--amadeus--

hunnymonster wrote: »

I think it depends hugely on the person. For example, Amadeus naturally has a healthy diet and he is slim lithe and athletic looking so the amount of thought he has to put into his diet is minimal. He (by his own admission) is a lazy sod, so will have to put much more thought into getting out there and doing the correct training

Me on the other hand; I'm fat and naturally drawn to bad foods, so for me diet comes much higher whereas, I'm happy to run all day everyday and surrounded by sports sciencey people so the correct training requires less effort for me.

(sorry Amadeus, I always seem to use you as an example)

Can't get me out of your head, huh? Don't worry, just grab a number, waiting room is down teh hall

As a tree hugging, anti-globalisation, McD's hating left wing veggie I would tend to have slightly better main meals than some people. But I eat a fair few chips (at least once a week) and an unhealthy amount of crisps (2 - 4 bags a day :eek:). My theory is that if you are training for a marathon you'll burn a minimum of 2000 calories on your weekly long run alone so a bit of crud in your diet won't hurt as long as it's not the mainstay. You need to be aware of it but not obsess. But like HM says different people need to focus on different things - I would place a high value on the mental side of things (discipline and self belief) for example, much more so than other people.

thirtyfoot

von Neumann wrote: »

40% in the kitchen - Eating the right amount of the right foods
20% in the head - Getting through the the though days / Disipline
10% correct gear - Runners etc
30% training - Cross training, quality of training, quantity of training.

I would throw in the head in with training as they really are the same thing or should be anyway.

Without training you are going nowhere so I'd have very high. For example if you train brilliantly and don't eat great and can do a marathon in 2:45, what time could you run if you ate brilliantly but did the same training (granted probably better training as you are eating better). 2:30 or 2:35 at a max or a 5-10% improvement. 90-95% for training.

Get the training right first and then start worrying about the add ons and extra bits.

von Neumann

My original break down would be for an average Joe, (like myself).

I would be a little over weight, about 5kg, so it is probably more important for me .

20% for what I eat, and 20% if I loose the extra kg's.

shels4ever

von Neumann wrote: »

My original break down would be for an average Joe, (like myself).

I would be a little over weight, about 5kg, so it is probably more important for me .

For me i need to put a lot more work into my diet, I was so so bad last year and training wasnt great eiter, since i've been doing more training i've increased the work in the diet too.

Stupid_Private

Don't forget rest, sleep, power knaps and uhm... sleep.

TheRoadRunner

60% training
30% mental
10% everything else including luck on the day

training is important to get yourself into shape to run a particular time but if you don't have it in the head forget about it.

von Neumann

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Don't forget rest, sleep, power knaps and uhm... sleep.

Good point Stupid Private, I could take 10% out of the kitchen and put it in the sack.

Or should I add it to "in the head"

MCOS

Em... the % for everyone is going to be different as is everyones perspective on the ideal.

Training: Just do it and do it smart
Food: For training don't look at it as food, look at it as fuel for your body
Mental: Trust yourself, back yourself, believe in yourself, enjoy yourself
Rest: Sleep, nap as much as you need

All in whatever % you like

I suppose a good way to look at it for yourself is think of your best race ever or the achievement you are most proud of... what were the percentages for you in the weeks leading up to it?! What would you need to adjust for your next race?

RacoonQueen

I think nutrition is a very important part of training. I generally have a very healthy diet but there's been times when I'd say have a bad day diet wise and then the next day or that evening when I'm out training it's not a good feeling, though how much of that is in the head because I feel I've not eaten properly? Damn mind games of running.

accensi0n

I don't have to think about my diet at all. I'm just now in a habit of eating pretty well.

Same with getting out to run. Never feel 'Oh god I should go out but I don't want to', I just get out on my running days automatically.

The biggest things for me are making sure I get enough sleep and rest, not pushing myself too hard when I'm finding a run difficult and pushing myself hard when I'm finding a run easy.

BeepBeep67

I am 70:20:10 man
70 - training
20 - mental
10 - other factors you can influence (diet, sleep, health, over training, etc)